A House of Prayer

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’ Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written, “My house shall be a house of prayer”; but you have made it a den of robbers.’ Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. Luke 19:41-48

Jesus doesn't get angry too often, but he does get furious in the temple, which was to be a most sacred place, a house of prayer. For the Indigenous of this continent, this whole land is a "house" of prayer, a sacred land which is, too often, sold to the highest bidder. Jesus warns the leaders of the temple that defying the holy leads to destruction. We can feel as if we are in times when the holy and sacred are being sold off and denigrated. Others may feel these are righteous times. Jesus invites us to take great care of how we use our time and our spaces, all of which are gifts from the Creator, none of which we can make ourselves. May we all make an effort in the coming days to make every space a place of prayer, places of tender invitation, all places open to the heart of God.

Wondrous Creator, you make the humble holy

you transform deserts into places of comfort

you seek out the lost and those abandoned

and make room for all of us in the world.

We set up fences, strict rules and divisions

buying and selling the sacred as profane

we belittle the honest ones and the alien

and do hear the cries of the people here.

Lord, help us to restore this your temple

may grace and kindness replace greed

may welcome and embrace replace arrest

and may we be carriers of your peace. Amen.