Space and Dwellings and Time

LMC isn’t this posh, but I think we can provide better physical and social space by focusing on how God in Christ is preparing a space for us!

This Sunday’s Gospel text has Jesus with his disciples at the last supper before his crucifixion.

Yes, we are in Easter, but the readings take us a step back this Sunday, to provide a little perspective.

Because even in the days leading up to his death, indeed in his whole life, Jesus the Christ was living a “risen” life.  He was living a life of freedom in the resurrection, even before he was actually resurrected.

This Sunday’s sermon is going to ask you to think about where you are dwelling.  We dwell in anxiety.  We dwell in fear.  We dwell in blind optimism.  We dwell in the past.

But the Gospel invites us to dwell intentionally in God, and to see God dwelling within us.  Recognizing God dwelling inside of us is what I call “finding center” again.  Note that this is not “finding the god within you”…God is not us, but the Mysterious One dwelling within us, as Christ shows clearly.

Jesus says to the disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you (within the dwelling of God).” and “In God’s home (being), there are many dwelling spaces.” (John 14:2-3)  In council meetings these past three months we have been talking about our dwelling space at Luther Memorial.  Not just our physical space (though that is a large part of it), but our social space.  We believe that Jesus has been preparing a space for new disciples, new community members, within the dwelling of God found at LMC.

And our question as a council is: How can we purposefully make space, physical and social, for the persons that God is calling into the community?  Jesus purposefully makes dwelling space for all of us in the dwelling of God.  Lutheran pastor and theologian Robert Jensen describes this dwelling space as “time of being” rather than physical space.

I like that.  We must make space to allow others the time to encounter God and work with this community for justice.  We provide space for others to encounter us in time.  And in God we have endless time.  Jesus embodies this by living a resurrected life even before his death and resurrection.  That limitless (as we discussed last week), endless time is the dwelling that Jesus makes for us in the life of God.

How can we make space to spend time praising God and serving our neighbor at Luther Memorial together?  We must do it intentionally, or else new dwelling spaces won’t be created, and current spaces are being stretched thinly.

Jesus prepares a dwelling in God for us on purpose.  How can we prepare a dwelling for others in this place of God purposefully?

See you Sunday!

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