Stepping Out of the River
Stepping Out Of The River
None of the churches that Paul founded were still in existence by the time Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and Christian Basilicas began being built everywhere. Certainly the impact of his letters continued, and likely there were Christians alive in those cities (Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia etc…) who were in some way descended from those early communities, but you couldn’t have gone then, and you can’t now to worship in the same building and among the same community where Paul preached and prayed. This doesn’t make Paul a failure as a church planter, nor does it mean those churches were failures because they didn’t last thousands of years. What it does mean is that the value of a church isn’t based on its longevity.
One of the most famous churches in the world is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It is a vast, labyrinthine space. Walking under its main dome is bearing witness to a miracle as that massive expanse of stone hovers, seemingly without supports, lighter than air above you; stable after almost 1500 years. Christians sometimes go there to worship, but it is not a Church and hasn’t been for a long time. It was converted into a mosque by the Ottomans in 1453. Before the current building was built there were two previous Christian churches on the spot, and before that there were temples to other gods. The value of a church isn’t in its building and even when the building is grand and lasts a long time, the community that uses the building changes over time.
Permanence is an illusion. Everything changes. To use Heraclitus’ famous quote, “You can never step in the same river twice.”
Sherwood and Mt. Home know this, of course. Neither congregation is in their first building, and each building has been through plenty of changes even during my time as pastor. Not just the buildings, but the communities have also changed. Some of our beloved friends have joined the church triumphant. New friends have joined us. People have swapped roles in leadership and programs and events have come and gone. Some traditions are enduring, but we also embrace new ones when the need arises.
When you really examine it, we are never the same community even week to week. Each of us grows and changes and our context changes, the seasons, the politics, the economy, the weather… it is all continually in flux. Therefore, every gathering is a one-time event, utterly unrepeatable. Our worship is like the grass of the field, here today, and gone tomorrow… and then here again when the season returns, but in a slightly different arrangement.
The church is a river, always flowing, and it will be time for me soon to step out of this river. When I return to visit in the future the river will not be the same, but then, that was true last week, and the week before that, and the week before that as well. May we continue to flow ever onward toward the delta of the joyful feast of the people of God.