Tenison Woods and MacKillop Centre News: True worship

Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market’. Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up’. The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

John 2:13 - 22

Jesus' next public act after the wedding at Cana was the less than aptly named cleansing of the Temple. His disciples whom he had called one or two days before have accompanied him to the Temple. The everyday business surrounding the cultic Temple worship of the Judaeans was taking place. Money changers were needed in order exchange Roman coins into Temple coins [Roman coins would defile the sanctity of the Temple]; the sellers of pigeons, sheep and cattle conveniently provide animals for sacrifice. Undoubtedly they are there for profit, though some their prices are extortionate. But they were there to provide a service.

To the disciples' surprise and undoubtedly their horror, their rabbi, their new master, expressed his anger by literally lashing out on the money changers and sellers. They barely knew this man. Surely they were afraid?

The Temple plaza that surrounded the Temple was 480 m x 300 m. It was so huge that Jesus would have been raging for hour after hour if he was ‘cleansing’ the Temple. So what then is the point of this story?

John’s story was constructed some 20 or 30 years after the destruction of the Temple. It was John’s vehicle to describe the end of Temple worship, to purposely place Jesus at the centre of God’s action. Change is coming, radical change; the way things have been is no longer acceptable. The Temple is redundant. Jesus himself embodies all that the Temple was for the Jews. He is the centre and focus of worship in the Christian community.

So this story asks us: Who or what is at the centre of our worship? What distracts us from true worship. Jewish life was bound by rules that prevented true worship, so have we managed to worship without being burdened and overwhelmed by rules? Our worship is, we believe, most perfect when we listen and respond to God’s Word, when we place our intercessions before our God, we break bread and share the cup of wine as we remember the words of institution, and when we go out to proclaim Good News to the world.

Our church is a mammoth – if divine institution. And that it itself presents an obstruction to true worship. We possess more rules and regulations than you can throw a stick at, our complex liturgical laws alone are comprehensible to but a few. We worry about the purity and nuances of the vernacular; we are either for or against the Extraordinary form of the Mass; the internet is alive with traditionalist blogs defaming the riches of modern liturgical practice. Is this our evidence of true worship?

This weekend we recalled the dedication of the Archbasilica of St John Lateran, the cathedral church of the diocese of Rome. It is a place of enormous beauty. The sculptured twelve apostles created by seven brilliant artists are awe-inspiring. There are six papal tombs within it, and up to fifteen other popes’ remains are held in a polyandrum. Visiting St John Lateran is both a religious and emotional experience.

Why is this feast day remembered with this Gospel? It is to remind us, that no matter how clever we are at building monuments to the God who loves us, such buildings do not capture God, and nor should they capture us. They point to, but can never, ever take the place of, true worship.

Peter

REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

by Kevin Treston

Mutual Gain or Win-Win

When conflict happens, good leaders avoid exercising power over others for the sake of political or personal gain. They search for a resolution of conflict or at least its management. Differences of opinion are seen, not as threats to harmony, but as assets. Diverse viewpoints tell the community that the picture is not complete. If the differences can be incorporated into the ultimate decision, then the solution has been enriched by additional wisdoms. A win/lose style of leadership results in losers being alienated from owning the decision. They either surrender gracefully, opt out of implementation or await the inevitable day of paypack.

Mutual gain style of leadership assumes an abundance mentality rather than a scarcity mindset. Mutual gain leaders see the big picture. They don’t indulge in posturing games but work towards the best possible outcome for the school or parish. They are attentive listeners to various points of view and synergise divergent opinions by drawing out from each person particular insights. The process of synergising is the art of extracting elements from an array of often conflicting opinions and regrouping the ideas into a holistic solution.

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