NIV 1 Kings 8:27-29  “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!   Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.   May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

NIV 1 Corinthians 3:16  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

This morning I awoke to a daily ritual.  I get up, let the dog, feed the dog, turn on the Keurig, check my email, and then do Tai Chi followed by the Morning office of prayer.  The last two my wife and I do together.  It is a simple routine that provides a sense of connected-ness with time and the ordinary.  I am also aware what I do God is doing with me.  Why, because God has chosen me as his temple.

Jesus said in  Luke 19:46 (and two other Gospels)   ‘My house will be a house of prayer.  God comes and dwells with us making us his temple and calls us to continual prayer.  God wants us to be a place of worship.  This does NOT negate our coming together as the Church as some people falsely believe.  I does mean that God really does want to be with us.  This is one of the primary elements of love.

As we make this journey with Jesus toward the cross I hope we can be filled with the awe  and the desire for mercy that Solomon felt when God entered the Temple he had built.   I also hope it fills us with a sense of deeper intimacy and connected-ness with our Lord who wants to be a part of everything we do.