Minister's Corner

This was published in the Shawnee News Star on Saturday, November 25, 2017.

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Matthew 18:20, the Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version

            The church is not the building. It is not bricks or mortar. It is not contained within the walls or the woodwork. The church does not require a floor or a ceiling. The church is the people. The church is the congregation. The church is not the building.

            This is a refrain that my congregation has been repeating for several years. We began saying it when we made the difficult decision to leave our original home on Beard Street. It has been our litany these last two years as we fashioned the former Sips Coffee House into a place of worship. Although it might seem ironic, we are still saying it now that we are moving again, this time into a building of our own.

            The end of this month will be the end of our time at 114 East Main Street. As I write this on the eve of Thanksgiving, I cannot adequately express my thanks to Brad Carter for his generosity as our landlord these last two years. How thankful I am that we have had that space to call home, even temporarily. Beginning in December, we will be living in our new worship space, our new church home at 120 North Broadway. You may have known it as the Vintage Venue, but now it is the new home of United Presbyterian Church.

            It is our building, and we are beyond excited and overjoyed and grateful to own it. We are doing the things you do when you buy a place of your own. We are painting, putting in new lighting, deciding on a place for everything and everything in its place, and dreaming of new ministries, new possibilities for doing what God calls us to do. Yet, if we have learned a lesson in these last challenging years, it is that the church is not the building. We are the church. Our congregation – no matter how small or how big, how young or how old – we are the church. While we are thrilled to be in this place, to call it our own, we also know that if those four walls were to go away tomorrow, we would still be the church. We would still be the congregation of United Presbyterian, because the church is not the building.

            This scripture from Matthew is often used as a reminder that a congregation, to loosely paraphrase Dr. Seuss, is a congregation no matter how small. But that one verse comes at the end of a passage about church discipline. Jesus told the disciples how they were to deal with one another when they were in conflict, when someone in the church had gone awry. And that passage about conflict is sandwiched between Jesus’ teachings about humility, about caring for the most humble among them and his instructions to the disciples about extravagant forgiveness.

            It seems to me that Jesus was instructing the disciples on how to be in community together, on how to be in true fellowship with one another. Jesus knew that a community of his followers would not be perfect; it would not be without conflict or struggle. But as long as they were gathered in his name, even if it were only two or three of them, then he would be with them. There was no mention of buildings or site plans. The church would be the church as long as it was gathered in his name, wherever it was gathered in his name.

            We have learned that we can be the church anywhere.  As long as two or three are gathered together, a coffee bar can be a sanctuary and a storefront can be sacred space, because the church is not bricks or mortar. It is not contained within the walls or the woodwork. The church does not require a floor or a ceiling. The church is the people, and we are the church.

We invite you to join us on Sunday, December 3^rd, the first Sunday of Advent, as we worship in our new sanctuary at 120 North Broadway. Worship is at 10:45 am. Y’all come!