Tag: Holy Sanctuary

THE DIVINE FIRE

In every Lutheran Church sanctuary there’s a special lamp (often with a red glass shell) that burns steadily in the chancel area near the altar. This lamp is known primarily as the “Sanctuary Lamp” (also known as the “Eternal Flame”) and it’s a quiet but powerful symbolic witness. Far from mere decoration, this lamp carries deep biblical roots and rich spiritual meaning for us today — especially as we prepare to celebrate Pentecost Sunday.

The Sanctuary Lamp is no modern invention; its origins reach back to the very commands God gave in the Old Testament. In Exodus 27:20–21, the Lord instructed Moses: “You shall further command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, so that a lamp may be set up to burn continually… Aaron and his sons shall tend it… It shall be a perpetual ordinance to be observed throughout their generations by the Israelites.”

This perpetual lamp stood in the Wilderness Tabernacle and later in the Jerusalem Temple. It burned as a visible sign of the Lord’s abiding presence. In Jewish tradition, this lamp is called the “Ner Tamid” (meaning Eternal Light) and is still found today in synagogues near the ark that holds the Torah scrolls. It proclaims that the Holy One, the Maker of the Universe, is forever present and will honor his covenant promises.

From the beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ, Christians carried this ancient biblical symbol into the worship life of the Church. In Lutheran congregations, the Sanctuary Lamp burns in the chancel area near the altar to emphasize the real and true presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar (a.k.a. Holy Communion). Therefore, in addition to declaring the steady presence of God’s Holy Spirit, this special lamp also quietly testifies to the real presence of Christ in, with and through his Holy Supper given and poured out for us.

Consequently, Lutheran sanctuaries have long cherished this symbol as part of our “catholic” (meaning universal) Christian Faith. The red glass of the lamp often evokes biblical images of God’s Eternal Fire manifested to Abraham as a mystical firepot and flaming torch, and manifested to Moses as a burning bush that was not consumed. And for all those J.R.R. Tolkien fans, it brings to mind Tolkien’s fantasy writings in which he references God’s “Flame Imperishable” that refers to the primordial Divine Fire of God Almighty at the center of creation — at the center of all that is, both seen and unseen. Moreover, the red glass and glow of the Sanctuary Lamp remind us of the Fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

As we approach Pentecost Sunday in this Year of Our Lord 2026, the Sanctuary Lamp highlights rich meaning for us. On that first Pentecost over two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples “with a sound like a mighty rushing wind” and appeared as “tongues of fire” that rested on each of them (Acts 2:2–3). This is the birthday of the Church of Jesus Christ! What began in the Wilderness Tabernacle and Jerusalem Temple has now burst forth as the Living Fire of the Holy Spirit poured out on all baptized believers in Christ!

So, the Sanctuary Lamp burning beautifully in our Mt. Olive sanctuary illustrates this Pentecostal reality. For indeed, the Holy Spirit sent by the Risen Christ now dwells perpetually in his Holy Universal Church. He enlightens our minds with his Holy Scriptures, kindles true faith within our hearts by his grace, and empowers us with his Holy Gospel to let our light shine in his name. The red glow of the Sanctuary Lamp invites us to remember that the same Holy Spirit who set the Apostles ablaze at Pentecost still burns brightly among us, within us, and through us, comforting the sorrowful, strengthening the weak, and uniting us as One Body in Christ.

On Pentecost Sunday, when we hear again those ancient events of wind and fire, I invite you to be sure to direct your gaze toward the Sanctuary Lamp during worship that Sunday morning. See in its steady flame the promise that God’s presence is not seasonal or occasional — it is eternal. The lamplight that shone in the Tabernacle, that filled the Temple, and that shines near the altar of Christian congregations throughout the world, signifies the Living Light that shines in every baptized believer through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

May you always let the Sanctuary Lamp remind you of the long history of salvation, giving thanks that the God who commanded the lamp to first burn in the Wilderness Tabernacle is the same Lord and Savior who says to us today, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). May the Sanctuary Lamp continually stir in us a deeper awareness of Christ’s presence, especially in his Holy Word and Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and may the Holy Spirit strengthen and keep our hearts burning within us with the faith, hope and love of Jesus Christ until he returns in glory.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love!

