Sermon for the 21st of July - Eighth Sunday after Trinity

One day in the early 1920s a recently married couple took a car journey from the Suffolk town of Bury St. Edmunds into the countryside. It was the time of hay making. They were on a pilgrimage to village of Honington, the birthplace of the ploughman poet Robert Bloomfield. They continued to Sapiston and onto Euston Hall, the home of the Duke of Grafton, whose forebear was a patron of the poet.

 The young couple were Adrian Bell and his wife Majorie. He was the father of Martin Bell the journalist and independent MP. Adrian was the author of acclaimed books on rural life and the first compiler of the Times crossword.

 Sapiston Church is shown on the cover of today’s service sheet. It’s in the care of the Churches’ Conservation Trust, which protects churches at risk.

 I thought about church buildings at risk as we read about David contemplating the need for a permanent place of worship and building a house for God.

 It seems that God has some questions about David’s motives for wanting to build a temple.

“Did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying why have you not built me a House of cedar.”

 God says to David that it is not a priority, but the time will come when it is right to build the Temple in Jerusalem, but it will not be David who does so.

 “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body and I will establish his Kingdom.”

 David would need to learn of the concept of God’s time, of being prepared to let go - not an easy matter if you are viewed, as was the case with him, as a successful leader. Looking at many of our leaders today, it seems that little has changed.

 The dialogue with God continues thus referring to this offspring: He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom forever.”

 Who is this “He” who shall build a house?

 We know is that Solomon, the son of David, built the First Temple in around 1000BC. It was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587BC and rebuilt around 500BC following the return from the Babylonian exile. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and was never rebuilt.

 Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it again - He was talking of the Temple of his body.

 For Christians, it is Christ who has established the throne of God’s Kingdom forever. As we contemplate this extraordinary statement made by Jesus I wonder if you find yourself falling headlong into the mystery of God?

 I wonder if you feel as Gregory of Nyssa did, that God is met, not as an object to be understood, but as a mystery to be loved.

And here I suggest we come to the crux of the matter of church buildings and our need to celebrate the mystery of God; we can do this individually, but humans are social beings. In this country from the days of Stonehenge to our centuries old cathedrals, we need our gathering places, and to celebrate the sacred mysteries of our faith in community.

 That’s not to say we don’t also enter a church to pray individually. I haven’t visited Sapiston yet but plan to do so shortly. When I do, I will approach down a long drive, through fields and past gorse bushes. I will enter through the Norman doorway. I will gaze upon the war memorial and its list of Subscribers. I will see a memorial to the Revd Arthur Rogers - priest there for 25 years who died in 1840.

 And I will recall the words of TS Eliot’s Little Gidding:

 “You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.”

 What I have said about Sapiston, applies also to our beloved St. George’s. Here too prayer has been valid, valid since 1864 the year of our foundation. We too have our war memorial. And before you leave, can I suggest you look at the list of vicars who have served this community.

 I often wonder about their ministries, about all they heard, all they did and all they saw. I think of Revd. John Robbins who spent 33 years from 1900 and steered our family through the First World War.

 Leonard Patterson his successor who was here for the following 16 years to 1952. They provided shelter for our family from the stormy blast and an eternal home.

 Our churches are so much more than just buildings. They are temples to the body of Christ, who lives and dwells within us, within these walls and beyond.

 Let me close by asking that we celebrate and give thanks to God for all who have built our churches and our forebears in faith who have made them houses of prayer.

 For those who maintain and donate to our churches

 And that our churches and cathedrals may be forever our hope for years to come and our eternal home.