St Nicholas
Emmanuel Dedication
25/10/26
1 Kings 8:22-30
Matthew 21:12-16
St Nicholas: This morning we are going to spend some time looking at the significance of the temple in Jerusalem and our little temple here in Charlwood.
Emmanuel: Welcome to the holiest of holies: Emmanuel Sidlow Bridge, for our Dedication Service this morning. As Emmanuel is not named after a saint with a specific date attached, we celebrate the church with a Dedication Festival. My hope is that we will again show our thanks for all that God has done and continues to do for His little temple here. We also must show our love and gratitude for the wonderful humans who do so much to keep this place going.
After 10 years of being ordained and having served in multi-church benefices over that time (St Nicholas and Emmanuel are churches ten and eleven), I understand something of the significance to both the regular attenders, the locals and the visitors. The church building is a huge part of the responsibility that I bear as a Rector.
I have come to know a great deal about stone, copper, lead, lime mortar, heating systems, stained glass, roof tiles, batons, slate… more than I ever thought possible. These are the things that you are not taught at theological college! Regardless of my interest or attention to these matters I also have legal responsibility for them. Ah!
However much the crazy-making burden of responsibility is, I know it is important. Yet there is something more important when it comes to our church buildings; what goes on inside them. Is our worship enough to sustain us, is the teaching good enough to carry us through the changes and challenges of this life, are we prepared for the next one? Do we take seriously the worship of God and the teaching of Jesus?
Both readings for today feature the temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was the beating heart of Judaism. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to visit Jerusalem can appreciate the size and scale of it as the centre point of the city.
The Temple was the home of worship, music, the focal point of politics and Jewish society, a place of national celebration and mourning. Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s Cathedral are somewhat a parallel in terms of significance to the people. The Temple was the place where YHWH, God had promised to live in the midst of his people.
It was King Solomon who built the First Temple in Jerusalem during his reign 970-931 BCE. The Temple took approximately 7 years to build and was completed around 959-957 BCE. Originally King David wanted to build God’s temple; but God said no. David had been a man of war and this was one of the consequences. God did promise David that his son would be a man of peace and would build the Temple.
Solomon’s Temple was spectacular; there are many chapters in the Old Testament of detailed description of the vast workforce, amounts of wood, gold and precious stones. The measurements were exacting and every detail was of great importance.
The 1 Kings 8 reading is the opening of Solomon’s public prayer dedicating the newly built Temple to God. His posture is one of humility, surrender and dependence on God. He begins by proclaiming that there is no God like Yahweh on heaven or on earth and that God keeps his promises and loves his servants.
A useful starting point for any prayer. Reminding ourselves that God is God and He is faithful. I really think we need to pray more like this in our churches. We need to be servants who walk before God with all our hearts. Not just in or at church though; we need to do when we walk out those doors. Why?
We need to be able to worship God anywhere and anytime. We cannot be constrained by location.
It is useful to remember that Jerusalem has had two temples. This First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians around 587/586 BCE as the Jews were sent into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar. This was a devastating event for the Jews that reverberated for centuries. They had to learn to worship without a Temple.
The rebuilding of the Second Temple began about 50 years after the first destruction. It then stalled out for about 20 years. Two to three generations had passed, the exile was over and they could return home to Jerusalem. The Second Temple, where we find Jesus, was finished in 516 BCE.
Jesus appears in the temple a few hundred years later. Sweet baby Jesus carried into the temple by his young parents for the expected rituals required by their Jewish faith. This ordinary event transitioned to a divinely appointed meeting with Simeon and Anna. Jesus is revealed as the light of the world and an ominous warning was given to Mary. Grown-up Jesus returns to the same Temple and causes some havoc.
Over time it became more of a market-place and one of corruption; and it is now under God’s judgment. Those who were selling the animals for sacrifice and the money-changers did need to be there.
Jewish law required the right sacrifices to be offered. Unfortunately dodgy practices had infiltrated and corrupted the Temple. People were being cheated out of money by their own people. This is what Jesus was raging against.
We see Jesus on the side of those being cheated, devalued and treated badly. Jesus certainly had zeal; both for the Temple as his Father’s house and for the oppressed people.
The Temple had been made into something it was never supposed to be. Jesus is correcting a serious wrong by showing that He will restore things to the way they should be.
Jesus did this by reminding the Jews of the Ten Commandment as they were breaking at least two of them: the making of idols (money) and stealing. Jesus was referring to himself in the remark about the destroyed Temple rising up in three days. Jesus is the true temple, the word made flesh and cannot be corrupted.
Jesus appeared in the Temple as a six week old baby and was shown to be the light of the world. He returned at that Feast of Passover pointing to himself, the temple of his body. Jesus is the one we are to watch and wait for. It is not always easy waiting. There is always work in the wait.
Lessons for St Nicholas and Emmanuel
The whole structure is held together in him. Our temple is not a building but God. Churches/temples are places where people come together to worship God, meet each other, hold special events. And we should be able to do that anywhere. We are the dwelling places for God.
Temples can be destroyed, and can be brought down. We need to resist the temptation to make this place a temple, a reservoir of memories of the past, how it used to be. We need to lean into what God is calling this church to be.
Temples can also be rebuilt. Jesus was raised from the dead, He is the resurrection and the life. We need to be built on his foundation.
Over the next few weeks there will be many services and activities in the churches with All Souls, Remembrance Sunday and of course Advent and Christmas. We need to be ready to welcome and receive whoever comes here. We should not only want to show off our beautiful buildings but also our worship and faith. This is not the time to shrink back, be apologetic or embarrassed.
We are only here by the grace of God, his faithfulness and the belief of those who came before us. We have to pass that on.
St Nicholas: My prayer for the next year is that this little Temple, in the middle of Charlwood, is for clarity of purpose, that we put Jesus as the centre and foundation of all that we do, that we seek to do good for the parish of St Nicholas.
Emmanuel: My prayer for the next year is that this little Temple, on this side of the A217, is for clarity of purpose, that we put Jesus as the centre and foundation of all that we do, that we seek to do good for the parish of Sidlow Bridge. The secret is in our name, Emmanuel. God with us.
Thank you to each of you who work so hard to keep this temple going. Peace be with you.