"While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, 'All that you see here--the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.'"
It's hard not to be impressed by grand cathedrals and temples, isn't it? I remember going through the Vatican in a state of awe at how magnificent it all was. The mistake one makes in that line of thinking is that all that grandeur is about God. That grandeur is about human beings expressing their admiration of God in an architectural, artistic manner, but the grandeur is not God, nor does it even reflect God. God chose to come into the world in a stable, not a grand structure. God chose to live a simple, unadorned life, not the life of a king in a palace. God chose to die, among thieves on a hillside, not in an Intensive Care Unit of a vast teaching hospital. All the grandeur we see in our churches and temples must make God twinge when looked at from the streets and gutters. For that is where God is among us, right now in our time. Still in the metaphorical stable--the homeless shelter, the halfway house, the prison, is our God. And we are still trying to find God at church. Let's think about that this day, and plan our Advent accordingly. Love, heidi
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