The House We Build

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

May 3, 2015

The House We Build

Psalm 27:4

One thing I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
    and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

********************************

I was not at all happy with the news:

I needed a new heat pump.

The technician from the heating contractor

had come to do his fall check-up       

and after reporting that the main furnace was fine,

he said, “The compressor in your heat pump

is about to go.

You could replace it,

but you’ll have to replace other parts as well.

I recommend you get a new heat pump –

replace the whole unit.

Give me a few minutes

and I’ll work up some numbers for you.”

He went out to his truck,

and ten minutes later came back into the house

with his proposals:

three options: good, better, and best,

or as I saw them:

expensive,

very expensive,

and the one I called, “won’t-be-retiring-soon”.

Owning a home is expensive –

there’s always something that needs doing:

appliances need to be maintained or replaced;

walls need painting,

windows need repairing,

carpeting need replacing.

There’s plumbing, electrical,

yardwork, landscaping, and on and on.

It is expensive to maintain a church, too.

We have the same needs here

as we do in our homes:

appliances, heating, air conditioning,

plumbing, paint, flooring,

landscaping.

This is a 40-year-old building,

and for as diligent as we try to be in looking after it,

there is always something that needs doing,

something that needs fixing.

We can always defer maintenance;

many churches do that to save money,

especially churches with dwindling membership

and shrinking budgets.

We can defer maintenance at our homes, too.

But we have a responsibility here at church –

this building was built by the saints

who came before us,

men and women who built and maintained our church

in a line going all the way back to 1867,

and they entrusted us to look after our facility

not only for ourselves,

but also for the saints who will come after us,

long after us.

And that responsibility is for more

than just paint-up, fix-up,

repair and replacement needs.

We also have a responsibility to look ahead,

to discern needs we believe we’ll have down the road,

5 years, 10 years, 15 years.

We have a responsibility to anticipate and plan.

When we first put flat-screen TVs

in some of the classrooms about five years ago,

some of our members asked why we were doing that.

The answer was simple:

we live in a video age,

a video world;

everything is on screens,

especially for those under the age of 30.

It is how they are learning and communicating.

                                   

And, even for those of us over the age of 30,

we too learn better when we see, visualize

while we are hearing.

The installations have proven popular and useful

for Sunday School,

Bible Study,

even Session meetings.

More than 3,000 years ago,

Solomon built the great Temple

that was to be the dwelling place for the Lord God.

It was Solomon’s father, King David, though,

who did all the preparatory work,

arranging for the resources

that Solomon would need to construct

a Temple worthy of the Lord God.

It is in the often-overlooked book of Chronicles

that we find this stirring account of David planning,

preparing for the work,

even though he knew he would not live to see

the completed Temple:

King David said to the whole assembly,

“… the work is great;

for the temple will not be for mortals

but for the Lord God.

So I have provided for the house of my God,

… treasure of my own of gold and silver

... I give it to the house of my God.

…Who then will offer willingly,

consecrating themselves today to the Lord?”

Then the leaders of ancestral houses

made their freewill offerings,

as did also the leaders of the tribes,

the commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds,

and the officers over the king’s work.

They gave for the service of the house of God…

Then the people rejoiced

because these had given willingly,

for with single mind

they had offered freely to the Lord;

               

King David also rejoiced greatly….

[and prayed, saying]…

“But who am I, and what is my people,

that we should be able to make

this freewill offering?

For all things come from you,

and of your own have we given you.

“…I know, my God, that you search the heart,

and take pleasure in uprightness;

in the uprightness of my heart

I have freely offered all these things,

and now I have seen your people,

who are present here,

offering freely and joyously to you.

O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,

our ancestors,

keep forever such purposes and thoughts

in the hearts of your people,

and direct their hearts toward you.”

(I Chronicles 29)

This too is God’s house.

This house built by those who came before us,

charging us in their work to look after it,

maintain it,

repair it,

upgrade it,

renew it, refresh it,

even change it as needs change,

change it as the Spirit leads us

to new ways of worshiping,

new ways of learning,

new ways of doing ministry in the name of Jesus.

We are to do this willingly,

and yes, joyfully

our every effort

assuring that this will be always be a place of welcome,

of worship,

of learning,

of growing,

of comfort,

of renewal,

of joy.

We are called, all of us, to assure

that this will be a place where God’s Spirit

is palpable and present,

a place where the moment a visitor walks in

for the very first time,

he or she knows this is a community that glorifies God,

a community that lives in gratitude for God’s blessings,

a community that understands

the words of the psalmist:

One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in his temple.

In the weeks ahead we’ll be talking further

and in more detail about the things we must do,

should do,

and would like to do,

to care for this House of God

and enhance our worship and ministry

I am ready to follow David’s lead

and make my pledge

to the capital campaign we’ll soon launch.

I see the needs

and I want to fulfill my responsibility

to those who will worship

sing, learn, and serve here

long after I’ve retired,

which of course, won’t be for a while yet—

I still have to pay for that new heat pump.

AMEN