I love when I am praying and God randomly drops an obscure Bible verse into my head. To be honest, this hasn't happened in awhile because I haven't been open to it happening in awhile.  Earlier this week, I was struggling with understanding my current situation. As I headed over to Weds night prayer, I asked God to refreshen my vision for being here at AU.

As I was silently praying, God answered my prayer through a random Bible verse. "2 Chronicles.. start at 5." Flipped open to 2 Chronicles, read chapters 5 and 6... and started crying.  Two things really struck me about this passage. 1) the content of the fifth verse.  2) the theme of dedication.

⁵And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. (ESV)

To give you some context. Previously, the Spirit of God was believed to dwell within the Tabernacle and was carried from place to place. At this point in history, a temple has been constructed to give people a more proper place to worship God. As they prepare to dedicate the temple, the Levitical priests - those set apart to serve God- bring the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and the holy vessels that were in the Tabernacle to the temple.  The Ark normally contained the tablets of law given to Moses, the pot of manna, and the rod of Aaron. At this point in the story, the only thing within the Ark were the Tablets of Law. The Tabernacle, of course, was the place were the people of God would meet with God, and the Ark was kept inside the Holy of Holies or the sacred part of the Tabernacle that could only be accessed on the Day of Atonement.

In other words, the people that were chosen as the servants of God brought forth the Word of God, the Spirit of God, the environment in which people met with God, and then the instruments that were used to worship and bless God... they brought these things into the sacred space that was being dedicated to God. They brought these things into the Temple, a place that was meant to honor and serve the Spirit of God.  Then, they dedicated the Temple and rededicated themselves as God's people. They expected God to dwell within their city, so they constructed a place for Him and then carried the necessary things into the space.

As I continue to serve God as a "Christ Ambassador" at my university, I expect God to dwell in the midst of our campus. As a community we have attempted to create a space for Him to dwell and reside: this space is not a architectural  structure, but a living temple- an authentic community. As we dedicate this space to God, we must also bring  the necessary things as His chosen servants. The preparations are made for time and space (services, studies, events, hangouts),  and we must bring our own arks, tabernacles and vessels. The Ark symbolizes God's Law and God's Spirit. As we prepare space for Him, we need to bring forth His Word and His Spirit. We need to be rooted in scripture and fed by His presence. We need to carry His presence into even the tiniest of details through prayer and worship and study both in our own daily lives and specifically in preparation for our times of ministry. As we expect God to dwell amongst us, we need to pitch our own tents of meeting. We need to create the environment of the Tabernacle. We need to give people the opportunity to encounter God with authenticity and minimal distractions. This means extending hospitality, preparing details, being intentional about being present in peoples' lives and giving room to grow.... this could include giving altar time in service, planning intentional coffee dates, or simply creating space where people can gather together. Lastly, we must bring in the vessels that are used to worship and honor God as we meet with him. What are these vessels? These vessels are normally people. God oddly chooses to use humans to do His work. We need to invite people to come into the spaces where we are expecting God to move. If we expect God to work in and through people, we must carry the people to Him.

All this to say that this passage reminded me of my responsibility and privilege as a servant of God. It reminded me of the elements that are needed in my own temple- that is in our community and in my daily life. I need  to be rooted God's word, to be centered in God's presence, to create spaces to meet with Him, and to invite people into my life and into the presence of God. That is my duty as a Christian, to gather resources for the purpose of glorifying God and to dedicate myself to His service. 

Which brings me to point number two,  the theme of dedication. Chapter 5 details the preparation of the dedication and Chapter 6 is Solomon's dedication of the Temple. My study Bible notes that there is more time devoted to talking about the dedication of the Temple then there is talking about the planning to build it. Scripture clearly outlines that the priority is dedicating oneself to God. Unfortunately, my priorities are all too often the planning and not the dedication. I spend lots of time planning how I am going to gather the necessary things to dedicate my life to God and little time actually dedicating my life to God. Corporately, we have a tendency to have the same flaw. In our community, we spent an hour and a half setting up for our weekly worship meeting and only five minutes praying together that it would be dedicated to the service of God. I am not saying that the timetable should be flipped or accusing our community of not prayerfully devoting our services to God, but I am suggesting that our priorities should be examined.  Preparation is important, but dedication is key. Am I spending more time planning my small group Bible study or praying that God would be in the midst of my small group?

I'm  not suggesting that planning and dedication have to be mutually exclusive. It is possible to dedicate your planning to God as well, but all too often we don't. Despite popular belief, we don't multitask well all the time. I don't know about you, but I need to rethink my priorities. To go back to the weekly worship meeting example, I used to pray as I unwrapped chords for the sound system, but lately I just focus on setting up the sound system. This small shift in paradigm makes a world of difference. If I invite God into the little tasks as I dedicate them to Him, how much more will I serve and glorify Him in the process.

Here is a post dedicated to understanding my role and rededicating my life. Will you join me in reconsidering what we bring to the Temple and how we can better dedicate our lives as the Church to God?