Somebody put this sign up on the church grounds yesterday. The secretary walks in and asks if we're moving out. It's funny on alot of different levels, not the least of which is because of the recent rumor that has surfaced about the pastoral staff secretly trying to sell the church.
I started thinking about this sign and I realized that there is some profound truth to it. We don't own this church. It's not actually our church. We don't have any claim to it really. This is God's church.
I should probably stop at this point and remind us all that nowhere in the New Testament have I been able to find a verse that refers to a building as a "church". The word is used almost exclusively to refer to a body of believers. WE are the church. This building is not the church. In fact, if the building were suddenly leased out from under us tomorrow, we (the people) would STILL be the church.
But the bigger point for me is this great reminder from one of our neighbors with some space to rent is that we are just passing through. God asks us to hold all things lightly, including our space. It's not for us really. It's for the glory of God. And if God would be glorified by this space being used in radically different ways, then radically different programs would be entirely appropriate. Because its not OURS. It's Gods. It's not for US. It's for the LEAST OF THESE. In a very real sense, we're just leasing it ourselves. And as we remembered quite clearly in a sermon from AMOS last month, if we don't use this "leased" space appropriately, it's entirely likely that God will find a different leasee!
So, who's gonna call the number on the sign and find out what they're asking?
This concept that all that we “have” is really just entrusted to us by God is a tough thing to keep top of mind in this I, Me, Mine world. But oh what a better world it would be if we all truly lived that way.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jeff and I were searching for a church, we looked for a beautiful "traditional" brick building with stained glass windows. WOW! Have I learned a lot in the past 7 yrs as a member of First Church! We now worship in a school cafeteria with folding chairs and our faith grows stronger all the time! We have come a long way in our beliefs.....God wants us to worship everywhere....all the time!
ReplyDeleteI often wonder what Jesus thinks about the way we worship. Does he see our beautiful expensive churches and catherderals as an incredible waste of resourses that could have been better used to help the poor, or would he respond to that idea with something akin to what he tought us in Math. 26?
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