The Gospel According to President Business - A Sermon for Reformation Sunday October 26, 2025
Last week we heard the story of the call of David,
how the small-statured shepherd,
youngest son of Jesse was chosen to be king.
Later in his kingship,
David wanted to construct a house of cedar
to house the ark of God.
It was a time of peace,
and the ark of God had moved about in a tent
throughout Israel’s past.
It makes sense:
in a time of peace,
why not build?
But building the temple wasn’t in the cards for David.
According to 1 Chronicles,
this is because there was
too much blood on David’s hands,
but according to 2 Samuel,
it is because God doesn’t need a house to dwell in.
The Lord says: “I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day,… did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
Put another way, God is saying
“You don’t need to build me a house,
I will build a house for you”
Invite Scripture Reader forward.
You could say it is history repeating itself,
Israel demanded a king,
and though it rejected God,
God allowed it, and worked through it.
Perhaps God didn’t ask for a Temple,
a house of cedar,
but this Temple will become the place of encounter
the place of relationship,
the place of sacrifice
for all the people,
and it comes by God’s promise.
God always keeps God’s promises.
Let’s enter the story, may God open our hearts and minds
to hear God’s Word for us, today.
Narrative lectionary Reading: 1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-13
A reading from 1 Kings.
1 Now King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend to David. 2 Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, 3 “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until he put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune. 5 So I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’
1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. 4 So they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. 8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
12 Then Solomon said,
“The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
13 I have built you an exalted house,
a place for you to dwell forever.”
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
Today, on this Reformation Sunday,
the 508th anniversary of the Reformation,
I’d like to share with you a story about a man.
To some he was well loved,
to others he was despised.
Some say he was a builder of something great,
others say he tore apart more than he built.
For some he was a hero,
others viewed him as a villain.
No, I’m not talking about Martin Luther.
I’d like to share with you the story
of a man named President Business.
For those who don’t know,
President Business is the villain
from the 2014 Lego Movie.
President Business plans to use the Kragle - crazy glue
to freeze the Lego universe perfectly in place.
This is a problem for master builders
who prefer to have some creativity in the world.
And who is called upon to defeat President Business?
Emmet. This guy.
This too average, too normal, lego person.
He is beyond normal.
He is boring.
He lacks creativity,
except for his terrible idea
of a double decker couch,
which actually saves them
at one point of their adventures.
But with some help from Wyldstyle
Batman, and some other friends,
they use their creativity to defeat President Business.
As much as this is a fun story
about these Lego characters,
it is really a story about a young boy named Finn
and his father,
who is called “The Man Upstairs”
by the pretend Lego characters.
The “Man Upstairs”;
the father got mad at his son, Finn,
for playing with the father’s Lego world.
The father was planning to use the Kraggle
(or Krazy glue)
to ensure his lego constructions
are permanently perfect,
constructed as instructed.
No more taking apart and rebuilding.
No more kids play.
“This is how adults play with Lego” he says.
But then the dad saw the creativity of the son,
creating this story about Emmitt and his friends
trying to defeat President Business and his Kraggle.
Dad figured it out;
“I’m President Business. I’m the bad guy”
so he has a change of heart
and allows the son to play with the Lego.
How quickly we can go from villain to victor
when we recognize the err of our ways,
and get creative in building something new.
Permanency lacks creativity.
Once you shape your buildings,
your buildings begin to shape you.
We saw this in Israel
with the story of the construction of the temple.
Finally, after generations and generations
of movement and wars,
in a time of peace,
a temple was constructed for God to dwell.
But it’s not just a house for God,
or a house for the ark of God,
but also a house for the people.
The construction of the temple
marks a major shift
in the Israelite culture and religion.
Finally they have this grand structure
for the one true God to reside,
and a communal place for all the people,
rich or poor,
young or old,
to gather,
to worship and make sacrifice.
It’s not that the people can’t worship God elsewhere,
rather the Temple becomes the place
for collective worship,
a focus for the entire people.
The Temple was not built to confine God.
Solomon made it clear:
“Even heaven and the highest heaven
cannot contain you, (O God),
much less this house that I have built!” (8:27).
God is everywhere,
but God promised to be particularly present in that place.
This is much like today:
we understand God is present anywhere,
but we are promised God’s profound presence
when we worship in the sanctuary,
in, with and under the bread and wine,
in the waters of baptism,
wherever God’s Word is proclaimed,
and in our suffering:
God is particularly present.
With the Temple,
God’s dwelling was no longer in a tent,
in a temporary place.
It is permanently perfect,
constructed as instructed,
quite likely in the same place
where Abraham bound Isaac.
Constructed from the cedars of Lebanon,
foreign materials obtained,
possible because Israel was at peace with its neighbours.
A little, important side note here,
we find out that Solomon’s wisdom is on display
with his ability to trade:
he traded wheat and finest oil
for the cedars of Lebanon.
We ought to remember this wisdom of international trade
and positive international relationships
in this time of tariffs and nationalism.
More wisdom from Solomon:
The Ark of the Covenant is placed,
containing the stone tablets, the 10 commandments
that Moses brought down from the mountain.
given to Moses by God
as he led Israel out of their slavery in Egypt.
And God is present;
in thick cloud,
Like on the mount of Transfiguration,
and the pillar of cloud that protected Israel
in their Exodus.
