We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ~1 John 1:3
Today I joined my church family in worship. We meet in a school … so our physical floor … is not at all what the 17th century poet described here, and yet …
The Church-Floore
MARK you the floore ? that square and speckled stone,
Which looks so firm and strong,
Is Patience :
And th’ other black and grave, wherewith each one
Is checker’d all along,
Humilitie :
The gentle rising, which on either hand
Leads to the Quire above,
Is Confidence :
But the sweet cement, which in one sure band
Ties the whole frame, is Love
And Charitie.
Hither sometimes Sinne steals, and stains
The marbles neat and curious veins :
But all is cleansed when the marble weeps.
Sometimes Death, puffing at the doore,
Blows all the dust about the floore :
But while he thinks to spoil the room, he sweeps.
Blest be the Architect, whose art
Could build so strong in a weak heart.
~G. Herbert
I love that last phrase … God as architect … “the” artist who has designed the church.
As we worshipped, prayed together today, these characteristics – patience, humility, confidence, charity – were obvious – even on our multi-purpose floor.
“A Christian congregation is a company of praying men and women who gather, usually on Sundays, for worship, who then go into the world as salt and light. God’s Holy Spirit calls and forms this people. God means to do something with us, and he means to do it in community. We are in on what God is doing, and we are in on it together.” ~E. Peterson from The Jesus Way
God planted us in this local body to bring glory to his name, to build each other up, to demonstrate to the world by our love for one another that God did send his son.
“[The priesthood of the believers] is a confession of mutuality, a willingness to guide on another in following in the way of Jesus, to assist and encourage, to speak and act in Jesus’ name, and to be guided by another to speak and act in Jesus’ name. In the community of the baptized, there is no one, absolutely no one who is not involved in this priestly leading and being led, for even ‘a little child shall lead them.'” E. Peterson from The Jesus Way
I am challenged by my brothers and sisters to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God.
