“Sanctuary in the Wilderness”
By Dayle K. Barrett
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Reading: Ezekiel 11:14-25
In this passage Ezekiel is charged to bring the word of God to people who are in captivity. As I read this story, it brings a question to my mind: What do you do when the rug has been pulled from under your feet? When the ground beneath you, the things you used to stand on, seem to not be a firm footing anymore? When life as you know it has so fundamentally changed that you don't even feel like you can trust the world around you?
Maybe it's just me who's asking these questions. Or maybe you too find yourself looking at a world that you can't recognize anymore. Maybe you watch the news, and you hear the stories and you see the social media feed, and you think, “I'm not quite sure this is the same planet I was born on. And I definitely don't feel like I want to claim these creatures that I keep being told are my fellow humans.”
Some of the crimes that we've seen committed over the last few weeks, some of the global atrocities that we see happening every single day leave us wondering, is this still the same place I knew and loved? And what about trust? What about the places that we were always supposed to put our trust in? The education institutions, the religious institutions, the political institutions, the scientific institutions, many of which we found over the years have told us things that simply turned out not to be true.
What do you do when the very ground you've been standing on all your life seems to be falling away? Where there doesn't seem to be a firm place to put your feet anymore, when you don't recognise the world, what's to your left and what's to your right, what's going on around you? I'm asking because in this passage, Ezekiel is taught or charged to give the word of God to people living in that exact situation.
The people of Israel are a people deeply tied to their land. The land is a promised land; it's a covenant land given to them by God. The place where they go to worship and make sacrifices, the temple, is this special place, this conduit, their meeting place with the Most High. And so, how do you do life when the temple, the very place where you're supposed to engage with God, has been destroyed? Where the institution you trust the most has crumbled, where the leaders who told you everything you thought you knew have turned out to be frauds, and now they and you are all being led off into captivity.
Ezekiel is sent to speak to people in this situation. And yet these are not only the people he has to address, because as you read in verse 15, it reminds us of what's going on in Israel still. God says to him:
Son of man, your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety, are those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Get far away from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession’.
The thing that we can recognize in this story is that the people of God have been displaced, but that's not the only problem. Another problem exists among those who haven't been displaced, because some of them who are still existing within the ruined walls of Jerusalem are pointing the finger at those in exile and saying, Well, they must have done something really bad to end up in Babylon. And we, the chosen ones, are still here where it's safe. The land has been given to us as in inheritance. It belongs to us. Those who are distant from their land, those who have moved away from the holy place, those who have been taken into captivity, well, that must have happened to them for a reason. We are the good ones, and they're the ones who have gone astray.
God says to Ezekiel that these who are captive, are not just the ones who God has forgotten, rather they are the brethren, the relatives, the countrymen, and the house of Israel in its entirety. In other words, the ones who had to go off in chains, the ones who have had everything taken from them, the ones who cannot recognize the land around them or the people they're forced to engage with, these are the ones who are still God's chosen. And God says of them that He will be a sanctuary for them in the countries they have been sent to.
How many people know that God is in the business of making sanctuaries in the wilderness?
Sometimes that's hard to wrap our head around because like the people of Israel, we see God as a someone who exists within institutionalized religion, right? Like the people of Israel, we think God dwells inside beautiful, ornate buildings of stone. That's a tough thing to say within a beautiful, ornate building of stone. Here's a tougher thing. This building we're in right now, friends, is not a church. You are the church.
You who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you who Jesus died and rose for, whose sins have been washed away, who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, you are the church. And this building is where the church worships on a Sunday. Why does that matter? It matters because you need to know what you're going to do if the place you associate with God is no more.
The people of Israel were in a tough position. The only way they remembered how to interact with God was at this one place called the temple. So, when the temple fell and they were scattered into captivity, they felt lost, they felt forsaken, they felt like God wasn't with them. If only they had remembered that for much of their history, God had not dwelt within a temple but God was with them through the wilderness in an old dusty tent called the Tabernacle, and went with them from place to place to place, as they fought wars, as they dealt with internal struggles, as wrestled with what it was to be God's people, as they received the law, as they dealt with the issues in their own community.
God was with them all along in the wilderness. God is not simply a God who sits on a throne in a beautiful stone building. No friends, God is a God who has sand on his sandals. He's with you in the desert place. He's with you in the heat and the discomfort. He's with you when you don't recognize the world you're in, the language other people are speaking, and you don't trust the very leaders that are over your head. God says that you who feel displaced, you who can't identify with anything anymore, you who don't even know who you are, you are still my people. Brethren, relatives, countrymen, all the house of Israel.
