I’ve been involved in a few church rebuilding programs, some larger, some smaller. Whatever the size, there’s a moment early in the procedures when the architect/builder gathers the committee and says, “Here’s what I think you want.” Then a document is unrolled which describes the dimensions and details of the planned structure. After a bit of tweaking, we all agree–pretty much–on a proposal to construct such an edifice. (No closets, please: they’re magnets for all sorts of debris!) What are the steps to discern the BEST way?
Isaiah of Babylon addresses the returning Exiles, poised on the doorstep of the Promised Land, concerning the reconstruction of a Holy Nation. “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug….For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden(!), her desert like the garden of the Lord…” (51:1,3) Seems to be a matter of following GOD’s design more than the wisdom of the more temporal communities surrounding.
With that thought, we turn to Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (12:2) The House of God isn’t going to be made of ticky-tacky, indistinguishable from the rest of the development! We’re almost sure to conflict with the local Building Code. And the people who live here are a bit peculiar, too…
Matthew gleefully recounts the occasion where Jesus asks, “Who do they say that I am?” (16:13 ff.) “They” say that Jesus is a prophet or a healer or an activist, one of many. “But who do YOU say that I am?” And Simon Peter acknowledges that Jesus is authentically unique: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” How did he discern this?! “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.” Aha, the SOURCE of valid discernment!
And so the New Jerusalem is built, remembering the pleasantness of the Lord’s Garden, also warning those who would come in that this place is different from the rest of the world. The language is justice, faith and inclusion. The “mansions” are prepared and maintained by the Risen Christ–but those who would reside here are admonished that their ethics will be misunderstood and mocked by many. Pray for discernment, brothers and sisters, andf be transformed as God works in you!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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