a holy temple

The collect for Sunday is probably in my top 5. Its language of the Church; built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone and personal renovation of the heart; that we may be a holy temple acceptable to God balances nicely my hope for the Church as an Anglican with my old evangelical roots.

Elsewhere in this blog and in my life I have been very critical of so called "praise and worship" music. Most of it is trite and it often is very personally focused, forgetting the role of the corporate in corporate worship. There are a few songs, however, that are very powerful for me, and the collect today reminds me of one that used to be on my lips every morning in chapel. Sanctuary, made famous by Jaci Velasquez, while falling into the personal trap is a great song to prepare my heart for worship.

The chorus is all I really know,
"Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tride and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you."

As I sit here and drink too much coffee, thinking about the fine fried shrimp po'boy with fries and onion rings, and fried pickle and hush-puppy appetizer I enjoyed last night, I'm not feeling much like a holy temple or a sanctuary. Knowing that it isn't what one puts into his body that defiles doesn't much help. Most of my recurring sinfulness comes around pride issues as I build my own foundation and sometimes even try to be my own cornerstone. That's when the collect comes back and reminds me that it isn't about me and my personal house of worship but about the Church, unified and making up the walls that sit upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets that makes up the holy temple. As it grows so too does the temple and the Kingdom palace moves closer and closer to its rightful place on earth.

Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary not for one, but a part of the much larger sanctuary you have planned of your Creation. Amen.