God's House.

The church is God's House.

Ideally it is a refuge from the harsh realities of our world.

A place where people find sanctuary in the protective Love of God.

It is also a House of Prayer.

It is a place where people can come to petition God for help.

Unfortunately the tenants of God's House are prone to corruption and vice.

"Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves!  Should not shepherds feed the sheep?  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep.  You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them."  Ezekiel 34:2-4 (NRSV)

In Matthew 23 Jesus denounces the Pharisees for pride, hypocrisy, and extortion.

And in Luke 20 Jesus tells The Parable of the Wicked Tenants. 

All these refer to God's priesthood - His representatives on Earth.

And it is these representatives who killed Jesus.

So when you enter God's House be aware that you are not merely encountering God but His priesthood also.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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