The House of the Lord

Today's first reading is one we hear maybe twice a year: the message Nathan the prophet is to give to David in answer to the king's proposal to build a temple. Hearing it today, I was struck by the charming way God tells David, "I always lived in a tent as I accompanied the people in their journeys." It made it even more powerful to realize that when John wrote in the prologue of the Gospel "The Word was made flesh and pitched his tent among us," that this was to be seen as a continuation of God's tent-dwelling companionship of his people, wherever they go. Emmanuel: God with us.