It's a simple childhood game taught by Sunday School teachers. It was an “interactive learning experience” before anyone had ever spoken that phrase. Standing before the class, a teacher would ask children to fold their hands together, interlocking their fingers. “Here’s the church,” she would say as two- and three-year olds looked curiously at their folded hands. Then, pointing the forefinger of each hand skyward, she would say, “Here’s the steeple.” Children would giggle as their pudgy fingers formed the shape of a spire pointing to the heavens. There would be a moment of anticipation as the teacher turned her folded hands toward the class and nodded toward her thumbs, which now formed the shape of a door underneath the finger steeples, and said, “Open the doors,” while turning her hands just the right way to make the previously hidden fingers visible, “and see all the people!” Across the room there’d be gasps of pre-school amazement and gleeful giggles.
I am always thrilled to see children learn the Biblical truth that the church is the people of God and not a building or a social agency or an historical institution or a even a babysitter! I’m even more thrilled when adults grasp it. I mean really grasp it. Sure, people make up the church, but people also make up the Chamber of Commerce and the Boy Scouts. The Church is a living, breathing, divine body made up of people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus – its head! Sadly for some, finding the Church can be a life long search.
Over the last few months, we’ve been on a journey through the Book of Acts. We’ve uncovered the beginnings of the New Testament Church and walked in the footsteps of the first missionary. We’ve discovered this living organism known as the Body of Christ. Unfortunately there are countless people living among us who still haven’t experienced church as the Body of Christ! They still only understand it as a New Testament narrative. As a pastor, I observe it every Sunday morning. I catch sight of it in the community everyday: People who have never been able to see and experience what the Body of Christ is really designed to be. As a result, some believe the church is irrelevant. Others decide to attend other churches that will, obviously, be better than what they have experienced in the past and will better fit their current needs. Others resign themselves to a spiritual stagnation and become content with the empty ritual of simply “attending” church instead of experiencing a vibrant relationship with God and His Family. And God is grieved.
Over the last (almost) eighteen months we’ve been on another kind of journey. A journey known in church circles as a “building phase.” We’ve been planning and constructing and waiting. And waiting. And the search for our church building is almost over! Drive near the 1100 block of Ninth Street NE and our new church building is instantly recognizable! Within weeks we’ll watch as that much-anticipated steeple rises into the sky and fine-tunes the skyline of Austin. I’ll probably be there. With a camera! See, as I’ve driven through Austin over the last few weeks, I’ve wondered to myself, “Will the steeple be visible from here? How about here? At what point on Interstate-90 will I see it? ” Have you done that too? Don’t get me wrong. I am just as excited as anyone else about our new building. It’s very important to have an attractive and functional building. People are far more likely these days to attend church in a nice building. Outward appearance is important. But . . . News flash! The church is not the building! Do I sound like a broken record? Good. If our new building defines Crane Community Chapel for you, perhaps you haven’t fully grasped that childhood game.
. . . Are you searching for Church?
- Pastor Mark
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