Focus

Pay attention to the tension in your body. Let go of it and any expectations to do anything other than God’s will today. Prepare yourself to hear God’s word.

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Read

1 Kings 8:54-65 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Now when Solomon finished offering all this prayer and this plea to the Lord, he arose from facing the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven; he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice:
“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke through his servant Moses. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he not leave us or abandon us, but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. Let these words of mine, with which I pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Therefore devote yourselves completely to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. Solomon offered as sacrifices of well-being to the Lord twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat pieces of the sacrifices of well-being, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat pieces of the sacrifices of well-being.
So Solomon held the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a great assembly, people from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt—before the Lord our God, seven days.

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Reflect

Solomon built and dedicated the temple of God that his father David had once proposed to build The people of God were gathered in jubilant celebration because they finally had an awesome (and seemingly permanent) place to regularly gather to worship God. As you read this you may long for the chance to return to your own regular house of worship. That will be a jubilant celebration! But as we have been worshipping from our homes and in our hearts, connecting in new ways these last several weeks, perhaps we are coming to understand even more clearly that God’s presence is not confined to a building. And the People of God who gather to worship are still the people of God as they disperse. Especially then! Truly the prayer of Solomon was answered. The Lord indeed has never left nor forsaken us. Whether we are in the church building, or in the Church Universal, God is with us. He will not leave us or forsake us, “that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways.” Thanks be to God for Jesus who brings the temple of God into our hearts and into our midst.

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Pray

Eternal God,

We praise you for your unending faithfulness. Thank you for bringing your Way of Truth and life to be within and among us by the power of Jesus, our risen Lord. Help us to worship you day by day as we move into the Kingdom of your life, your mercy and your love that transcends any building we can construct. Draw us ever more near to you and to one another so that we may live in true communion as your people, now and always. In the Name of Jesus we pray,

Amen

Go with God!