IT'S MORE THAN THE BUILDING
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
A few years back I woke up for the first morning of turkey to see heavy snow coming down and the winds blowing hard in the trees. I turned around and went back to bed. Last year, one morning at our annual Wisconsin turkey camp I woke to heavy rain and heavy wind. I again went back to bed. I never did kill a turkey on that hunt, but it didn't mean it wasn't a successful hunting trip.
There was a time when I would have considered it a bad hunt. You see I went home without a turkey. However, not everything is as it seems. I had an awesome hunt and never pulled the trigger on a gobbler... There are many things that people think are one thing, but they are something completely different.
Five years ago the headlines read; "EASTER CELEBRATION CANCELED: CORONA VIRUS UPENDS ANCIENT TRADITION!"
The world sees things far different than those that truly follow Jesus Christ... Who remembers the Christmas show, How the Grinch stole Christmas? Do you recall the line, "MAYBE CHRISTMAS, HE THOUGHT, DOESN'T COME FROM A STORE. MAYBE CHRISTMAS MEANS A LITTLE BIT MORE."? The same is true of the Easter celebration... its not about sitting in a pew. It's a celebration, wherever we are... it means, "a little bit more". Really A LOT MORE.
When the word "church" comes up in conversation, the first thing we think of is a building. We have this mindset that church is a place we go to on Sundays. As we get our family dressed, find a parking spot in the full parking lot and try to get a good seat amongst the Easter crowd, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that we aren't just going to church; we are the church.
This pandemic we were dealing with provided an opportunity to remind believers that the true church was never about buildings and sanctuaries. The true church remains unified by the Resurrection message of victory, triumph and hope over death, hell and the grave.
In the Bible, church is a reference to people, not a place. The church is a body of believers that live out the Gospel in their words and actions. The church is at its best when people inside the building take Jesus' message outside the building and serve those they meet.
So don't worry that the building might be closed by ice, snow, tornadoes or any other reason. On Friday we'll remember the sacrifice of what Jesus did for you and I on the cross. Then on Sunday many of us will gather around a tv screen or a computer and watch live streaming from the building we call "church". We'll be with our brothers and sisters in Christ, celebrating the triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ as He defeated death and rose from the grave so we have a hope and assurance of eternal life with Him in heaven. What an amazing hope it is.
We are the church, brothers and sisters in the body of Jesus Christ's family. Yes, we gather at a building, but no one can cancel Easter, it can't and won't t be done. Jesus died and rose again without a "church" building. And we'll gather, maybe not physically, but we'll gather none the less as His family, His church, to celebrate what He did 200+ years ago.
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