Greetings From the Editor
Dear Friends,
The theme of this issue, “Dwelling Place,” may remind many of our readers of Psalm 90, which begins, “Lord, you have been our dwelling-place in all generations” (v. 1). When we enter this world, we already find ourselves in a space that God has provided. This place is enclosed by God’s loving presence, in which “we live and have our being,” as Paul says with a line borrowed from an ancient Greek poet, Epimenides the Cretan (see Acts 17:28). I imagine that many Jewish friends will add that the Hebrew word for “place,” māqȏm, has been used as one of the roundabout ways of referring to God. Indeed our preachers tell us again and again that God is our “place.”
The message that God is our place provides an encouragement for the believers who acknowledge the gift of a physical dwelling place we receive from the Lord. Many people, as well as other living beings on our green planet, have such a temporary and yet precious place where they seek to secure peace and comfort and provide the same for their loved ones. Much of human history can be linked to the pursuit of locating that living space. At times, the search became a violent struggle accompanied by tragic events, notably when the space was conceptualized as a prize to tear from others rather than an enterprise to share with them. Today, it is still not merely history that cannot be revisited without penance. Our contemporary times present a set of hefty projects for peace, for which our prayers for all to find their home will continue before the throne of God’s grace.
In this year’s fall issue, our authors gather to remind us of the multifaceted nature of the topic. They introduce us to important topics, such as God’s “tabernacling” presence from the testimony of the Bible and our responsibility to care for the livable pace for all creatures. Their guiding spirit helps us once again explore the age-long aspiration to stay in communion with God as the profound meaning of the ark of the Hebrew Bible and the theology of incarnation. The theological thrust of their weavings has a corollary in the call for responsible actions in the immediate context of our times, which ranges from the local ministry of providing intellectual living space for others to caring for refugees forced to leave their home in search of a new dwelling place.
We, the team of The Living Pulpit, trust that this issue will continue to bring to our readers the blessings that God has entrusted with us. May the Lord bless the ministry of our preachers who proclaim a time of peace and pray both in word and action for all living beings of the earth to reach their dwelling place on earth, God! After all, we share the same dwelling place—God “our dwelling place in all generations” (Ps 90:1). “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands—O prosper the work of our hands (v. 17).
Peace,
Jin H. Han
Editor in Chief
