Homily for St Mark's 168th Dedication Festival

The Homily Delivered in Saint Mark’s Fitzroy marking the
Anniversary of Laying of the Foundation Stone delivered on 4 July 2021
by the Reverend Dr Colleen O’Reilly

1 Kings 8. 22-23, 27-30. Psalm 84.2.3 4-9. Ephesians 2.19-22 John 10.22-30

Let me begin with a confession. I love a good renovation show on television. Give me ‘Love it or List It’, or ‘Restoration Man’ and I’m happy to watch. Of course, the makers of these programmes always make the most of any dramas involved. And often enough, it’s drama about the foundations. The foundations laid in the past are found to be inadequate for the present. So concrete gets poured, or piles driven in underneath to support what was there. After the anxious tears of the stressed owners have been seen, and the huge costs involved are revealed, the building moves on to the next stage. Phew! We the viewers can relax and enjoy the rest of the work without lifting a finger, except to turn the remote off at the end.

Foundations matter. Foundations must support the whole building in the beginning and whenever changes are needed later. Foundations are physical and they are metaphorical. When Bishop Perry laid the foundation stone of this Church he surely had in mind much more than a building. He was laying a stone that stood for much more than a fine gothic place of worship. The parish does well to keep an annual remembrance of the bishop’s act that day in 1853. It provides opportunity to reflect on what you are building now on those long-ago foundations.

Have you been to Jerusalem and seen the huge, and I mean HUGE stones that are all that is left of Herod’s Temple, the one Jesus knew? They are close to 50’ long and 11’ high; their depth is hidden in the wall. Those foundations are what remains from the Roman destruction of the city in 70AD. It is a tribute to the builders that they are still there. They form what is called the ‘western wall’ where Jews go to pray, and many to lament what has been lost to them

Today’s gospel portion takes place in the Temple during winter the Feast of Dedication. It wasn’t one of the ancient pilgrimage feasts when people were expected to come to Jerusalem from wherever they lived. Dedication was a recent addition to the cycle of worship in Jesus’ time. It celebrated the reclaiming of the Temple from its desecration by the pagan king Antiochus IV. In 167BC he had captured the city and offered a pig in sacrifice on the Temple altar. It was a terrible time for the Jews. The books of the Maccabees record the persecutions under him, and the revolt that eventually happened. When the Temple was finally re-dedicated there was only enough oil to light the lamps for one day.

Yet, the lamps burned for eight days, long enough for oil to be sent to Jerusalem from all over Israel which was how the Temple had been supplied in the past. You probably know the Jewish festival of Hannukah, or Lights when an eight branched candle holder is lit, one candle each night for eight days. It is known as Hannukah, and falls around Christmas time.

It is winter, and Jesus is in the Temple walking in the portico of Solomon. It’s a sheltered area on the eastern side of the outer court. It’s an area anyone could enter, Jews and gentiles, women, and men. The Jews gather around Jesus, and they want to know from him if he is the Messiah. Tell us plainly, they demand.

Here is an aside: when John’s gospel calls people ‘the Jews’ he means those Jews hostile to their fellow Jew, Jesus. He does not mean; nasty Jews attacking nice Christian Jesus. John also tells us away from Jerusalem, many believed in him.

Jesus tells these questioners that he has been telling them by the works he does who he is, but they have not believed. He has just spoken of himself as the good shepherd, a title belonging to God. He has just restored sight to a man born blind and called himself the light of the world. Jesus’ actions are those of the One who has sent him, the Father with whom he, Jesus is one. But not only do his questioners not believe, they take up stones to stone him. They believe he is a blasphemer and stoning is the punishment for that offence.

John’s telling of Jesus’story is laying out for us, his readers, the foundations upon which we can build our faith in the God who has sent Jesus into our world. There in the Temple, which looks so unassailable but is not, is the One whose presence is the new and everlasting means by which we may meet God. It is no surprise to me that John sets this exchange in the outer court of the Temple. It’s the one area where anyone can come. Beyond there, restrictions apply, but not here where Jesus is laying foundations of faith for any willing to believe, foundations upon which you and I rely this day.

In every generation we are building on the foundations laid by those who have gone before us. They can no more imagine us, than we can accurately imagine who will come after us. In 1853 people would have walked or come by carriage to worship here. We drive up in our petrol driven machines, probably the last generation to use that fuel. How will they gather, as they surely will, in 2121?

And if we are building on the foundations of the past, what is it we are building? More solid bluestone or lighter, more flexible edifices, buildings not made with hands but by the many hands we lend to building God’s kingdom. The Church faces many challenges today and yet it is always the same challenge – to shift from having churches to being church, from coming to church to being church.

Now, this parish has some runs of the board in this regard. You love your neighbours through your work with Anglicare and in the way you enable other parishes to co-operate in the food pantry. Some of you will have been part of the ministry here in those heartbreaking years when gay men were dying of AIDS and some churches were among the few willing to respond without judgment and with as much love as could be found. Those are foundations for your ongoing ministry here in these COVID times, in and through the many daily acts of prayer and care that flow from this community.

And what is the primary foundation upon which we build every day, every time we act in Jesus’ name? It is the simple truth and profound mystery that in Jesus, the risen Christ, we meet God. We might need to practice social distancing for a time, but God never does. Even if this beautiful building was no more, God is with us.

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth… the only Son who is close to the Father’s heart… has made him known (John 1. 14, 18)

This is the real foundation stone laid in and for every generation. Keep building upon that truth, that profound mystery and no one will be a stranger to us, no one an alien in our eyes, and this community will indeed prove to be truly a dwelling place for God to be at work.