Acknowledgement of country
Since time past,
the wind sings it’s song,
the sky paints it’s picture
the trees whisper their stories and
so too
the first peoples, the Adam’s and Eve’s of this land, mothered this land we worship on.
We respect their knowledge and wisdom.
We recognise their stewardship and custodians of the land that we also call home.
We humbly acknowledge their rightful place.
And we uphold all those who work towards healing and reconciliation across Australia.
Lighting the Christ Candle
This candle reminds us of Christ Jesus, the light of the world.
We are drawn to the light.
Christ, the light clarifies our thoughts.
Christ the light brightens our darkest days.
Christ the light points us in his way.
Let us be willing to humbly follow the light wherever it leads.
Call to worship
Mighty and merciful God,
you have led your pilgrim people through centuries past
and are calling us to serve you today.
You have blessed us with gifts of the Holy Spirit.
You have given leaders to your Church
who have guided us with courage and insight.
Despite the failings of your Church,
despite our misunderstanding of your word,
you continue to claim us for yourself,
to renew our faith and to send us out to a world in need.
We ask that you will strengthen our work for justice and peace;
that you will help us minister to the poor and distressed,
the lonely and alienated, the confused and despairing especially during this time of extended lockdown
May your Spirit of truth and love be our guide,
that we may be a faithful servant Church,
giving of ourselves and all we have
as Jesus gave himself for us. Amen.
Hymn 1 Be thou my vision O Lord of my heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihJAJA4ibEs
Prayer of confession
I invite you to think on current news items where division, difference and injustice is causing unrest, international tensions, persecution. How might we lead lives that disrupt injustice and open space for God’s love to enter the world? Bring these matters into the silences provided in this prayer of confession.
For hatred between peoples,
for violence among nations,
for breakdowns in civility,
for the lack of compassion we pray (silence).
Why does it have to be this way, O God?
What choices of ours could bring change? (silence)
For estrangement within families,
for tensions among neighbours, we pray. (silence)
Why does it have to be this way, O God?
What choices of ours could bring change? (silence)
For divisions in the Christian church,
For conflict within our community,
we pray. (silence)
Why does it have to be this way, O God?
What choices of ours could bring change? (silence)
For our inner struggles with an inflated ego,
or deflated self-worth, we pray. (silence)
Why does it have to be this way, O God?
What choices of ours could bring change? (silence)
Amen.
Words of affirmation
Hear the promise of God.
through all these times, amidst all these conditions,
God offers the Spirit’s abundant, transformative power
for our companion, guide, and hope.
Thanks be to God!
Bible Readings
1 Kings 8: 1-13
8 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
6 The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. 8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
Psalm 84.
1How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 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,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.[c]
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d]
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield,[e] O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.
Getting to Know Mark and Mary Hurst: John McKinnon
Sermon/Reflection: Mark and Mary Hurst
The Story of Solomon As A Cautionary Tale - 1 Kings 8:1-13
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:11
Paul’s comment to the Corinthians can be applied to how we read the Bible. I know when I was growing up in church and reading Bible stories like today’s Old Testament story of Solomon, I took the stories at face value. Solomon was wise, pious, and did a great thing by building a temple for Israel to worship Yahweh.
But now as an adult reading the Bible, I see that the writer of 1 Kings might not have been praising Solomon but was slyly condemning him. Walter Brueggemann is one Old Testament scholar who has helped me read the Old Testament with more mature eyes. He sees Solomon as leading Israel back to Egypt and its empire ways. Solomon himself is married to Pharaoh’s daughter and clearly wants to emulate his father-in-law.
Brueggemann points out three aspects of this attempted empire building:
First, it is clear that Solomon is committed to the accumulation of wealth: both money and women (700 wives and 300 concubines).
Second, it is clear that Solomon is committed to power. He was an arms dealer, importing horses and chariots. He had, in Brueggemann’s words, created a national security state. (More about this later.)
Third, Solomon became a great practitioner of wisdom. It may just be a personal achievement, but Brueggemann says it was probably a celebration of Solomon’s patronage of the arts that enhanced his regime. It also could be seen as an accumulation of data so that the elite would have a monopoly on knowledge. Solomon may have been celebrated for his worldly awareness, but Brueggemann compares him to the “Wise Men” of the Vietnam War era who didn’t know what to do.
When David hands over power to Solomon (I Kings 2), he says, “Keep the Torah and you’ll be fine.” Then he proceeds to give Solomon a hit list. It is, Brueggemann said, like something out of The Godfather.
David praises Solomon’s “wisdom” by instructing him concerning Joab, an army commander, “Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his grey head descend to Sheol in peace.” And concerning Shimei who insulted David, “Don’t let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his grey head down to Sheol with blood.”
