Doug Van Pelt

Slumber Party at the Office

For the past two nights my wife has been away at the Women's Retreat for our church. So I've had our daughters with me. Besides the t-ball games and school field trip obligations, we've had fun together. They always like to come to the office. On Friday night we brought over some sleeping bags and both of our cats for a fun time. They watched National Treasure while I worked on the magazine deadline. The older daughter went to an overnight birthday party yesterday, so last night the younger one and I stayed here. When not eating ice cream or playing with the video camera making her own movies (that's gotta be a fun toy for kids) she loves spending time with crafts and drawing. I was able to transcribe the rest of my interview with The Agony Scene drummer, Brent Masters. I've worked a little on my Dizmas story before we get ready to go to the second service today. I love churches with a later service time. How many times have I stayed up real late on a Saturday night? Hundreds of times. Being able to sleep in a little extra is always a welcome thing in my book.

In Psalm 84, we see perhaps some honest and real depictions of temple/sanctuary life.

"How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord Almighty!"

When we sing or say that out loud today, we are mostly talking about the mystical body of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit amongst His people. But when it was written, it was no doubt just a straight-up description of what the temple of Solomon looked like.

"Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young
a place near your altar."

This is kinda funny. There was some bird's nests in the temple of the Lord! I love the practical sense that is conveyed here. And the fact that no hyper religious person got indignant and destroyed those nests, "This is no place for a bird's nest," I can hear a pharisee grumble, as they use a broom or stick to cast a nest full of eggs into the air. If that ever happened, I hope the eggs landed on his head, splattering yoke all over his imposing nose and face!
:?)

It's easy to imagine self-righteous jerks in religious settings. That is pretty sad, because the reality is that there are many loving and adoring people serving God. Why isn't our first instinct to think sentimentally towards church people, culling from our experience of rubbing shoulders with gentle and loving souls? Maybe we remember negative things too easy, or we have a propensity to judge with harshness (forming our own little mean religious spirit club). The people in one of the most beautiful temples of all time apparently allowed bird's nests to stay in God's house. That speaks of being laid-back and easy-going. Hardly the popular picture we have today, eh? Maybe we need to shatter our images of religious people. Maybe we can stop repeating the slogan, "Reject Religion, Embrace Jesus" (or whatever they read), as it reinforces the notion that religion is bad. I think this started as an ex-hippie Jesus freak idea that older or more traditional people are "dead in their traditions." While it is true that vibrant life is what God brings us, it is narrow-minded to think that all old people or worshipers in more mainline denominations are not in love with Christ. It's really our own little Jesus freak form of self righteousness.

I'm glad the church cannot be accurately stereotyped as stupid, narrow, mean, and judgmental. I wish we could all shatter those stereotypes, but I am sure that I have failed to do this. It takes an effort from each of us, one day at a time. This Psalm has another verse that makes up a beautiful modern day worship song:

"Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere..."

I often relate to just closing my eyes, lifting my hands, and worshiping God in song as being "in His courts," but I'd love to be able to picture what being in His temple was actually like. I believe that much of what happens in the church today is invisible. That we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. That we are in God's presence, forming an invisible and universal temple (the body of Christ). This is real, but unseen. When we meet together, we are spending time in God's courts. But one day this will be seen as well as imagined or felt.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 15, 2005 09:48 AM