So maybe, friends, the question we need to be asking ourselves isn't how can we get more people into the building, but it's how do we go and build sanctuaries in the wilderness? Because maybe some of the places people are going to find God isn't always in this lovely place we love to worship in.
Has anyone ever been in a wilderness situation in your life? Has anyone ever felt completely disconnected from God? Like you're going to church every Sunday singing worship songs, but they just don't mean anything to you anymore? Like you're hearing sermons that are supposed to move your spirit, but they just can't prick your heart anymore? You feel like you're just going through the motions day after day, trying to make it to the next Sunday so you can do what you religiously have to do. Maybe it's just me.
You're in a wilderness, you're in a desert, surrounded by a world you don't quite understand, and you feel like God has abandoned you. God sent the prophet to preach to those who were in captivity about all the things he had seen. You see, the tough thing to wrap our heads around is that sometimes people can't find God in what we call the church. I know there's been times in my life where the church just wasn't where I could connect anymore. Where things had become so difficult that they just couldn't penetrate with me anymore. Because when I was in the darkest place in my life, when I was in my wilderness, when I was homeless, it wasn't Christians that took me in. It was a drug addict single mother and her gay brother. And why do I mention that? Because neither of those people would have been accepted in the church that I grew up in. And yet when I was in my wilderness, that's where God was.
God is in the business of building sanctuaries in the desert. In the places you least expect among the people you've been looking down on, in the areas in which you think the presence of God will never penetrate. God is in the business of turning lives around, of placing people in your life to speak to you in your darkest moments, to save you when the people who you thought were supposed to save you are not there for you. He's a sanctuary in the wilderness.
Tomorrow, we have an amazing opportunity. We're gonna open our doors in the auditorium and have hundreds and hundreds of people come eat with us. Most of whom we would not see here on a Sunday morning. Last year we served more than a thousand servings of turkey to nearly 800 people. More than a hundred of you came out to help. I give God thanks for you. You made a real difference. This year we want to do the same thing, but all our volunteer slots are full. So, what can you do? Here's what I want you to do: I want you to find one or two hours in your day. Doesn't matter when. It can be 12 o'clock, it can be 2:30, it can be 5 o'clock, it can be in the middle of a session. I want you to come to our auditorium. I want you to get a plate of food, and I want you to sit next to someone you've never met in your life. Find an empty seat next to someone who's sitting by themselves with their head down, their hair a mess, smelling like someone who would never be here on a Sunday morning. Find that person. I want you to go sit next to them and learn their name.
Find out what they're grateful for. Tell them what God's been doing in your life and find out what God's been doing in theirs. Hear somebody's story and offer them hope. And I tell you, something amazing will happen. When you do that, you're going to hear about somewhere that God is building a sanctuary in their wilderness. You're going to hear about somebody who has nowhere to live, but is really grateful for that burger that someone gave them last Tuesday. You're gonna hear about that person who's been out of work for a really long time, but then someone helped them out with a bit of cash when they needed it. You're gonna hear about someone who's been trying to recover from an addiction for several years, but they recently made it just three months and they're so proud of themselves.
You can ask them how you can pray for them. How can you be there for them? What can we do as a church to make their lives better? You might not be able to bring them to Christ in that moment, you might not be able to get them into these pews next Sunday, but you can build a sanctuary in the wilderness.
God says that those people who've been sent into exile, those people who feel separated from God, whether it's you in the pews or those we'll meet tomorrow, are in that situation for a reason. You see, the elites in Jerusalem who were looking down on them, they were wrong, but they weren't all the way wrong. They were right about one thing. They were right about the fact that sometimes the stuff you're going through has a lot to do with some dumb choices you made.
That's something we don't like to admit today. A lot of the time it does. A lot of the time it's because you said something you shouldn't have said, went somewhere you shouldn't have gone, were in relationship with people you had no business being in relationship with. And sometimes the hole you find yourself in, the exile you're in right now, is because of something you did. The people who were in Babylon at this time were in Babylon because they had rejected God. They had allowed their hearts to turn cold to the things of God. So God allowed them to fall into captivity, but that didn't give the people who are still in Jerusalem the right to shun them.
Who's ever seen frostbite before? Looks nasty, doesn't it? I mean black is beautiful, but not that shade of black. It completely ruins the outside of the skin, it seizes up the blood vessels, it leaves you with dead appendages. And one clear way to find out if someone has frostbite is that not only will the skin, the flesh, turn ugly and hard, but it won't be able to feel anymore. You know, if you've got frostbite, you can put your hand right in a fire, and you won't feel it burn. You can hit your fingertips with a hammer, and you won't feel the pain because the cold has set in so much that it's numbed your ability to feel.