The place of encountering God
is filled with the covenant, God’s Word,
filled with darkness of God’s presence,
spiritual and practical remembrance
of God’s saving power
from their slavery and captivity in Egypt.
But there are a couple big problems
with the construction of the temple;
In the chapters omitted from todays reading,
we find out that the very people who built the temple
were treated much the same
as the Israelites in Egypt.
Brutal work conditions, high taxation, forced labour.
It was like Egypt’s captivity all over again.
Along with the building of the temple,
the workers were hired, about 150,000 in all
forced,
conscripted,
enslaved
to build the royal palace.
It was a house for God,
but it seems the focus was on the ornamentation,
not God’s presence.
The Temple took 7 years to build.
The royal palace took 13.
The Temple was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide.
The royal palace was 150 feet long,
75 feet wide.
If the temple was a grand, exalted structure
built to honour God,
I’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions
for why the royal palace
was built larger and fancier
than God’s house.
Mixed motives, to say the least.
Once you shape your buildings,
your buildings begin to shape you.
David Hayward is a cartoonist with a catchy nickname.
The cartoon shows someone shoving God
into a “theology box”
“C’mon, God, get in there!”
Solomon declared that no house can really house God.
But the Temple
became a God-box for Israel.
It wasn’t built to limit God’s presence,
but the people limited God’s presence
to the building.
But God doesn’t dwell there forever.
The temple was built
and later destroyed
and then rebuilt again,
and later destroyed, again.
Solomon’s temple stood for hundreds of years;
not forever.
When it was destroyed and Israel was exiled,
they had to learn to worship God
in their exile,
in that new land.
When Jesus was crucified,
the Temple curtain was torn in two,
and darkness covered the land;
The God who dwells in darkness
cannot be limited to a building.
We have all,
knowingly or unknowingly,
at one time or another,
constructed a dwelling place for God;
a God-box in which God resides in our minds.
Maybe it happened right here in these pews,
hearing and gleaning what we like
from scripture
and preaching
and study;
ignoring what we don’t like,
limiting our understanding of God.
The church is guilty of it too.
God is bigger than the church’s understanding of God.
Many Christians presume God can only be experienced
in the Christian Church.
That’s the first view.
God is bigger than that.
God is here!
and God is out there.
God speaks,
and we can be opened to the wideness of God’s mercy,
we can experience God and grow in faith,
but sometimes this looks like this cartoon:
Sometimes our theological breakthroughs
just result in a bigger God-box.
Perhaps even the Reformation,
begun 508 years ago
was just a widening of the God-box.
We try to put limits on God’s saving power.
We try to put limits on God’s law for that matter.
When we don’t like what Jesus says,
we dismiss it.
When we do like what Jesus says,
that becomes our box for God.
We worship the limitless God,
who promises to be present
in Word and Sacrament,
in this place,
in other sanctuaries and temples
and even in you.
And the God we worship is the Good Shepherd,
who leaves the 99 behind
and goes to search for the one who is lost:
God can be found in God’s house,
and out on the road ahead of us.
The Reformation didn’t just happen 500 years ago.
The Church is always Reforming.
This is the work of the Spirit.
I believe we are living in a new Reformation,
as Phyllis Tickle coined it,
the church is having its 500 year rummage sale.
It’s time to clean house.
Like Luther’s time,
there are flaws in the foundation.
God’s creative Spirit is at work,
God the Creator is building.
Jesus the Christ is still the cornerstone.
Now I’ll try and bring this sermon home
with some food for thought,
with some blessings mixed in:
We just approved some needed building improvements.
We are shaping this building for ministry needs
and then the building will shape us.
May we build this house for God and God’s people
with living stones,
so that God’s power is not limited, here.
May we find the right balance
between the essential and the eclectic.
May we focus on God’s Word and Sacrament,
and less on the ornamentation.
Like the man upstairs, President Business,
do our efforts to conserve and protect the church
end up like Kragle, like Krazy glue,
forever in place,
no room for play,
thus limiting God’s power?
When we krazy-glue the wrong thing,
we are culling creativity
in our creative God’s house.
Are we learning from our history,
or like ancient Israel,
is history repeating itself?
May you people of faith: Spirit-filled master builders,
who join God the Creator in building the Church,
be freed by God’s Creative Spirit
to get creative, here.
God is speaking to you.
Do you ever feel like Emmet,
perhaps too normal, lacking creativity?
Emmit’s double-decker couch idea was bad,
but it saved them.
May God give the normal people among us
a double-decker-couch kind of word
the creative Word,
that the Church needs.
This place, this sanctuary and building,
this is our epicentre of faith.
But this isn’t where the big game is played,
this is the practice field.
In preparation for the game of life,
May we learn the things of God here,
and put our skills into practice
in the big game out there.
I’m guilty of it - we can easily focus on the crumbling church,
church decline,
emptier pews,
and a radically fast decline
in society’s views of the Church;
May God call us to re-focus
on God’s presence in our lives
and on God’s work in the world.
At the end of the day,
Israel’s hope was not in their Temple
but in God’s saving power.
May we find our hope,
not in the wood and stone,
but in Jesus Christ, the Saviour,
the cornerstone.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