Solomon was wise in the ways of tyrants and despots. Wipe out all your enemies and then you will have clear sailing.
Here in 1 Kings 8, today’s reading, the emphasis seems to be on the extravagance of the occasion rather than the joy of worship – “…sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.” Solomon when he speaks and prays seems to want to emphasise his role in all of this by referring to “The house I built” at least five times.
How do we understand the different images we get of Solomon – wise, holy king or shrewd rich man seeking power and wealth? I read a paper by J. Daniel Hays entitled, “Has the Narrator Come to Praise Solomon or to Bury Him? Narrative Subtlety in 1 Kings 1-11”. He has some interesting points to make.
Noting the extensive use of irony and subtlety on the part of the storyteller, especially in light of specific prohibitions in Deuteronomy, the conclusion drawn from this study is that the narrator in 1 Kings 1-11 is not praising Solomon or his kingdom at all but instead, is presenting a scathing critique.
The clearest illustration of this is found Deut. 17.14-20. This text is especially pertinent because it describes the requirements that the law placed on the king. Besides exhorting the king to read the law carefully all the days of his life (17.18-20), this text also states the following:
Be sure to appoint over you the king Yahweh your God chooses... The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get them, for Yahweh has told you, 'You are not to go back that way again'. He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (Deut. 17.15-17)
Deuteronomy stressed that Yahweh must select the king. (Solomon was selected in a power-play scheme arranged by the court prophet Nathan and involving Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother.) Furthermore, this text prohibited three things for the king. First, the king was not to accumulate large numbers of horses, especially from Egypt. These are probably to be understood as chariot horses, for which Egypt was famous. Second, he was not to accumulate many wives, and third, he was not to accumulate large quantities of gold and silver. Is the narrator of 1 Kings aware of these prohibitions? Note the following text in 1 Kings 10.26-29:
Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue at a price... (1 Kings 10.26-29)
The narrator mentions that Solomon accumulated horses (12,000 of them), that he made silver to be common, and that he imported the horses from Egypt. Moreover, the next several verses (11.1-3) delineate his disregard of the prohibition against accumulating many wives. So, at least four aspects of Deuteronomy 17 are mentioned in close proximity. Clearly the narrator is making allusions to the Deuteronomy 17 prohibitions. This is not a praise of Solomon, but rather a subtle, yet serious, indictment. 'Look how great Solomon was', the narrator says on the surface. 'He was great in violating Yahweh's law', the narrator is really saying, right below the surface.
Chapter 5 begins the story of Solomon's construction of the temple, often viewed as the high point of Solomon's reign, indeed sometimes viewed as the high point in Israelite history. However, this passage also contains some troubling elements if placed within the context of 2 Samuel. Solomon writes to Hiram to negotiate for cedar to be used in the temple. Solomon refers back to Yahweh's covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 as part of his rationale for building the temple. However, Solomon seriously misquotes the situation and the words of Yahweh as recorded in 2 Samuel 7.
David is prevented from building a house for Yahweh, not because of external struggles as Solomon argues, but because Yahweh did not need a house nor apparently did he want a house. Walter Brueggemann notes that such a house violates Yahweh's freedom. He says: 'Yahweh wants no temple because Yahweh is on the move, completely unfettered.’
And certainly, Yahweh wants no cedar house, because cedar smacks of affluence and indulgence. The fact that Yahweh specifically mentions cedar in 2 Samuel 7 is very ironic, because Solomon cites this passage as part of the justification for his contract negotiations with Hiram to obtain cedar!
The temple is not at all central in Yahweh's discussion with David in 2 Samuel 7. There is indeed a wordplay on 'house' that runs throughout the passage. David wanted to build Yahweh a house, but Yahweh said, 'No, I will build you a house'. It is Yahweh's promise of building David's house – a legacy - that is central.
Yahweh returns to speak to Solomon a second time in chapter 9, after Solomon has completed his magnificent building program. Yahweh does not seem overly impressed. Has he not read the earlier chapters? Does he not know the splendour of this fantastic house that Solomon has built for him? Yahweh makes no comment whatsoever on the appearance of the temple.
He does, however, perhaps pick up on Solomon's boast, Ί have built this house'. Yahweh states, Ί have consecrated this house which you have built'. Yahweh mentions this twice (9.3, 7), stressing the point that the importance of this house is not in the grandeur of its construction but in the significance of Yahweh's consecrating presence. Skipping over any accolades and speaking considerably more briefly than Solomon did, Yahweh turns to the critical issue at hand—obedience to the law. Ί have consecrated this house', Yahweh states in v. 3. 'But as for you', he continues in v. 4 and in the next several verses, 'you must keep the law and walk obediently or else I will leave this temple and it will be destroyed'. The temple is no sooner built than we hear of its inevitable end; the empire is no sooner built than we hear of its inevitable destruction.
