Sunday, Sept. 29
Exodus 26:1 – 27:21 Read it here
Through the next several books we will return many times to exacting details related to worship. Some are rules about priests, some are about sacrifices, some are about celebrations. Today’s are about places of worship and their furnishings.
In many ways, these aren’t relevant to us: we aren’t nomads who build goat-hair tents for worship, and there’s little likelihood of that changing.
Also, looking back on these rules through the lens of Jesus and his time, we see how the rules and rituals can become more of a hindrance than a help to true worship.
We’re also very aware that worship doesn’t always take place in a location designed and consecrated for it. The Last Supper, still the greatest model ever for Christian worship, took place in an otherwise insignificant upper room.
And, after all the pages of scripture devoted to the altars and ritual for “correct” sacrifice, we know that the ultimate, perfect sacrifice was made by the hands of unbelievers and took place in an unconsecrated dumping ground.
While keeping in mind that worship ultimately needs to take place where God decides, whether it’s an ancient cathedral or an improvised space normally used for something entirely different, there are a couple of principles we can draw from passages like this.
First, worship itself is an act of sacrifice and requires deliberate thought and preparation. Whether the place is a beautiful sanctuary, a gym or an open field, and whether the songs are sung to the accompaniment of an organ, a band or no instruments at all, the act of worship deserves careful thought, preparation and intentionality.
Second, the place and pattern of worship is necessarily influenced by the circumstances of time and place.
From rough mounds of stone in Genesis to elevated dirt and later fine gold in Exodus, the appearance of worship adapts to the needs and resources of the community.