When Israel was wandering and lost. Free from bondage and slavery. But still not quite free. Wandering and yearning for a future, and a place to land. God said “make me a sanctuary.” And so the people brought forth what they had, and gathered what they could find, and the built a tent where the Spirit of God could dwell in their midst. Where God’s presence would be a palpable as smoke and as powerful as flame.
Of course, generations before a man named Abraham had met God too. This time in a simple home. When messengers of the Lord came disguised as strangers and knocked. Abraham welcomed them. He protected them. And so God blessed him.
That is why when Paul was traveling around, sowing the seeds that would become the church we know, he said “do not forget to welcome strangers, for in doing so others have entertained angels without knowing it.” Paul instructed the first church leaders that if they wanted to turn their attention toward God, they needed to turn their attention toward strangers. They needed to seek out the lost, the lonely, and the hurting, and trust that in the lives of those people, they would know the heart of God.
Paul said this too: he said that if we could do that “then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God. In Christ, the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”
Strangers and friends built together into a house for God. Like that tent in the desert. Like that hospitable table Abraham spread before angels. Like us, in our little corner of West Medford. A sanctuary in the wilderness. Rest for the weary. Bread for the hungry. Good news to the poor.
A place for God to live.
May we aspire to nothing less.
