I have heard this comment made many times recently, and it has really made me stop and think. Consider this: almost every church that is mentioned in the New Testament no longer exists. Think about it for a moment. I don’t know what that means to you, but what it reminds me of is that everything in life is temporary, like a mandala. Beautiful, meaningful, created through hard work and prayerfulness, but, ultimately, not made to last forever. This idea of the church being temporary also leads me to ask what the church truly is, a question that has always had many answers. You and I have had very different experiences in our lives that could be defined as church, and most of them are probably valid.
Is the church a place of high liturgy or simple songs? A thousand people raising their hands or twenty-five bowing their heads? Is the church about robes or blue jeans, speaking in tongues or ringing bells? The answer is yes to all of these questions. And if the church you grew up in has closed, was its existence any less valid than churches that are still open? No. For me, the question about what church is always ends up with this question – were you faithful to the message of Jesus? There is no simple answer to that question either, because faithfulness is varied as well. For me, I always go back to Matthew 25 and the story of the sheep and the goats. Did we feed people? Did we help them stay in their homes and clothe them? Did we stand with the poor and oppressed? Did we give them a cold drink of water and visit them when they were sick and care about them when they were in prison? This was how Jesus defined faithfulness.
Church can be the revival in the arena and church can be 20 people eating soup and talking about loneliness and belonging. Church can be that little Bible study in the church office and church can be feeding people at the shelter. Church can be electric guitars, and church can be a pipe organ. Church is as varied as we are, but church must always be about doing God’s work in the midst of the world. Ask yourself this: were you the church this week? If you were, good for you! If not, why not?
Prayer – Holy God, You have called us to be the church in ways that help cure the spiritual illness of the world. Help us to be the church. Amen.
Today’s art is “Goat/Sheep” by Gwen Seemel (2014).