One question I ask myself when I read stories in the Old Testament is “What does the New Testament make of this?” More specifically, what does Jesus think about these stories?
Jesus makes two direct references to Solomon, speaking on one occasion of his ‘glory,’ and on another of his ‘wisdom.’ In Matthew 6:29 / Luke 12:27 – “…yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory [splendour] was not clothed like one of these” - he places the pure natural beauty of the lilies above the consummate type of artificial splendour of Solomon and uses the contrast to point out the importance of trustful dependence upon God, the Giver of all that is necessary for the body as well as for the spirit. Brueggemann sees this as Jesus’ “snub of Solomon as ‘the icon of commodity anxiety.’”
In Matthew 12:42 / Luke 11:31 – “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!” - the eagerness of Solomon’s contemporaries to hear his words of worldly wisdom is contrasted with the indifference and spiritual blindness of the men of Jesus’ own day, who failed to understand and appreciate the truer wisdom of a greater teacher.
Many of our English Bibles divide chapters into sections with titles. In Luke 12 verses 13-21 are often entitled “The Parable of the Rich Fool” and the next section is entitled “Do Not Worry”. Brueggemann says we should read these sections together as one. When verse 27 mentions Solomon, we should connect him to the rich fool in the verses above. Solomon’s life of accumulation is the opposite of what Jesus describes in these verses. Brueggemann suggests these verses present this ironic juxtaposition to unveil the anxious rush to accumulate as an ultimately deadly pursuit. The “more system” intends to keep us busy wanting more. Not even the great King Solomon could accumulate enough. Desiring more only enslaves us to a regime of anxiety.
In a statement of contrast, the gospel tells us the creatures know better. They know hibernation and migration. They do not sow or reap, “they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them.” People are the only ones who do not seem to know. People are the only ones who think more is better. All this creates is anxiety and all this anxiety does not add even a nanosecond to our lives.
I want to look at one more NT reference - Acts 7:44-8:1a. – part of Stephen’s long sermon tracing Israel’s history that ultimately got him killed.
Stephen’s sermon comes to its end speaking about the tabernacle and then David. He comes to Solomon, builder of the temple and says, “But, it was Solomon who built a house for him.” Stephen does not, however, praise Solomon. He rather understands Solomon’s temple construction as a case of stiff-necked disobedience, thereby making a connection to the temple of his own time that the risen Christ will destroy. Stephen reminded his listeners that “…the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands.”
Thus, the tradition ends, according to Stephen, in an act of disobedience by betting on the temple, a citadel of assured divine presence. That act of treachery is trumped only by the execution of Jesus, the “Righteous One.” The recital of Israel’s history ends in a harsh condemnation of their current situation. It is no wonder that the authorities were enraged and killed Stephen in response.
So, what do we take away from the Solomon story? For me, the nuggets of truth and wisdom are found in the “if” and “but” insertions in the story. “If only your children look to their way, to walk before me. (1 Kings 8:25)” And “…but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways... (1 Kings 8:58)”
Follow the way of Jesus who provides for the birds of the air and not the way of Solomon who hoards wealth and power and seeks more and more.
Psalm 84
Psalm 84 is a hymn probably sung by a pilgrim at the temple on a festival.
Verse 3 says, “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.” It is no surprise that sparrows and swallows made their homes in the expanses of the temple in Jerusalem. These are birds whose lives exist near to ours. Swallows and sparrows are found where there are people, constructing their homes in cracks in walls, in deserted barns and abandoned lofts where people have left space. The temple was such a place.
A writer reflecting on this Psalm said: “When I imagine the Sermon on the Mount, I picture Jesus pausing after telling the crowd to “look at the birds of the air.” He does what my ornithologist neighbour does: his eyes catch a flutter of movement in a tree, as a bird hops from branch to branch. His attention lingers on the birds around him, caught up in what the psalmist can’t help noticing: those mama swallows with their chirping babies, mouths opened wide for insects; those thick, dark nests made of muddy pebbles; those freed bodies flitting about the open air of the temple. In sparrows and swallows we discover that to delight in the unexpected intrusion of another is to dwell in God’s life. We learn that God’s distraction for us, for all created things, is love.”
Hymn 2
God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayk3vPfbhu8
Prayers of the Prople
Hymn 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4_jilYgSw
Bristol Methodist (Lord of all wisdom)
Blessing/Benediction
As we leave this worship time, may we have:
the wisdom to read the Bible with discerning eyes;
the courage to act upon the new insights;
the strength to right any wrongs; and
the love that is needed within the world.
Go in peace. Amen.
Depart song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-NCKYEPBg
end at 1:39