The Big House

John 14:1-5

The kingdom of God is a big house. There is room for everybody. There is space for everybody to be who they are. That is a big house.

First--there is room for everybody. 

God made us all. God formed and fashioned us. God knit us together in our mothers’ wombs, as the Psalmist sang. God made us in and through the love that is God’s own being. That means there is no one who is not a child of God’s love. That means there is no one whom God does not welcome. That means there is no one for whom God’s grace does not flow. 

All are welcome. All are in the presence of the kingdom of God.

And so we call the room in which we worship a sanctuary. A sanctuary is a haven. It is a refuge. It is a place of peace, shelter, and solace. 

That means we have to tend carefully the way in which we enter this space and define this space as we use it. 

To begin, we welcome anyone who enters this space without reservation or hindrance. We welcome them as guests invited, as a communion hymn sings. That means overcoming our normal propensity for affixing labels to the people in any group of which we are a part. We do not do so out of meanness most often, but rather simply to provide order for our existence. It helps to know with whom we are in any given place. It helps us anticipate the words and actions that might come. For instance, while I was with my parents, I would catalog the folks present in the dining room--old friend of my folks, newcomer, someone having a good day, another, not so much, and so on. It just gave me my bearings. Well, here we are to practice a different way of being. Here, we simply welcome one another, losing ourselves in being with one another, regardless of who anyone is other than as a child of God. That is all that matters in this space.

Second, we listen for God. As we find ourselves welcomed, the next thing to do is heed the Psalmist--Be still and know God. Our hymns, prayers, and music are actually tools to bring us to focus. They remind us of whom God is. They remind us to quiet our “outside voice” we use in daily life, allowing God to become our inner voice, meeting us with what we need, be it comfort, healing, grace, confirmation, affirmation, or simple acceptance. 

As we do so, we assure everyone with us that God is with everyone. God is able to listen to the hundreds of voices speaking all at the same time. At Montreat, we used a new form of prayer for most of us--Korean Prayer. In it, everyone speaks at the same time. It creates a gaggle, reminding us of everyone else who also needs God as much as we do, but it also reminds us that, to God, everyone is equally important.

God’s house is big enough for that.

But God’s house is not so big that we get lost, losing all we are in an anonymous wash. No, God’s house is big enough for us to be ourselves even as we are part of the limitless kingdom of God.

In our New Revised Standard Version Bible, Jesus says, “There are many ROOMS in my Father’s house,” which is a very correct translation of John’s Greek. But I also like the King James’ misstep here--”There are many MANSIONS in my Father’s house.” 

Talk about the space to be--we each have our own mansion in the kingdom of God! Most of us would settle just for a quiet room in our home, but God’s love is always extravagant. We get an overabundance of space to be.

Remember that when someone else tells you that you must confine yourself to a box of their defining. They may even say so in terms of love--ever been in a romance where you felt you had to conform to your beloved’s expectations, severely limiting who you were? In true love, we welcome the other to be fully who they are as they welcome us to be who we are. 

God meets us with such love.

God made us all different. God used every color in the paint box as God made us. As a sculptor, God threw out the mold with each person formed. If God were an automaker, you would never know God’s cars by their uniformity--GM would fire God faster than light as a designer. God takes joy in our differences, hoping we will, as well.

Yet, this becomes a stumbling block for us, especially in church. Church is still the most segregated hour in America. Congregations tend to like homogeneous groups. To look within the church doors is to see something alarmingly out of step with the kingdom of God. The earthly kingdom of God includes 7 billion persons. No two are alike. Not many believe the same thing about God, even within religious communities. They do not speak the same language, wear the same clothes, or listen to the same music. They cannot even agree on what football is! Yet, they are all welcome in the kingdom of God, weaving a wondrous tapestry of color, voice, and presence. 

In the kingdom of God, differences are actually gates for love and invitations to interbeing. We are incomplete in our createdness. But as we find and welcome others, we find that we are complementary creatures--we fit together. What I lack, another has; what they lack, I have. As we welcome one another in the full reality of who each of us is, we find it leads to puzzle-completing. Each has something uniquely their own to give to everyone else; everyone else has what each needs to be fully who they are as a child of God. All the pieces fit together to create the kingdom.

This guards against the idolization of self--wherein we demand to be who we are at the exclusion of everyone else except as they serve our wants. No, diversity is an intentional work of God to call us into losing self in the embrace of mutuality. 

So here, in this sanctuary, there is room to find out who you really are. A sanctuary is a safe house. It is to be free of judgment. It is to be a place of learning. It is a place to find refining. It is a place to discover safely what needs to be kept, what needs to be let go, and how we fit with others, and they with us. It is a place of growth.

So, God has a big house.

It is big enough for everybody, and it has space enough to be.

Enjoy.