I wonder if some of the cold-hearted people we meet day to day are not just evil. I wonder if some of the people who seem numb and cut off from the things of the world are not just horrible people. Maybe life has dealt them with so much cold that their hearts now have frostbite. Maybe they've just been through so much that they can't feel those things anymore. And the amazing thing is, if you can't feel it, it might feel like strength to you. When you're impervious to the things that are going on and coming at you, it might feel like you finally reached a place that you can deal with life. And yet the reality is the same heart that can't feel pain is the same one that can't feel love.
The one that no longer dwells in hatred is also impervious to forgiveness and grace. The one that shut itself off just to survive and keeps everyone shut out. Maybe it needs more than healing because a lot of people find out that when you have frostbite, you can't just warm up the fingers anymore for them to be well.
Often a frostbitten finger needs to be removed before it does damage to the rest of the body. (I'm going somewhere with this analogy). God says this to Ezekiel, “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.”
That person you know who's so cold and so shut off, you think that the gospel can't reach them, they don't need warming up, they need a heart transplant. That time in your life where no words could penetrate you, where worship didn't feel like it was getting you closer to God, you didn't just need warming up. Maybe you need a heart transplant. Maybe you need God to take out that situation, take out that circumstance, take out that false view of self, take out that trauma, take out that unforgiveness. Take out that feeling that you are not exactly who God says you are.
Pull that out of you. Replace it with his spirit. Because God has not forgotten you where you are. You might not be able to see him to the left or to your right. You might not be able to trust the people who've been placed above you. But God sees you in your place of wilderness. And he's just waiting for you to accept his spirit. Because the God that we serve is in the business of building sanctuaries in the wilderness.
Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. And the reason why is it seems to be the only one that Hallmark hasn't completely colonized. You know what I mean? There are no cards or presents, no lists. It's really simple. You go get some great food, invite your favourite people over, and everybody eats. And if you haven't noticed, I like to eat. It's a great time with great people. If you have a big family and you're around, you know the deal. You got the grandparents and the aunts and the uncles and the cousins. There's always that one person who shows up with the impromptu guest. You know what I mean? You know that cousin who's like, but my friend didn't have anywhere to go, and I just wondered if I could bring him along with.
There are two types of hosts when that happens. One that sees the friends and is like, okay, fine, come in, and then starts counting the potatoes in the pot. Are we really gonna have enough?
And the other who's just so happy to have another mouth to feed. They're like, quick, go in the basement, get another folded chair. They're not even offended that the guy brought Tupperware, you know?
We're gonna give you some food and give you some to go home with. Everyone's welcome at this table. That's kind of the spirit of thanksgiving. It's this spirit of abundance. And this is the spirit that God speaks of in this passage. He finds us in the middle of our wilderness. He says, I'm gonna give you a new spirit. I'm gonna take out your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh, that you may walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them. And then he says words that feel like your auntie inviting you over to Thanksgiving. He says, come to my table, come here. You're part of the family now. “They shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
Not the ones looking down their nose at everybody from Jerusalem, not the ones in the stony building who thought they had an inheritance, but the ones in the wilderness, the ones in captivity, the ones who feel completely separated from the Lord. He says of them, “They will be my people, and I will be their God.”
He's pulling up chairs at the table for those who felt like they had no place. And he's saying, Sit down, do I ever have a feast for you!
We're welcoming some new members today. Nine over the day, maybe 11. Some are joining by baptism, some by profession of faith, some have been Christians their whole lives, some are kind of coming back and reaffirming their belief in Christ. As part of this ceremony, the church does something. It pours out water on the newcoming members to represent this change in their heart.
The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. It says:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. And our bodies washed with pure water.
Baptism, my friends. The waters of life that we use in this church are God's symbol of washing away the old and making you new. It's the sign that He's taken out the stony heart and replaced it with a heart of flesh.
So, what's our job? There's two. Our first is to welcome those to whom we're just giving seats at the table. I want you to learn their names. I want you to hear their stories. I want you to bring them in and make them feel like part of the family. Because you are, as of today, you're part of the family. But here's the second thing. Family members, in this family, we all do the dishes together. In this family, we all do the work of ministry. And that means that after today, tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives, we have to carry this word that God gave to Ezekiel. “Go to those in captivity and tell them these things that the Lord has shown you.”
Here's the question. Can you be church, not just here on a Sunday, but in the auditorium on Monday? Can you be church in your place of work, in your place of education? Can you be church in your neighborhood? Can you be church down the street at Tent City where you don't want to go? Can you be church in the bar? Can you be church in the club? Can you be church in the dark corners of the internet where young people are being led astray?
Are you willing to build a sanctuary in the wilderness? Because God did it for us, and He wants you to take His gospel to the world. On this Thanksgiving weekend, as on every weekend, we say thanks be to God. Amen.