Anglicans are an unusual breed, I find. Over the course of my life I have belonged to the Roman Catholic church, which I was baptized into, and to a variety of Protestant churches. And, in my experience, it is true that Anglicans are somehow in the middle – not Roman Catholic, but still quite catholic. Not garden variety Protestants either, but still recognizing and drawing on the benefits of Protestant reforms.

In certain areas Anglicans lean more in one direction than another. For example, in our emphasis on the value of Scripture over the hierarchy of the church, we tend to lean in a more Protestant direction. On the other hand, in our approach to sacred spaces, such as church buildings and grounds, we tend to lean in a more Catholic direction.

Traditionally, in Protestant thought, the church building is simply the place where people come to gather and hear God’s Word. In that mindset, God is no more “present” in the church building than anywhere else. What makes the building holy and sacred is that people come and worship. The building itself is not special. There may be deep emotional ties to it, but God is everywhere, and not in church buildings in any special way.

But in the Anglican Church, (much like the Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches), our view is quite different. For us, the church building is not simply an ordinary building. The building itself, the altar, the vessels, and everything in it.... and even the land that it all sits on are considered sacred.... not just in theory... but in actual practice our physical spaces are consecrated by our bishops for the sacred purpose of being with God in prayer and worship and fellowship. The building and its grounds become sacred space and holy ground. In a sense, this space itself is no longer simply a part of this world.

This more ancient view of ours draws directly from our Hebrew ancestors, and their understanding of the Temple. The Temple was not just an ordinary place. It was built right in the center of the city of Jerusalem. It was God's home. In the center of the Temple— called the Holy of Holies — the Ark of the Covenant was set. And in the Center of the Ark of the Covenant, the presence of the Living God dwelt among God's people, as the spiritual heart of the entire community.

Now, it's true that this earlier Hebrew view undergoes a radical shift in Christianity. The view that God actually resided in the Temple in the same way that you and I reside in our houses or apartments, gets radically reinterpreted, when, as we read in today's Gospel, Jesus identifies himself as The Temple. He identifies his own person as the place where the actual presence of God Almighty is dwelling among God's people. And, from there, the Christian understanding of God becomes centered in this loving human face of God, the Christ, who reveals to us what the invisible God is like in human terms. And so, as followers of Jesus, we come to understand that, as it was for Jesus, our own bodies are God's temple, our own hearts and minds are the consecrated space in which the Spirit of the Living God is always seeking to dwell.

In spite of this huge shift, though, episcopal traditions like ours (and the Lutherans, the Roman Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox), feel that it is crucial to not throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak. And so, for thousands of years, we have very consciously retained the ancient understanding of sacred space and holy ground. We still understand our physical church building, everything in it, and the ground upon which it sits as especially sacred.

Now, an engineer, might say “Well, a building is still a building, and ground is still ground.” And that's true as far as it goes. Church buildings still need to be tended to and cared for just like any ordinary building and grounds do, but there is more to it than that. Because these particular bricks and mortar and wood and metal and glass that are sheltering us right now, and even the ground below us, are serving a divine purpose, and that changes everything. Mysteriously, the space itself becomes sacred space, and the ground itself becomes holy ground.

Why is this important?

It is important because it is very challenging for us modern people to grasp the significance of what Jesus does in today's gospel reading unless we understand what it means to be within a truly sacred space, on holy ground, to be in a place that is solely dedicated, down to the very particles of soil beneath us, to our being in communion with God, and in communion with one another in God. It is not the same as being at work or at ValueMart or Tim Hortons – not that there is anything wrong with those places... but they are not places that are all about being in transforming communion with the Living God from the very beginning.

We have to be careful not to get the wrong idea here, though. Inside the Temple, there was nothing wrong with people having conversations, changing money, and buying the animals that they needed to offer the ritual sacrifices of that time. We know, at least on the surface of it, that these were not at all improper things to be doing in the Temple. Being in a sacred space on holy ground didn't mean that people weren't ever supposed to smile, or move about, or talk with each other, or tend to necessities. The Temple wasn't an “up tight” place where the people were always supposed to be very solemn, and to never allow anything “social” take place. On the contrary, the whole point of placing the temple right smack dab in the middle of Jerusalem was that every aspect of life was to revolve around relationship with God. Most importantly, the Temple was at the very centre of social life, because for people to have relationships with one another that were life-giving and liberating and joyful, those relationships needed to be grounded in the kind of transforming love and justice and sense of awe that God cultivates in our hearts. So, even when no people were inside of the Temple, it was still providing a visible sign of God, and of the need for communion with God, right in the midst of the many details that occupied their lives.

So why is Jesus so furiously “cleaning house” in today's reading if there's really nothing that appears to be wrong in this picture?

Well, as we all know, things are not always as they appear. On the surface everything can be following procedure, everyone can seem to be doing what they're supposed to be doing, and yet, on a deeper level, the spiritual climate can be quite “off,” even oppressive. We know this happens in all institutions, even in the simplest institution of the family. Just because the snow is getting shoveled, and the family smiles and waves at the neighbors, doesn't mean everything is fine at home. All sorts of things might be happening below what, on the surface, seems to be perfectly in order. Well, it was no different in the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus was aware of something happening that shouldn't have been happening. It is very clear from his response that in this consecrated place something that was actually desecrating was happening, even though, on the surface it seemed that the usual activities were underway. Somehow the sacred purpose of the space – the consecration of human hearts and lives to God – was being violated. People's lives were not being transformed for the better.

