A full day of family time! Thank You, Father, for Your bountiful blessings!
John 2:18-22 (<<click here to read the passage)
A statement I have read and have heard a fair amount over the last year came to mind when I read today’s passage.
The building may be closed but the Church is always open!
The Church, as a whole, has struggled in this last year. Because of COVID-19, many churches have curtailed their “in-person” worship. My two churches went for a time with only virtual worship, but one was able to conduct outside services beginning in June of last year and the other began to meet in person starting in September. With an uptick in virus cases in our county both churches went back to virtual in the middle of November and we have been in that mode since then.
All kinds of things have impacted how the Church has responded. Some have been able to regularly take part in weekly virtual services. Some do not have the means to do so. And honestly, some just decided not to bother with any of it.
I have felt a loss in not meeting together. We are definitely shortchanged when we are unable to interact and socialize face-to-face. That interpersonal communication has stunted our growth and development as individuals but one thing it shouldn’t do is stunt our spiritual growth.
Unfortunately, many are dependent upon gathering for worship and fellowship because it is the only time that we ingest Biblical learning and challenges. So in a way, we hinder our spiritual growth even when we do come together because many rely solely on that short time, one day a week to feed upon the Bread of Life.
Can you imagine if we fed ourselves physical sustenance only once a week and even that for a short time? We would all be emaciated and in need of dire medical attention! We would never think about it, would we?
Don’t you think our spiritual vitality is even more important? After all, our bodies are only able to make it eighty or more years at the most, and then it is ashes to ashes, dust to dust. But our souls? They are eternal…they will exist for eternity in pain…or in sorrow. They need fed…and more than just once a week!
This has taken a bit of a tangent but regardless, it is extremely important that it be addressed!
My original thought regarding this passage is that some struggle with not meeting face-to-face because to them it is not church. For it to be church, many feel it has to be in the building we call church.
When Jesus stated, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” v19 the Jewish leaders assumed He was speaking of the building of worship from which He had just thrown out animals and tradesmen. But that was not the temple of which He spoke. Jesus was speaking of his own body. v21
Verse 22 goes on to say,
After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
Another quote I have seen online is:
The church is NOT the building, it’s the body of Christ.
The Church should never be limited by the four walls of the buildings in which we meet. In fact, years ago that is exactly what they were called, meeting houses. It was a place where the faithful would regularly meet to encourage one another – a place where the faithful could be challenged and taught – a place where the faithful would hear the testimony of what God was doing out in the world where the Church was at work!
So faithful followers, do not be discouraged for the Church – the body of Christ – is very much alive! Whether our meeting time is virtual or face-to-face, we are stilled called to be the Church…not behind our four walls but up-close and personal in the world! Lord, help us!
Mar 28th, 2021, Sun, 8:19 pm
