The church is, first and foremost, the gathered community of faith dedicated to following the example and teaching of its Lord, Jesus Christ. In I Peter 2:5, we are told that we are to be “like living stones… being built into a spiritual house… offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Yet, that gathered body of faith, benefits from a physical home in which the Word may be proclaimed, the Sacraments observed, and the milestones of life consecrated to God. A church building can testify eloquently, if silently, to the faith of those who worship within its walls.
That truth was brought home to me as I worshipped with my family in Greyfriars Kirk, Scotland, where our daughter had found a church home away from home during her semester of study abroad. Not only was I made to feel welcome by the faithful hospitality of the present generation, but I also was struck by the care with which this lovely sanctuary, built in 1620, had been maintained for the present generation. It was a gorgeous physical representation of the continuity of faith through all those generations, from its construction, until the present day. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the same can be said of an appropriately designed church of whatever style. Clearly, this space was the spiritual home of a community for whom God was central to their lives. Here was a body of faithful Christians for whom the spiritual virtue of hospitality was important.
The idea that a sacred building can express faith in a physical form is older than Christianity itself. The Old Testament prophet Haggai understood this well when he addressed the people of Israel:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.'” Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses (i.e., nice, modern houses), while this house remains a ruin?” Haggai 1: 2-4
I wish to express my deep gratitude for those who have pooled their resources together to make possible the renovations of our own church building so that it might better reflect God’s glory and the central role of faith in the lives of those who worship under the roof and within the walls of East Hills Moravian Church.