St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, July 19, 2009

You can take the church out of the tent… – Rev. Cathy Russell

2 Samuel 7:1-16

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Camping is a season

Well despite the weird weather, the calendar says it’s the middle of summer, and that must mean that camping season is well under way. There’s usually a pretty big divide between campers and non-campers- those who love the closeness to nature, the stars at night, the campfires, the quiet, and those who just can’t get past the swarms of biting insects, marauding bears, and public showers. In many cases, camping, especially tent camping, is a form of recreation that has a ‘best before’ date. It’s a cheap and easy holiday when you’re a young person, or have a young family, but when families start to get more established, when comfort becomes a bigger priority than adventure, or when a trip to the mall evokes more enthusiasm than a guided hike through the forest, camping may very well become one of those things we “used to do”. When we reach this point, instead of the provincial park or family resort, we begin to look for the ‘all inclusive’ resort or the cottage with satellite tv and hot tub. Camping season has ended, and we want out of the tent.

David wants to take God out of the tent

In our Old Testament lesson this morning, David wants to take God out of the tent. Since the time of Abraham and Sara, the people of Israel had been tribal tent living people. After some time living under the thumb of the Egyptian Pharaoh, God liberated them and they resumed their traditional mobile lifestyle under the leadership of Moses. The God of Israel, of course, went with them into the wilderness. God’s house became a special tent called the tabernacle, which was built to house the Ark of the Covenant; a special carrying case for those famous and formative Ten Commandments God gave to Moses. God and God’s people camped in the wilderness together.

The difference between a house and a tent is extreme. Even those of us who love camping would balk at the prospect of making a tent our permanent home. Almost all of us would say that a house is a definite step up from a tent, in that it has so much more to offer in terms of convenience and comfort, stability and safety, sophistication and style.

As the generations passed for Israel, their way of life and their housing changed as they became an increasingly urbanised people. By the time David takes over as king after defeating the forces of Saul, most Israelites live in permanent towns and villages in homes with solid walls. David himself, once a shepherd, now finds himself a king living in a palace of cedar. And it’s when David is sitting in his comfy cedar palace, which must have smelled terrific, and been one hundred percent moth free, that he starts to compare his house to that tent God still calls home. Now that Israel and the King of Israel have got out of their tents, it seemed only right to David that God should get out of the tent too.

God’s house should have way more to offer in terms of comfort and convenience, safety and security, sophistication and style. It should be free from the sand and the drafts- a house with a real honest to goodness floor and a real honest to goodness roof. You can almost imagine David’s musings as an episode of ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’, that show where one home is totally torn down and replaced with another, much better one, with a breakfast nook, a couple more bathrooms and way better lighting. David’s plan seems to be a sensible, even a pious thing to do. When the prophet Nathan hears of the King’s plans to build God a cedar house, he is totally on board and gives David the green light-“Go for it Sire”.

God likes camping just fine

But surprisingly, God is in no hurry to get out of the tent. David’s extreme plans to give God a new home just don’t get God all that excited, at least not in the way we or certainly David might expect. In fact, God sends Nathan back to David that same evening with the message that God has been satisfied living in a tent amongst God’s people and he’s prepared to go on living in a tent for a few years yet. “When I was out there in the tent living with my people did you ever hear me complaining?” asks God. It turns out that God’s priorities have nothing to do with a house of comfort and convenience, security and stability, sophistication and style. It turns out that God’s priority is and has always been the people under the roof, rather than the roof over the people. Turns out that it’s God’s presence with God’s people that makes a house worthy to be God’s home.

We need to keep the spirit of our tenting past

How many times have we heard, especially in these days of overworked and under resourced congregations, that church people are far too attached to our buildings, that we spend too much of our time and money serving the needs of the building rather than answering the call to be the people of God in the world? When we read this passage today, God is reminding those of us who have gotten used to the comfort and convenience, security and stability, sophistication and style of our houses of worship that our roots as people of faith come from an ancient tenting tradition.

Now I’m not suggesting that we sell our beautiful building here and trade it in for a used big top from Ringling Brothers or the Shriners- at least not unless the dancing elephants are included. But even if we can’t have the actual tent, it’s still worth reclaiming that tent church mindset which is, after all, our Christian heritage. The tent church mindset prioritises flexibility over stability, mobility over permanence, and humility over sophistication and style. It’s a mindset that prioritises the people under the roof rather than the roof over the people. It’s a mindset that affirms that it’s God’s presence amongst God’s people that makes a house worthy to be God’s home.

The Tent Church of St. Paul’s

Not so long ago a beloved member of this congregation passed on from this world and left her church some money- with a stipulation. The stipulation was that her legacy be used for outreach ministry. Doris worshipped, studied and served in this very building faithfully for many years. She loved God and she loved her church. In fact, she loved her church so much that she left it more than money, she left it a mission. She left it a mission that calls us to be creative and flexible in our thinking, to risk a little insecurity, to practice a little humility. She left us a mission that calls us to prioritise the people under the roof and beyond, rather than the roof over the people. Doris understood the tent church mindset, and she practiced it, in life and even in death.

Are buildings important? Of course they are, and we are very fortunate to be in the one we have, but their purpose is, has to be to serve the needs of the discipleship community and not the other way around. Because, although we might feel like we have to have our buildings, to survive, God doesn’t. God does not depend on this building or the one down the street or any other to be present and active in the world, and although God is loving and compassionate, unlike us, God is not sentimental.

God has dwelt with God’s people in a tent when they were wanderers in the wilderness. God has dwelt with God’s people in a splendid temple that was destroyed twice- once by invading Babylonians and once by occupying Romans. And God has dwelt with us in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, heir to David’s throne, and fulfilment of God’s promise of a kingdom with no end. (How like God to turn the tables on King David who probably feels like he can do just about anything at this point, and say “You think you’re going to build me a house, well guess what, I’m going to build you a house instead!”) God has dwelt with us in Jesus Christ, who was born for the whole world- not in a temple, not even in a tent, but in a stable meant for animals- a stable that was probably no more than a cave in a wall of rock.

Over and over again, God chooses to dwell not in a place of comfort and convenience, stability and security, style and sophistication, but amongst the people of God. Over and over again, it is Christ’s presence with us that makes any house, temple, church, tent or stable God’s home.

As we reach the middle of summer and the middle of the camping season, let us remember our own tenting tradition as people of faith- a tradition that stretches back to David, to Moses, even to Abraham and Sara. And let us pray that the tent never come out of the church, even if the church came out of the tent a long time ago. Thanks be to God, AMEN.