Pr.18A - (Track 1) Exodus 12:1-14, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20
This summer, I had the opportunity to preach to a group which had gathered outdoors. The weather was nice and we were sitting outside of the building in which worship usually happened. In the sermon, I remembered that the buildings in which we worship are not the church. We are.
It’s easy to forget that. Buildings take up so much of our attention. And a lot of us, including me, really like worshipping in them. But a building is not the church. We are.
Buildings are made of stone, glass, steel and wood and they have a fixed address. Churches are made of people and can happen anywhere — wherever two or three or a few people are gathered: in a living room, a homeless shelter, a grocery store or a food pantry, a conference room or a waiting room. In fact, church can happen wherever there are people.1
“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
And two or three or a few people are enough. In Exodus, it was just families in their homes that gathered for the first Passover meals. At Emmaus, it was just two disciples and a stranger. On the night Jesus was at table with his friends, there were only a few. They were enough.
It can be tempting to focus on our buildings. Caring for them for them is pretty straightforward. Being with and caring for people is trickier. People can be confusing, fearful and selfish. It’s not surprising Matthew thought we might need guidelines. But people can also be courageous, understanding, inspired and generous. That creates space for trust, hope, healing and vision. A space that can move and grow. A space that is holy. A space that is church.
Buildings can be lovely and it’s nice to have a fixed address. But buildings aren’t churches. We are, whenever and wherever we gather with two or three or a few others to be some sign and substance of God’s love in the world.2
Peace.
When we see the word “church” in the New Testament, it is translating the Greek word ekklesia. To a Greek-speaker, ekklesia simply meant “assembly” or “meeting” — any purposeful gathering of people.
Paraphrasing Karl Rahner. Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity. (Crossroad Publishing, New York 1989) at 427. In The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, (Riverhead Books, New York 2018), author Priya Parker invites us to wonder about why we gather — in any kind of group — lest we end up replicating staid forms of gathering that are no longer about us and what we are really hoping for. It’s a wonderfully thought-provoking book.
I am about half-way through the process of selling my house. It will likely be another month of all-out attention to a building. When that’s over, I look forward to getting back to SermonStarts and a weekly post. Until then, thank you for reading. You are always in my thoughts and my prayers of thanksgiving.