Our Dwelling Place

“Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations” Psalm 90:1

Every Sunday morning can be the birth place of God’s fresh work upon our lives. Pews are more than wood or metal, foam and upholstery, they are the vehicles by which we get to see and hear the wonders of God. They are the birthing table on which a new generation of believers is born, the high chair where we are fed our first purees of spiritual nourishment, the desk where we learn the principles of kingdom living from our heavenly Teacher, the table where as disciples we break bread with Christ, the hospital bed where we prepare to return to Him. The sanctuary is a cocoon where all of these stages of Christian life take place many times over concurrently…isn’t it beautiful?

Yet sometimes it is easy to forget the miracle that it is that we even gather together to worship our awesome God. Somehow, in the unstopping, demanding, relentless pressure cooker that is our lives, it becomes natural to take our times together for granted. Too often personal disagreements, or petty concerns rip the fabric of the church to such an extent that what was once a beautiful quilt that brought warmth to everything it touched, is tattered, frayed and out of joint—unrecognizable to the world as something that God made. Beyond Jesus’ death and resurrection and His Word, the fabric of the church is relationships. It’s important for our generation and those that are to come that we never forget this.

This past Christmas, I sat at a service at my church and watched a traditional Christmas presentation from our children’s ministry. It was a common enough sight; boys in long colorful robes and head coverings holding walking sticks, little girls in white dresses with wings clipped to their backs, children’s ministry teachers miming hand motions and mouthing Christmas choruses, and proud parents with too many cameras trying to get the perfect (if shaky) shot.

You’ve probably been one of the aforementioned players at one time of your life, I know I have. I’ve been a little shepherd boy, singing the carols (off key) while waving at my parents. And, truth be told, I will probably be one of the proud parents with too many cameras when the time comes. Since it happens every year, it’s easy to become accustomed to the cuteness of the kids and the swooning of the adults; I know it happened to me. Yet, as I watched the presentation that I’ve seen countless times before in its different variations, God made it come to life for me in a new way.

I began to look around the sanctuary and saw excited grandparents, proud parents, mocking teenagers, and shy children—GENERATIONS of people serving Christ! It’s wonderful to think that these children will someday be teenagers mocking the presentations they were part of just a few years ago, the mocking teenagers will be the proud parents with too many cameras, the proud parents will be the grandparents excited to see their grandchildren looking so cute. And what is the common denominator? Christ.

He truly is our dwelling place in all our generations.

So, if God is the dwelling place, what are we? As we come together in the dwelling place and share our lives with each other, each one of us and our generations are the pieces of fabric that alone are plain, but which God sews together to become a beautiful, elaborate patchwork—that quilt that warms everything it touches. We are his church, his beautiful bride which he will one day soon come and receive into His glorious presence. Till then, let us strive to be His hands, His feet, and His voice to a dying world.

Copyright 2008 Jimmy Monreal