GOD’S HOUSE

In her wonderful book An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us that in truth “the whole world is the house of God.” And, of course it is. The world, the universe, known and unknown, is God’s creation. How all this came to be is a moot point because we really do not know. Scientists and theologians have debated the issue for centuries and are nowhere nearing an answer than they ever were.

Yes, it would be very interesting to answer the “how” or “when” of creation, if it could be done, but would it change anything? The fact is that we will never know no matter how smart we are. Believers believe the world is God’s house. Unbelievers believe the world, well, I don’t know what they believe because I am a believer and I really do not care how or when the world, the universe came to be. I simply accept the fact that it is all the work of God.

The question remains, however, is that if we believe “the whole world is the house of God”, do we live and act as if it really is? Even more to the point, Taylor asks a very searing question: “Do we build God a house in lieu of having God stay at ours?” In other words, do we keep God in God’s place as the deists did? They believed, still believe, that God created the universe and since then has kept a hands-off approach to creation. Do we act as if the church (building) is the house of God rather than acting as if God lives in our house, namely, inside each one of us?

If we believe we are children of God, then it follows that God lives in us, not in some even very beautiful building or somewhere out there. God really lives in our very homes because God lives in each one of us. That can be very frightening or very exciting depending on how we respond to that truth. We can be scared to death as it were, if we understand that our home should reflect the presence of God when it obviously might not.

We can be excited if we understand the privilege we have in having our home be God’s home even as that is a scary proposition.

The truth is that for the most part our homes are God’s home. Love lives there, love for one another. The further truth, however, is that we often don’t see it that way or are even aware of that reality. It is almost as if we are oblivious of what our home is and is always to be: the house of God. If we were more aware of that truth, we have to wonder what this world would be like. What would our own life be like?

It might not be too far from the truth to assert that the problems we encounter in our daily lives stem from the fact that unconsciously we keep God in what we think is God’s place, whatever that place is, like a church. Again, it is as if we are afraid to come to the realization that the one place God chooses to dwell is in our own homes. God is not afraid to dwell there so why should we be afraid to offer God a prominent place there? It will make our life better once we personally invite God in.