8/21/24

I read a “tweet” the other day that said the Church of England, which split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of King Henry VIII, is finally agreeing with the Catholic Church that it’s not a church after all.

What? I had to do some digging . . . 

It seems the Church of England is moving away from using the term, “church”! As they start new . . . whachamacallits (I guess I shouldn’t call them “churches” since they don’t) the Whatsit’s leaders refer to these new . . . whatevers not as “churches” but congregations or communities in an attempt to “sound relevant or modern sounding.” 

Not everyone supports this. One C of E vicar called it “daft.”

A spokesman for the Church of England told UK newspaper, The Telegraph, one reason why the word “church” appears less often in description of “new worshiping communities” is that these forms of worship can exist outside of traditional bricks-and-mortar churches.

Huddle up for a second. Bricks-and-mortar or not, the  church is still the church. As brainy as the C of E leaders normally are, they seem to be missing the point . . .   

True, “church” is often used for both the building and the people who meet in the building, but Biblically, the word that’s translated “church” refers to the people. 

“Church” comes from Old English and Germanic kirk (still used in Scotland and other areas), which in turn, by a very circuitous path, originates with the Greek word  kyriakon (of the Lord). The phrase kyriakon doma (house of the Lord) dates back to the 300s as a name of the place where believers met.

Over the years, many groups have objected to using church to refer to a building. My Irish ancestors were Quakers who insisted on calling their place of worship a “steeple house” – apparently even when the building had no steeple! My more recent church tradition called their meeting house a “Bethel,” which comes from a Hebrew word meaning “house of God.” 

The word “church” is the traditional and nearly universal English translation of a Greek word meaning the “called-out ones.” According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in ancient Greek politics, the “ekklesia” was the “gathering of those summoned,” the citizens of a city who were “called out” to gather for a civic meeting. 

The ekklesia was the people. The place they met was the agora. 

The Greek translation of the Old Testament used the word for the assembly of Israel, and the New Testament writers picked it up to refer to the body of believers. 

So, again, thinking Biblically, the church is the people, not where the people meet. We meet in a storefront. The early believers met in homes – at least when times were good. When times were bad, they met in ruined buildings, in cemeteries . . . anywhere their persecutors couldn’t find them! But the location didn’t matter.

What mattered was the people. 

And at Christ Church what matters is the people! 

At Christ Church, we are a family. Now, to some of you that might sound terrifying, depending on your experience of family! But in the Christ Church family, you can be certain that you’re loved no matter what. Your past, as I preached on Sunday, is unimportant. We all have a past, and we can’t do anything about what happened 10 minutes ago much less 10 years ago. 

What matters now is the future we share in the family of God! And because we’ve all experienced God’s grace, we show one another grace. Lots of grace. 

Do we agree on everything? Does any group of people agree on everything? No. We have people who come from Methodist, Baptist, Church of God, Church of Christ and Catholic traditions (maybe others). That means we often have some very interesting and lively discussions!  

And when disagreements come up, we go back to Colossians 3, where Paul urges the church to “let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” The word for “rule” means umpire! When Peace comes up against hard feelings or general cantankerousness, Peace calls the shots. 

As a loving family, we share one another’s joys and sorrows. That’s what a loving family does. Everyone who walks in feels the warmth and love of Jesus because we love God and love others. 

And because we’re a family, everyone has a role within the Body. This means you’re free to exercise the gift God has given you – and there are ample opportunities to serve! Just ask.  

Age doesn’t matter. No category the world might try to tie to you matters. I love to quote Paul in Galatians 3: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ” 

We are one!

We serve together, and we worship together. No one is secluded or off by themselves. Our young people and our elderly are just as much a part of our family and as much a part of the worship service as anyone else is. We worship together; we experience life together. 

We’re all equal. Christ is the head of the church (not me), and we all serve equally under His Lordship!

In short, Christ Church is a community of believers who love God and love each other, who welcome everyone and who are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He works in our church and in our lives. 

In other words, we’re simply the church. 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry