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Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Opening the Church


You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. 1 Corinthians 12:27 (The Message)

The last week has included a great deal of discussion about reopening churches during the pandemic.  Many questions have been asked:  When is it safe for parishioners to return to church? What safeguards need to be taken to ensure everyone’s safety?  It’s even come down to a discussion of church-government relations and whether the government can direct a church to be open for worship.  

This isn’t a new discussion, although it’s more heated than it might have been in the past.  It has brought to mind a song I learned in the 1970s:  “We Are the Church,” written by the Rev. Richard Avery and Donald Marsh.  Avery and Marsh wrote a number of sons in the 1970s that were considered contemporary at the time.  This is one of my favorites.

                The verse begins:


                The church is not a building,

                The church is not a steeple,

                The church is not a resting place,

                The church is a people.


                And the refrain states:


                I am the church! You are the church!

                We are the church together!

                All who follow Jesus, all around the world,

                Yes, we’re the church together.


When the song was written, it was a fairly novel concept to think of church as something other than a building. There’s no denying that most churches are buildings, but they are so much more. As the scripture states, we are Christ’s body. We are called to serve others as Christ did, which cannot all be accomplished inside a building. As the conversation continues, let us remember that although we miss being in the physical presence of each other, we are still the church. We are the people of God. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, we are reminded that the church is much more than a building. All who follow Jesus all around the world are the church together. We ask for your forgiveness as we disagree about whether to open a building when we can “be” the church regardless of whether we are together. Amen.

Robin Hadfield




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