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

THE ASSEMBLY OF WORSHIP

United by their distaste and suspicion of Jesus, the Pharisees and Herodians approached him with some false flattery: “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.” Then they asked him a cynical trick question that was meant to trap him: “Now, tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?” And by “lawful” they of course were referring to the biblical Torah.

If Jesus had said to his fellow Jews that they should pay the imperial tax and support the Roman world order, then he would have allied himself with a totalitarian power that was robbing Israel of its sovereignty and was killing Jews. However, if Jesus had said that Jews should not pay taxes to the international imperial world order, then it would have been seen as sedition against the Roman Empire. This gotcha question was a perfect trap: “Is it Torah to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?” So in response, Jesus answered them by calling attention to the image of the Emperor on a coin, and he famously declared, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).

You see, Jesus very cleverly threw the question back at the Pharisees and Herodians, and his shrewd answer raises a very important issue for his followers throughout the centuries unto today’s day and age. It reminds us that we cannot worship both the Lord our God and “Caesar” as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. That is, we cannot simultaneously follow the ways of the Spirit and the ways of the flesh (as the Bible puts it). In other words, we cannot put our trust in the Lord and in the world at the same time. It’s a transgression of the First Commandment.

For example, even the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ has fallen into this trap within its worship life for almost a half century. For decades now, large swaths of the Church have drifted afield from the liturgical worship of Jesus and his Apostles that’s rooted in the worship of the ancient biblical Temple. For at least 40+ years, congregations of the Church have served a worldly concept of worship, calling it “Entertainment Evangelism.” Diminishing the importance of the Sacraments of Christ, Church congregations have even put sanctuary altars on wheels so they can be easily moved, or they have gotten rid of their altars altogether, turning the chancel of the congregational sanctuary into a performance stage. Indeed, for far too many years, we’ve seen concert hall worship spaces and personality cult preachers, which turns divine worship into a theater and the congregation into a mere audience. And what has the Church gotten from selling-out its great and holy birthright for a bowl of entertainment culture porridge?

So, what is worship all about? Is it entertainment or is it something much higher?

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the The Chronicles of Narnia saga, the central character of Aslan tells the four Pevensie children and their cousin the reason why they were brought to Narnia. As he is sending them back to our realm, Aslan says to them, “This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” And this beautiful dialogue powerfully illustrates why we assemble for worship in the holy sanctuary of our congregation. That is, we assemble for worship and fellowship so that by knowing Christ in the worshipping assembly for a little bit each week at Mt. Olive, we thereby may know him better out in the world.

This is why I dislike the phrase “I’m going to Church.” This is because we do not “go” to Church; rather, we ARE the Church. We may “go” to worship for our weekly Sunday assembly, and then “go” from our weekly gathering to serve, but we don’t “go” to Church because we ARE the Church. In other words, we go to worship in order to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed and receive the Living Christ in bread and wine. Yes, as we assemble each week in person-to-person living community and access the powerful means of God’s grace (the Word and Sacrament), we are strengthened to go live daily God-conscious lives and to do the work of ministry in the world around us. For it says the following in Ephesians 4…

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints [that’s all of us] for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

(Ephesians 4: 11-13)

Therefore, in-person assembly for worship and fellowship on Sunday is our weekly Narnia. God’s love and grace communicated through Word and Sacrament and fellowship is that which calls us, gathers us, strengthens us, equips us and sends us “for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12a) out in the everyday world of our daily lives. Therefore, as we read further in Ephesians 4…

“We must no longer be children… we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

(Ephesians 4:14-16)

Together in Christ’s Body, Pastor Tim