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Recently I traveled to Nashville and visited with a couple of our families at the Vanderbilt Hospitals. It’s never fun going to the hospital, usually it’s serious, somber, sometimes it’s sad. While I was at Vanderbilt I seized the opportunity to raid their Divinity Library and sit among some great books while studying for a sermon. It was refreshing to be in a beautiful library overlooking a park-like campus.
I left the library and went across the way to a chapel. It was apparent that the chapel was built at a time in Vanderbilt’s history when the sacred was valued a bit more. This enormous sanctuary was a small piece of the sacred among an institution seemingly devoted to the secular. What made that place even more holy was a group of students who had sought retreat during their lunch hour to pray. Fifteen students among thousands pausing in that place to pray – I was standing on holy ground. A second visit to the hospital and I traded the warmth of that place for the sterility of fluorescent lights and lab coats. But my encounter with our divine God in a moment of pause carried with me that day.
These divine moments, seizing the sacred among the secular, are what a lifestyle of worship is about. Carrying Christ with us into sterile and dreary places is the act of a lifestyle of worship. These are the kinds of moments we want to share here at church. One of these sacred sharing places is our worship room. I’ve posted a picture and a thought from my day and encourage you to do the same. Let us claim this year for the Lord and take him with us throughout. Let us live lives of worship, carrying Christ with us always! We make the secular sacred through the presence of Christ in us.

Vanderbilt's Benton Chapel

This is an installment of the “Sacred Space” series – the first post available here explains this series.

One of my favorite places to pray and reflect is in Bowling Green and open 24 hours a day.  Christ Episcopal Church on State Street has a small but beautiful prayer chapel.  The “Duncan Hines Memorial Chapel” is accessible by a combination lock and available for the spiritual sojourner seven days a week.  The church office can be contacted during normal business hours for a code which gives access to the door.  I’ve come to pray here several times and find the stained glass, stillness and that “holy smell” common in more liturgical churches to be inviting.

The focal point of the prayer chapel.

The small size provides for quiet intimacy in prayer

I will continue with this series be sharing sacred space that I have found, with most of them from Bowling Green, KY.  If you have a suggestion let me know, I love to discover sacred space and take advantage of a few hours of personal worship and stillness before the Lord.  With warmer weather coming I look forward to finding and enjoying sacred space outside and sharing it with you, but for now these images from the Duncan Hines Chapel will have to suffice.

In the Original Testament if you killed someone the family of the slain would designate an “avenger of blood” from among them. This avenger of blood would have the responsibility of finding the murderer and killing them – sometimes without a trial. This was the way the law worked. It was important to that family that you succeed and kill the slayer – if you didn’t shame, weakness and dishonor would be on your family.

In Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua – God provided inside of the Israelite legal system a place where people who committed manslaughter without malice could find safety. These places were called cities of refuge; they belonged to the priests of Israel and were completely safe for those guilty of accidental manslaughter. They were to be close to everyone, Moses commanded the distance be measured so that no one in Israel would live too far from being able to run to refuge. In Joshua they become a reality as Joshua designates six cities of refuge. (Joshua 20:1-9; Numbers 35:9-28; Deuteronomy 19:1-13)

“Our church should be a city of refuge…”

1. A place where anyone is welcome

a. On our doors we have the slogan, “A place where you belong…” is that really the case. I believe that Billy Graham was right and Martin Luther King Jr. was right when they both stated that 11am on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. While the church has made strides toward repairing this – we’re still not past it.

b. It’s not just race, it’s social standing, economic class, education, anything that we use to separate an “us” from a “them” cannot have a place in the church.

c. God has always dreamed of his people being united, Abraham was blessed to be a blessing to the nations.

d. Even the dream and dedication of the temple realized that in part it was for the foreigner – 1 Kings 8:41-43. Solomon’s prayer says this, “Run here for refuge.”

e. Paul talks about this in Ephesians 2:17-19. What he’s really saying, is “Run here for refuge.”

2. A place where anyone is protected

a. The protection was taken serious by the Israelites. Verse five states, “And if the avenger of blood is in pursuit, they shall not give up the slayer, because the neighbor was killed by mistake.” Why? Because “the neighbor was killed by mistake!”They didn’t mean to, it was an accident, they did not know what they were doing!

b. That’s the main difference between the church and the city of refuge. For we are all guilty – Romans 3:9-10. We are all guilty of sin!

c. Christ is the one whom we murdered by our sin – and whom we run to for refuge. Luke 23:34, Christ prays, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” He’s saying, “I was killed by mistake, they didn’t mean to, it was an accident , they didn’t know what they were doing.” And in this prayer you can almost hear Christ whispering, “Run to me for refuge.”

d. And we see this is the case in Hebrews 6:18-19. We flee to Christ for refuge.

3. A place where anyone can receive grace.

a. Cities of refuge were pretty accepting places – only priests and the guilty lived there.

b. The priests in the city of refuge would hold the accused until the death of the high priest.

c. Why? The high priest’s death was the blood that covered over the offense of murder. See Exodus 28:38 for the priest absorbing guilt.

d. We know from Hebrews that we have a high priest who has destroyed our guilt. Christ has absorbed our guilt – giving us grace. Christ our victim, our forgiveness, our refuge, our high priest whose death has covered our sin.

We’ve been glued to the TV this week watching the stocks decline and the pundits speculate on how far the DOW can drop. I know it’s left many wondering, “Is anything for sure?” That coupled with the two recent incidents involving local law officers in domestic violence and murder is enough to shake anyone’s sense of security. There is no sure bet and no sure security.

Unfortunately for us Jesus’ words don’t offer a lot of hope as far as security.  In Matthew 8:20 Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” While Christ makes no promise for wealth gain, physical security or even safety Hebrews 6:18-19 does promise that our souls will not be lost in any temporal storm. The author states, “We who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain.”  This spiritual security, anchored in Christ, can weather any storm.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at the cities of refuge Joshua established (Joshua 20) and how they are a prototype of the church.  We’ll look at where true hope and refuge can be found.  We’ll discover that in this uncertain time there is security.  It’s not the type we expected or wanted – but it’s exactly what we needed.  See you Sunday!