The superfluous church

".... Now among all the startling images in this vision is a little reference to a feature of the new Jerusalem that highlights another second-best we’ve settled for. And it’s one that comes as a shock to many of us. When the reign of God comes to fruition and the new holy city is established at God’s command, it will be a city without even a single church building! Church buildings of all kinds - from the humblest chapel to the most grandiose cathedral, from the whitewashed preaching barn to the most ornate basilica - all of them will be abolished, and God will be glad to be rid of them!

John doesn’t go into any great detail on this. He simply says, while describing the city he saw in his vision, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”

Why is there no special holy place of worship set aside in the city built by God? Because it doesn’t need one. Because ideally we would have never needed one, but God let us have them anyway because we weren’t coping too well without them. ...
As long as the church buildings and the liturgies and activities that take place in them are shaping a people who will worship God by the way they prayerfully live out their lives in love, mercy, justice and peace, then those buildings and their activities have a valuable place in our lives. But the history of such places shows how easily they can be corrupted so that we substitute the adoration of the place and its systems for the honouring of God in godly living. When God let us have a temple and later church buildings, it was always a risky move: a second best option taken as a concession to our need for ‘things’ to help us perceive the presence of God and taste the fruits of heaven. God allows us to make use of such things, and even honours our use of them, because God knows that most of us are still a long way short of being able to do without them. But if we are not reminded from time to time of the inherent dangers in our use of church buildings, then we are running a grave risk of repeating the mistakes that Jesus and the prophets spoke against.

Churches and their ceremonies can contribute to our ability to be the people of God who live out the love, mercy and justice of God in the world. But in the Revelation, John tells us that the day is coming when they will be utterly superfluous."
http://www.laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html

A tale of two boats

Last year  I shared in the leadership of a few retreats which had me thinking about the state of the church, about our need to be honest, to face truth, and to face our feelings. I was led to a sort of playful image, a tongue in cheek symbol. Given the difficulties the church is facing, our aging church, our diminishing numbers, and our dismissing status and role in society, the symbol I chose was of feeling like we were up sh*t creek in a barbed wire canoe without a paddle.  I know it's not an optimistic vision, but it feels real. It fitted in well with the ancient image of the boat as a symbol of the church. Robin prior actually made a model of this symbol and gave it to me after one the retreats.

And that was one boat, and it is real.

But I also have another story.

I have dear friend who is a potter. His name is John and he has the soul of an artist. We regularly have lunch, share veggies and sing a few songs together. He is not a Christian, but he is a deeply spiritual man.

Sometime late last year, he began having a dream of a golden boat, and then dreamed of making such a boat. He sketched, made models, practiced the form and shape over many months. Then a month or so ago, at one of our catch ups, he proudly showed me the finished work. 

I was very impressed and moved, but it took me a couple of weeks to really begin to listen to the message.

Here, in this symbol, was something that stood in stark contrast to my barbed wire canoe, and I began to hear the divine voice speaking to me through it.

This boat is gold, and, unlike the canoe, it has many oars, it is going somewhere and has many workers, and at its centre ....is the cross, a sign of the power of grace and love and the presence of the divine at the heart of our life."

So which is the greater truth?

It is important for us to know who we really are and what we are really facing, and that is powerfully represented for me in the symbol of the barb wire canoe, but the golden boat reminded me that there is more to the church than that.

In the golden boat I am reminded that the church at her best is a precious carrier of the message of God's love and the power of grace and compassion.

So there it is folks. The tale of the two boats. I guess one of them may give us one sense of the reality of our situation, but the other, for me, is a mysterious gift of God. One which is a gift of hope and perhaps a greater truth.

Make of it what you will, but may God bless our journey together, and may just such a golden vision inspire us to be together what God would have us to be.