“Who, What, Where is the Church?”

     Everyone is feeling kind of turned around as we are doing a lot of things differently, keeping ourselves and others from getting a serious disease.  I don’t know about you, but it feels like an awful lot of things we like to do aren’t being allowed.  I love to read, and the library is one of my favorite places.  But now the doors are locked, and I’m on the outside, wishing to go in. 

     Another favorite place of mine is our church.  Our family came to St. Andrew a long time ago, and we grew as a family and in our lives as Christians here.  A lot of changes have happened to our church building over the years, as classrooms were added, a bigger worship space was built, and another classroom was remodeled into offices.  But through all those changes, one thing has stayed the same.  We have come here to church to worship, to learn, and to share all kinds of special events.  All these shared experiences add up to why we feel that this is where we belong.

     In all this time, one thing that has never happened was to close the church building for many weeks.   Keeping people safe and healthy is important, and God wants us to care for one another, so right now and for awhile to come we can’t get together in a big, friendly group, sitting beside each other in the church.  We can watch the service online, hear the hymns (singing along at home if we want), and listen to the readings from the Bible and the sermon.  This is the best we can do right now.  

     Some people might feel that, to be a church, we all need to be together in that space.  But, really, what makes us a church?  After all, there was a story on TV about a church in Florida wrecked by a hurricane, and the congregation gathered in the parking lot to sing, pray, and hear God’s word.  The building was damaged, but the church wasn’t.  God’s Spirit kept them together and made their faith strong.

     Who is the church?  We are!  Every one of us, from little kids to grandparents.  What is the church?  It’s all of God’s people, helping others, being kind, and sharing God’s love.  Where is the church?  It’s where we happen to be.  You can get out lawn chairs and sit in your back yard with your family, sing “Jesus Loves Me” and “This Little Light of Mine” and say a prayer thanking God for his love and care for you.  

    If you click on the link below, you can sing along and learn the song that tells us this:  “I am the Church, You are the Church, We are the Church Together!”

Your church friend,

Mary Rogers