Br. Bob Pierson, OHC
Feast of the Dedication of St Augustine’s Church
Thursday, October 4, 2018
To hear the sermon in its fullness click here.
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| Br. Bob Pierson, OHC |
First Peter 2:1-5, 9-10
Matthew 21: 12-16
This truth shouldn’t surprise us because if we are honest, we know that God uses the less than perfect to make Godself known, repeatedly. No one that God calls is ever perfect.
God works with flawed humanity to make God’s purpose real in the world. Which of course means, God uses us, along with all our imperfections, to be God’s people in the world.
The same is true for “The Church,” the Body of Christ made up of baptized believers of every race and nation, of every denomination and social class. We all are called to be “living stones” that are “built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.” That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to try to be the best that we can be. But it does mean that God is not limited by our faults and foibles.
And we do that by “ridding ourselves of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.” We are God’s own people. God help us to really become who you call us to be, so that those who know us can truly say, “Surely the Lord is in this place!”
“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” These words from the mouth of Jacob describe how I feel about every place of worship I have ever seen, including this church. This IS an awesome place, and yet it is far from perfect. It’s still going to be cold in the winter, and the walls still look like we have a permanent water feature that doesn’t work very well. And yet, this IS the house of God for us, where we meet God in the liturgy of the church day in and day out.
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