God's House: An Appreciation

Text:  Psalm 27:1, 4-9

Theme:  “God’s House:  An Appreciation”

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

January 26, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

For in the day of trouble    he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent   and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted   above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;  be merciful to me and answer me.

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”   Your face, Lord, I will seek.

Do not hide your face from me,  do not turn your servant away in anger;    you have been my helper.  Do not reject me or forsake me,   God my Savior.

One day, Lord willing, there will be another item checked off on my bucket list.  Your bucket list, of course, are those things that you would like to accomplish before your journey through this life is through. 

One item on my list involves travel.  I would really like to visit the holy land.  I’ve been to our nation’s capital; on my first trip there as a young boy, I supposedly rode in Jackie Kennedy’s limousine — or so the story goes.   I’ve kissed the Blarney stone.  The Empire State building?  I’ve been to the top.  I’ve stood in the gazebo outside Salzburg, Austria, where Captain VonTrapp wooed Fraulein Maria in “The Sound of Music.”  I’ve seen the Mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark.  As an 8 year old boy, I faintly remember visiting Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp outside Munich, Germany.  I’ve hoisted steins of beer in the Hofbrau Haus, walked the streets of Shakespeare at Stratford upon the Avon, had a cheeseburger at the original Hard Rock Cafe in London, and I’ve watched my ecstatic brother-in-law actually hold in his hand the guitar that once belonged to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.  I marveled at the Colosseum in Rome and stood before the high altar in St. Peter’s basilica, examined the ancient Scriptural manuscripts in the Vatican library.  I’ve been to Savannah, Georgia with my bride and saw where they filmed “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”  I rode high atop red, double-decker buses and, when visiting San Francisco, took those “little cable cars” that “climb halfway to the stars.”

But I’ve never been to the “wailing wall” in Jerusalem.  Neither have I walked the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives.  I haven’t dipped my feet into the Jordan River or gazed upon the shepherd’s fields outside Bethlehem that remain to this day.  That would be nice.  But better yet would be a trip up to the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  There’s a little fishing village there called Capernaum — and if I had one place in the holy land to go, that would be it.  The area itself has retained most of it’s pristine beauty — as photos from Google Earth demonstrate.  The only “touristy” thing is a visitor’s center.

If you were to visit Capernaum today, you would take note of the archaeological excavations.  They are centered on the small, Jewish synagogue not far at all from the lakeshore.  And right “next door” to that synagogue dated to the time of Christ, they have uncovered a home.  While it cannot be conclusively proved that this was the residence of Peter and Andrew (that Robert mentioned in today’s Gospel Reading), it’s quite likely that it is.  After worshipping in that synagogue one day, Jesus was invited into that home.  Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with the flu.  As the story goes, Jesus went to where she lay; He lifted her up by the hand, and the fever left her.  She, then, served them. 

After the Lord left the Nazareth of His childhood and began His public ministry, He went to live in Capernaum.  That’s the area where He called His first followers.  Capernaum became His home. 

Geographically, we are not in Capernaum.  But I want to make the argument and state the case that, in terms of our faith and our spirits, we are in Capernaum.  Jesus says:  “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” 

Did you know that for one hundred thirty five years Christians have gathered together in the name of Jesus at First Presbyterian Church of Denton?   On May 2, 1878, this congregation was organized by a Dallas pastor and a traveling evangelist.  There were fourteen charter members that began to gather in the name of Jesus:  two children, eight women, and four men.  They gathered in a small building that served as a school during the week. 

Six years later, in 1884, they had their first installed pastor, Rev. R. S.  Burwell.  In addition, they also completed construction of their new church building that year.  I’ve brought along a miniature model of that house of God into the chancel this morning that was recently uncovered.  As it is written in The History of The First Presbyterian Church:  “It was affectionately known as the Little Red Church.”  In a remembrance of the dedication of that church, Rev. Burwell had this to say:  “I wish I had time to tell you of our trials and tribulations in getting a respectable place to worship.  In spite of all difficulties, in October, 1884, we began to worship in The Little Red Church.  I can tell you we were thankful to God!  I helped to lay the foundation thereof, and when it was completed, I felt like shouting, ‘Grace, grace unto it.’ I remember my first text in the Little Red Church.  It was, ‘And let the hand of the Lord our God be upon us,’ and that is my prayer for your work of faith and labor of love now.”

I speak in appreciation of this history today.  That Little Red Church was Capernaum.  It was the house of God.  There people would gather to hear the Gospel and to receive the Sacraments. 

In 1926, “The Little Red Church” gave way to what was known as “The Rock Church.”  It was built on the same site as “The Little Red”, and the cost of that new facility — get ready for this! — was a hefty $45,000.00.  It was written of the Rock Church:  “It looked like a church, and when we entered, there seemed to be a peace and quietness that gave us the feeling that we had come to worship God.” 

The means of Grace — the Gospel and the Sacraments — made their way through the history of the Rock Church, and this brings us to 1960 which was, incidentally, the year of my birth.  In that year papers signed by officials of this congregation to purchase a parcel land (that you happen to be occupying right now) for the price of $22,000.00. 

The last services in the Rock church were held on June 27, 1965.  On that day, the members made procession from downtown Denton to where we sit now.  Each person carried a hymnbook.  That Lord’s Day service began in the Rock Church and it ended right here. 

I speak in appreciation of this today.  I praise almighty God for this today, and I invite you to join me.  This is our house of God; this is our Capernaum.  The psalmist declared:  “I was glad when they said to me ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”  King David, in the psalm appointed for this third Sunday after the Epiphany, said: 

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the Lord  all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord  and to seek him in his temple.

Each time we enter the house of God, we really do have a rendezvous with destiny.  Being together with the Lord IS our destiny.  Jesus said that “In my Father’s house are many rooms.  I go there to prepare a place for you.”  This is the same Jesus, the Son of God, who lived in Capernaum, who proclaimed the kingdom of God, who called people to repent and to believe the good news and to become citizens of the kingdom of God.  This is the same Jesus who left His home in heaven to make His home with us.  And during His stay with us, He went on to suffer and die for all that was and is wrong with us.  He rose bodily from the grave as the first-born of a new creation, a new creation of which we, by grace are a part of.  And even though He has bodily ascended into heaven, He sent His promised Holy Spirit, and the truth remains that wherever two or three are gathered in His Name, there He is in the midst of them. 

First Presbyterian Church.  In the words of Rev. Burwell:  “Grace, grace unto it… . ‘And let the hand of the Lord our God be upon us.’” 

Finally, in the words of Jacob of old:  “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it… .  How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”  Amen.