"Where Two or Three are Gathered"

September 2019

After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (by which I refer to the twelve weeks during which we held services at the Steel House Tavern) we are finally about to cross over into the promised land of Bloomfield Hills (a land flowing with silk and money [excuse me, "milk and honey"]).

I think I will miss having services at the tavern. It's been a powerful reminder of the principle of "where two or three are gathered" (a phrase I think I repeated every week). I believe God's presence can sanctify any place, and I also believe that His presence has accompanied us along every step of our journey. I have been particularly blessed by the spirit of humility and concord that has visited us in each of our weekly meetings. Even the little imperfections that have accompanied our services have only served to beautify them by lending to them that unmistakable air of authenticity and familial piety. Such childlike simplicity is of great worth in the eyes of, and,for human beings at least, is a necessary element in our perfection, for it is in and through the imperfect that we are perfected in our dependence on God.

" ...Jesus reminded them that the most important thing was not the temple itself but the One who indwelt it."

At the same time, I have been very eager to move on, so much so that I have had to regularly remind myself of the existence of a certain thin called "God's timing." We have worshiped Him in song, in liturgy, in thanksgivings and petitions, but I have also been impatient to resume the teaching ministry of the church, to share in the Table of the Lord, and to gather together as a family for evening meals (a good old venerable tradition). All this will happen over the course of the next month, and I am excited to begin.

At the same time however, I am reminded that these are merely the external shell of all that constitutes true religiosity. Of far greater importance is the life that lies within. When the disciples saw the temple in Jerusalem built by Herod, they said, "Teacher, look at all these marvelous buildings!" but Jesus reminded them that the most important thing was not the temple itself but the One who indwelt it. A temple without the presence of God is not a temple, just an empty building.

We are god's temple. We are his new temple. It's not a temple built of earthly stones, but a temple made out of living stones: The souls of those who, through the washing of Jesus' blood and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit, have been made dwelling places for the Spirit of God.

"Let us not become preoccupied with programs, numbers, or the relative proportions of our peoples' race, gender, or age..."

Therefore, in all the exciting changes that lie ahead, let us not look to the outward result, but the inner heart. Let us not become preoccupied with programs, numbers, or the relative proportions of our peoples' race, gender, or age, but let us look only to the inner condition of the soul: whether, in faithfulness to the gospel, our lives are glorifying to God, and whether - again, in faithfulness to the gospel - we are learning to live as temples indwelt by the Holy Spirit, enjoying within ourselves the perpetual graces of incense, food, and light, and living as priests of God's good gifts to the many who have not yet heard that Jesus has come, and Jesus is here, and Jesus will come again.

I am greatly looking forward to sharing this journey with you.