And on this Sunday every year in church we both thank God for his goodness to us and dedicate ourselves our gifts, our resources, our lives in his service.  But we can’t do that today.  Really, I mean, really?  Of course we can thank God and dedicate ourselves to him right where we are. A church minister used to live in my house and this, my office, was his prayer room. It’s remained a place of prayer and it’s here that I pray, read the Bible, write sermons and take part in services, where I preside at communion and enjoy fellowship with my friends.

Preacher: Rev’d Trudy Payne

I was glad when they said to me: ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’.

Which is where we are not… Exactly a year ago we were in St Barnabas celebrating the refurbishment of our church, a service of thanksgiving and dedication on the anniversary of the date when the church was first consecrated.

But God doesn’t ‘live’ here.  As Solomon said, in that wonderful prayer at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, ‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!’  This makes a claim that was unique in the world of his time: that God wasn’t, and couldn’t be, confined to one place.  We know of Solomon’s temple only by reputation and we know where it was: on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, now a place sacred to the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  It was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC, and rebuilt about fifty years later when the exiles returned from Babylon.  And that’s the Temple where we see Jesus in today’s gospel.

It’s a well-known story, but I think it’s sometimes misunderstood.  The money-changers and the merchants were not acting illegally.  There was a special currency to be used in the Temple, hence the money-changers.  And doves were sold to be used as offerings.  But theft and fraud were very common and people were being cheated.  That’s what Jesus objected to.  The Temple was for worship and for doing God’s work.  Which Jesus showed, very pointedly, in healing the sick on this occasion.  He’d have known that the Romans would destroy the building in AD 70.  There’s never been another one and the focus of Jewish worship shifted to the synagogue as Christian worship moved to the church.  

And there we’ll leave buildings for a while and move to something else we’re celebrating today.  It’s the things we all, individually and as a fellowship, offer and dedicate to God: our resources, skills and talents: the hours and hours of unpaid, and often unnoticed, service (and a particular word of thanks to Diane and Johnson, our hard-working wardens); the professional advice and expertise so freely offered; the friendship and flowers, the welcoming smile and the sympathetic word.  When people look around our church, they often comment on how beautiful it looks.  They see altar hangings, robes, banners, silverware and glass, curtains and pictures, but what they can’t see is that most of it has been given by members of our congregation – with love.  My friends, so much of what you do remains unsung, but God knows.  And the clergy see a lot of it too, and we honour you and are more grateful than we can say.

It’s a pity that you can’t see all of this, isn’t it? But I have something to show you.

These beautiful hangings were made by Avril and Margaret as a gift to the church.  There are hours of skilled work in these, for God and for his church. 

God has given us all skills, gifts and talents which we can use for him – or, indeed not use if we choose not to.  I’ve mentioned several of them already.  What is the talent you have to offer?  And please don’t say something like ‘but all I do is welcome people and chat to them.’  You know, I’m sure, that visitors always say how friendly we are – and it’s because of you!  And, incidentally, please don’t compare your skills with other people’s or envy them.  Yes, Reverend Trudy, that means you!  You can’t sing; get over it!  The congregation knows how much I wish I could sing – but I can’t!  In fact, the feedback after I had tried to sing in church was ‘well, at least you weren’t far off being in tune.’  I felt crushed, but don’t worry, I’m not expecting sympathy.  There’s nothing wrong with a gift for making people laugh, is there?!

After that I think we’d better conclude! Use today to think about what you can offer God, and remember that a small gift given with love is very precious to God.  We won’t be giving physical gifts to the church today, nor putting envelopes with cheques in into the collecting plate.  If anyone wishes to donate financially, you know how to do it.  This year we are looking to raise money towards the cost of repairs to the organ – and it will be lovely to hear it again – one day. But times are hard for a lot of us, so please don’t feel under any obligation. 

So thank God for what he has done in the past, dedicate yourself, your talents, your resources to him today and place your hopes and fears for the future into his hands.

Amen.