Life in the Tent

2Corinthians 5:1-10

Albertville

Pent 2

6/14/08

Rev. Michael A. Trask

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About 10 years ago, 10 high schoolers from our church and I joined up with another church and went camping out in Wyoming. Only trouble is, so many signed up, that we discovered that we were going to be about one tent short.

I remembered that my mom had an old tent in storage. And when I say old, I mean old. It wasn’t sleek and light and made of rip-stop nylon like so many tents are made today. No, this tent was canvas. And it’s shape was rather interesting as well. We put it up to see if it was still in good condition and we started laughing when we saw it. It looked like a bad Hollywood imitation of a classic Arabian tent. The Arabians were known the world over for their making the finest of tents. This tent was not made by them. Because it looked so ridiculous, we derisively called it “The Omar Tent” I put the hose to it, and it seemed to still resist water quite well. So it was a go. We took the Omar tent along on our trip.

Do you remember that moment when Jonah was on ship running away from the Lord and the sailors cast lots to see who they should throw overboard and the text ominously says “And the lot fell to Jonah”? That’s what happened to me and three other guys. We drew straws to see who got which tent and the lot fell to us. We got thrown together into the Omar Tent. And the very first night that we stayed in it, It rained.

And it was then that I learned that a little spraying with the the hose is not quite the same as a severe thunderstorm when it comes to testing the waterproofing of tents? As the winds howled and the lighting flashed, the Omar tent leaked like a colander full of Bing cherries that have been rinsed in the kitchen sink. I don’t know how it was possible, but I think it was raining harder in our tent than it was outside. The slight depression, where I had nestled my sleeping bag actually filled up with water! The roof leaked but the floor did not, And so now, at about 2 in the morning, we had a swimming pool. However, we were in no mood for swiming. Our time in that Omar tent on that particular night, was misery of the highest order.

The Apostle Paul was a tentmaker. In today’s Epistle lesson he uses the object of the tent to teach something about the way things are. He says in the text “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God and eternal house in heaven” What’s he talking about? He’s not talking about my experience in the Omar tent, but he is talking about my experience and also your experience of living in your body. the body in which you live in is the earthly “tent” to which he refers. That’s where you live during this little season of life that you have been given.

So Paul would invite us to think of the body that we have been given as our tent. And furthermore he would have us think of our time here on the earth as an extended camping trip. It’s been kind of fun so far, hasn’t it? The things that we’ve experienced and have seen while camping out have been most wonderful. Yeah, sure there are struggles and hardships but half the fun of camping is learning to adapt and overcome whatever difficulties one might have. Half the fun of life on earth is overcoming the problems that we face, overcoming evil with good and the like. We’ve been through a lot of things, living in these “tents”. And there will be more to come, or not.

For you see, these tents, they don’t last forever; they wear out from the use. They become less flexible, less resilient, and less capable of withstanding inclement weather; less capable of protecting our being. Our bodies, ever so slowly begin to fail as our time on earth runs on. There will come a day, if not already, when Newspaper print will seem to be getting smaller and smaller and the lights in the room dimmer and dimmer. And there will come a day when you will regularly ask people to repeat themselves because they seem to be mumbling. There will come a day when other drivers will seem too quick on the horn and too short on patience. You will wonder why everybody is walking so fast. You will change outwardly and regardless of what anyone says, it will not be for the better.

Perhaps you’ve noticed a little of this already. Perhaps you’ve noticed that your tent is not quite as trustworthy as it once was. Perhaps your not as confident about your ability to endure the storms as you were when you were a new tent. Perhaps even now you detect a leak and even now you fear the the approaching storm and the long dark night.

Paul says in the text “While we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened.” Yeah, we understand that. We understand the sadness, the dread, and the fear of trying to exist in a body that is losing it’s ability to sustain life. But then he goes on to say, “we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life.” That’s what he’s been talking about, our mortality and our longing for immortality. The bodies in which we now live are mortal; that is, subject to death. And, of course, we know that they are mortal because we, like our fathers before us are born sinful. The Bible says he who sins is the one who will die.

But God didn’t like that situation, as you know. So he pitched his tent among us and camped with us. His desire to do this was first revealed in his dealings with Israel. What did he do? As the Israelites made their way to the promised land, he commanded that they make him a tabernacle....that is a tent. And so as they wandered in the desert, camping out night after night the and Lord was encamped with them...sheltering them and protecting them.

But this desire of the Lord to bring shelter to us would reach its highest expression with the coming of Jesus. In the first chapter of the Gospel of John it quite literally says of Jesus in the original greek: “The word became flesh and pitched his tent among us”. He was born in the body just as we are! His tent was broken not by time, but at the hands of the sinful people and the collective sins of the world. He would give us shelter by exposing himself to all the elements that bring about our demise. “Into your hands I commend my spirit” he said, and with that his earthly tent was vacated as it was limply draped there on the cross. But not for long. He would rise. And his resurrection would mean our resurrection because, Just as in adam we inherited death, in Jesus we inherit life.

On the wall in office of the doctor I used to go, there was a plaque. It said “Where will you live when you wear out your body?” He, of course, had his own doctor reasons for putting that up there: He wanted to chide people into taking care of themselves which is a good point I think. But I took it in a completely different direction. “Where will you live when you wear out your body?” You’ll live in the glorified and renewed and eternal body that the Lord has promised you through faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.

And man, you will love our new digs! On that trip I made with the Omar Tent. I can tell you that I was really looking forward to returning to my home. And when I got home, my own bed never felt softer, my blankets never felt warmer, My pillow never felt more pillowy. And the joy that I had upon of seeing my wife, and at that time my one infant son was a complete joy. My time in the tent, though fun and exciting was nothing like the home that awaited me. Can you understand this? If you can, then you understand what you will feel like when you come home to the Lord. The Long camping trip in this sinful and broken world will be over and you will at long last be home where you belong.

I close with Psalm 91:9-10 which I thought was appropriate. “If you make the Most High your dwelling, the Lord who is my refuge then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.” AMEN