Certainly, we know that it's also possible in our day, in the church, for everything on the surface to be following procedure, everyone seeming to be doing what they're supposed to be doing, and yet, on a deeper level, something can be “off” in the spiritual climate, so that the consecration of human hearts and lives to God is not actually happening, and so people's lives aren't actually being transformed for the better. Throughout the gospels, when Jesus gets upset, it's most often because appearances are concealing the way things actually are on a spiritual level.

Jesus came, and he comes still, to care for the spiritually ill and troubled. But then, as now, spiritual illness and trouble can be hiding beneath the appearance of health and wellbeing. And this happens at every level of the church. Parishioners in the church are not always spiritually well, although may feel constrained to appear that they are. Rectors are certainly not always well spiritually. I know that Bishops Bob and Terry would be the first to say that Bishops are not always spiritually well. I've never actually met Rowan Williams, but I've listened to him field questions many times, and I'm quite sure that if someone asked him if he, the Archbishop of Canterbury was always at the peak of spiritual health and wellbeing, he would laugh very loudly, and probably make one of those jokes that only the British can understand.

But Jesus isn't laughing in our gospel text. He is cleaning house, with a passion. He's upset about what he always gets upset about: What matters most to God – that people are not well, and that the Holy Place which has been consecrated for bringing them into healing communion with God... is no longer operating for the sole purpose it was created... people are not getting closer to God and becoming spiritually healthier. All these external activities were going on according to procedure, but when Jesus looks at people's lives.... he sees that they are not well. They are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And that's why he is so furious. He's not upset at the sheep. He's upset at the ones who are claiming to be their shepherds... because the sheep are clearly not receiving quality care, or they would be in better shape.

Interestingly, we can go through the gospels with a fine toothed comb, and we won't find a single instance of Jesus pointing his finger at the sheep, as being at fault for their ill health. He always points to the shepherds – the pastors, the rabbis, the religious leaders of the day – who aren't actually shepherding. That is one arm of his approach to “cleaning house...” The other arm is that he shepherds disciples of his own, the apostles, until they become good shepherds themselves, so that the problems of the sheep start getting attended to and cared for. And in this way, Jesus' approach sets a virtuous circle into motion: He cultivates pastors who are trained to work themselves out of a job. When a pastor is doing his or her job well, over time, the lives of the people in that pastor's care get better, instead of worse. And one key sign of that is that people who were once only able to receive care, actually grow spiritually, and emotionally, and socially and become competent pastoral caregivers themselves.

I feel so very frustrated and upset when I meet people, of all ages, whose lives are in serious spiritual disrepair... Struggling with loneliness, depression, addictions, all sorts of relationship and family problems, and the list goes on and on. Because they feel harassed and helpless, and even abandoned. Like sheep without a shepherd.

And I look at the many beautiful sacred spaces that we have in this diocese, from down in Windsor all the way up to Tobermory, sitting on holy ground, protected by canon law.... each one with so much potential, and so many available spots on the pews, and even folding chairs in the basement for when the pews get filled. And I ask myself “what is going on?” There's certainly not a lack of people in need of pastoral care out there.... There are plenty of sheep! And I hear the explanations about changing demographics, about “final generation” congregations, about our living in a “Post-Christian” society now, and so on... and it all sounds terribly professional, and even has statistics to back it up... but some part of me says that there's something “off” in that whole analysis. Something's missing.

Because this is a very personal thing. It is about people. And their deepest needs in life... being responded to in caring and competent ways, so that they can work through the problems they are facing in life, develop genuine friendships that make a real difference in their lives, and flourish as human beings, who've found their true center in God, and with God's people. If that's really happening, I'm not convinced that “changing demographics” can stop it, or even slow it down.

But if that's not happening, then one of the primary questions we have to ask is: Where are the competent shepherds, whose vocation it is, to care for the health and wellbeing of the sheep?

I am very happy to find myself situated in a diocese that is asking that question in a very serious way... and engaging in a kind of “Holy Housecleaning...”

The new Office of Ministry & Mission that the bishops established, and appointed Archdeacon Richard Salt to direct, is giving me new hope. Especially its new plan for our diocese, which focuses on:

1. major reforms in the spiritual development and leadership development of priests;

2. major reforms in how to match particular rectors with particular congregations; and

3. major reforms in the development of lay spiritual leaders in congregations, so that parishioners become at least as spiritually competent as their pastors, if not more so...

Why this gives me hope is because I see in it a wisdom which is far greater than my own, far greater than the Archdeacon's and the Bishops'. I see divine wisdom in it: a way of operating that mirrors the way Jesus operated, when we went about his “holy housecleaning” and the careful development of his disciples to become spiritual leaders.

Needless to say, all of this is terribly important for us in both Lambeth and Glanworth. This sacred space on this Holy Ground is going to be here for many years to come. There's no doubt about that. We just have to fill it with more people. And we are going to find ways of doing that.

Because we matter to God. The health and wellbeing of God's people in this sacred space, on this holy ground, matters to God, it matters to Bob and Terry, our Bishops. It matters to me. It matters to Fr. Brian. And I know it matters to each one of you.

Thanks be to God.

Lent III, March 11, 2012

Trinity (Lambeth) & Christ Church (Glanworth)

Anglican Church of Canada