Reverend Ref +

EASTER 5A
1 Peter 2:1-10

I was talking with someone the other day about churches. They had stopped in and were looking at the church. They mentioned that Episcopal Churches "looked" like a church. I got to wondering, just what does a church look like?

Peaked roof, pews, baptismal font, altar, stained glass windows? Is that part of your image of a church? How about an auditorium with Powerpoint presentations, a stage, a band, a video screen and a cross somewhere above the stage? We have an idea of what a church is, don’t we.
Some places you can walk into and feel the presence of God. The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, in Spokane, the Chapel of St. John the Divine at SWTS, Christ Church, St. Paul’s. And you can name others, I’m sure. What is it about these places?

The architecture? There is something special about how they are built. The peaked roof symbolizes an upturned boat. The baptismal font is at the back of the church and you must pass by it before you approach the front, verbalizing our theology that you enter the family of God through baptism. The altar at the front, which has undergone a variety of changes over time, still represents the central tenet of our service.

The light? The natural light does marvelous things in a church, especially through stained glass windows. The morning light and evening light provide two very different feelings, and that adds to the tone of the windows that, sometimes, tell parts of the biblical story.

The scent? Churches seem to have their own smell, don’t they. In some of them the incense has burned so long and so often that the smell permeates the wood or the stone. The chapel at Nashotah House Seminary is like that. Scent is probably our strongest sensation and it demands that you pay attention to it.

The community? There’s an old saying that goes something like this: you can’t go to church. That’s because the community is the church – we are the church. This place is just that, a place, a building. What truly defines us is how we relate to each other in our community, and how we relate to those outside of our community. Christianity, at its heart, is relational. And I think people who visit us can pick up on that.

Knowing it has been consecrated? This is also part of it. There’s something to be said for intentionally setting apart a building for the specific use of worshiping God.

All of this makes up what we consider a church to be. They have been made holy at its construction, by the candles and incense, by the windows, by how we use it. We have built these places into spiritual houses.

It’s the same with us. Jesus implied that our bodies are temples of God, and if we are temples of God, then we are holy; we are spiritual houses. So, like our churches, what makes us holy?

For starters, we have been made holy by our consecration – our baptism. We have been set apart from the world. We are members, as Peter says, of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that we might proclaim him who called us out of darkness into light.

Light. Light shines in the darkness and drives it out. Candle light in a dark church is a wonderful thing. It represents the light from within, the light inside, that shines out into the world. We all have been given the light of Christ. Use it to guide you and bring light into a dark world.

Scent. I said that scent is probably the strongest of our senses, and it demands that you pay attention to it. When we baptize people, we place scented oil on them as a physical reminder of who they now belong to. Are you still carrying the scent of God with you? Are you living in a way that demands people pay attention to you and God? The scent of the Holy Spirit can be very powerful.

Community. So much could be said here. Who do we associate with? Who do we do business with? Do we have any kind of substantial relationship with the people in our congregation outside of Sunday morning? How do we treat each other? How do we treat members of other parishes or denominations? Right now, honestly, there seems to be a lack of community in the Anglican Communion. There’s a bit of irony for you.

Peter says that we are God’s people; that we need to allow ourselves to be built into a spiritual house. We have a pretty good idea of what a church should look like. Are we taking the same care to build up ourselves so that those on the outside can recognize us as one of God’s chosen? It's spring; maybe it's time to clean house.