Anniversary of the Dedication of the Abbey Church - 20th June 2026
The Dedication Chart
I was looking at the gospel reading set for the Eucharist for this feast and thought ‘why do we have this story about Zacchaeus, it’s not about a church?’ [Lk 19: 1-10]. But of course when you stop to think about it the gospels do not contain anything about building and consecrating churches, indeed Jesus was very negative about the buildings and institutions of religion. What mattered to him was hearts that opened to receive him and people who themselves became the dwelling place of God.
So what can I say about this celebration of the dedication of our abbey church? There is a paradox here, that our faith is not about buildings and institutions and yet these things seem to be important to us as we seek to live faithful lives. Perhaps the fact that Christians build churches not temples says something significant. In ancient cultures a temple was a place where a god dwells – Solomon believed that he had built a house for God. But it is interesting that in his prayer of consecration that we read at the Eucharist [1 Kg 8: 22-30] he poses the question ‘can God indeed dwell on earth?’. Even so, he asks that God’s name be there in the temple, that it be a special place towards which people could pray. The awareness was emerging that God was not constrained to particular holy places, but held in tension with the desire to have a temple, a house for God as did the peoples surrounding Israel.
As Christians we know that God did indeed dwell on earth in the person of Jesus Christ and since Jesus’ death and resurrection continues to dwell on earth in the hearts of all who believe in him. We ourselves are temples of the Holy Spirit, we do not build temples to contain the Spirit. The word ‘church’, ‘ecclesia’, refers first and foremost to the people of God not the building. The people are the dwelling place of God and we come together to acknowledge and celebrate that fact. If we want to gather we need a place to do so, hence the buildings.
The interesting thing is that the buildings where we gather to worship begin to take on a particular atmosphere. We consecrate them, as we did our church, asking God to bless the space that we have set aside and make it a place where we can encounter God’s presence. As we worship there day in, day out, we intensify that consecration, contributing our own energies to the energy that is already there. It has become a place where those who visit more readily encounter the presence of God. It is not that God is more present in some places than others but that something happens to us in certain places that opens us to that presence.
This presence is also something that is carried by people, not just places, and of course in the most potent way by Jesus Christ, God incarnate. In the story of Zacchaeus it was the encounter with Jesus that transformed his life, enabling him to let go his life of extortion and fraud and to embrace a life of justice and generosity. Jesus said ‘Today salvation has come to this house, for this man too is a son of Abraham’. Jesus came to him where he was, to his home, and saw him as a child of God. Knowing he was seen and loved Zacchaeus’ life was turned around.
We came to this community seeking God, maybe metaphorically climbing up a tree to get a better view from a safe distance, maybe sitting beside the road in our brokenness crying out for mercy. Perhaps with the Pharisees, seeking God in strict observances, ensuring we get it all done correctly. Probably all of these things at different times! But regardless of our own efforts, however we express our seeking, God comes to us and finds us where we are, posing the question or giving the invitation that turns our life upside down. We need only be open and receptive.
Our church in its beautiful simplicity is a space devoid of the noise and clutter that can crowd out awareness of God’s presence. The offices and liturgy that we celebrate there constantly bring us back to God’s word. We are greatly blessed in all that past generations of sisters have bequeathed to us. Now as we grow older and smaller, wondering what the future holds, we can still remain faithful to our commitment to prayer and worship there. We continue to nurture the atmosphere of our church that speaks of God’s presence to all who come to share it with us.
But we must never forget that as we allow our hearts to be opened and our lives to be changed by our encounter with God we too become temples of the Spirit and the place of God’s indwelling, as we sing in our hymn for this feast. It is not just the building but we ourselves who bring the presence of God to others.
Mother Anne - 20th June 2026