The Beauty Of Church Is The People, Not The Building

This weeks Unbelievable podcast featured writer Alain de Botton and James Orr asking should Atheists be more religious?

Alain has written a book 'Religion for Atheists'. He seems like a really nice reasonable bloke, who can see the virtue in things religious people have and would like atheists to have the same just without the spiritual side of things!

One thing that came up that I strongly disagree with is his statement that having a faith orientation is the same as your sexual orientation, you are either one way inclined or another and there isn't any feasible way to persuade you otherwise.  I would probably agree that you couldn't persuade a straight person to become gay or vice versa, but to say you cannot show someone the way to faith is ridiculous.  There are many Atheists who become Christians and also sadly, many Christians who turn away from their faith and become Atheists.

The main point I want to pick up on from the podcast though is that Alain seems to place a lot of weight in the role Churches/Temples play in religion.  He would like a magnificent structure to be made for Atheists to be able to admire and gather in.

The point Alain has missed (not his fault, he's not a Christian) is that the Church building is irrelevant to a faith in God, beautiful though these buildings are, the Church is made of God's people;

Matthew 18:20 ESV
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

I know some Christians obviously still meet in the traditional Churches of England, but the structure of the building is of no relevance to the religion, well, certainly not my religion! Alain seems to think we are drawn to the beauty of the structure and architecture of the building and enjoy that as one element of our religion. 

 It would make no difference to me where we met for Church, because the Church is made of the believers in Christ.

                                                The Church I attend; hardly an enviable temple, even to an Atheist!

Jesus himself dismissed the beauty of the Temple;

Mark 13:1-2

¹ As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

² “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

This was one of the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem, but it was not built to honor God, it was built for the Jews, mere people. And true to Jesus' prophecy the Temple was completely destroyed.

So if Alain de Botton would like a Church/Temple/Beautiful structure for Atheists to meet in, go for it.

But it will never have the beauty of a Church that Christians meet in, because God will not be present in it.

Church At The Beach

When I was a child, Sunday was Sunday.  You missed 'Church' (it was called 'the meeting') for no reason whatsoever.

Sunday’s followed the same routine in our house week in, week out, perhaps not that unusual to other households, but to me it felt like we were very different and unusual.

There were no day-trips on a Sunday, no party acceptances on a Sunday, no loud shrieking and playing outside on a Sunday, no t.v. on a Sunday.....you get the idea.

Occasionally on a Sunday afternoon my Dad would take us out for a drive, we lived in a beautiful area of the countryside and I did enjoy those rides out and about “there and back again to see how far it was”. I loved taking in the greenery all around me that stretched out as far as the eye could see, and the higher we climbed as we drove, the more majestic the view. I took in the shapes of the trees as their silhouettes grew higher towards the sun.  The clouds that could make any object you could imagine from a dinosaur to a footballer. The hedgerows as they separated the blankets of bright greens and yellows.

What I appreciate now, but did not in any way realise or appreciate then, was that I was surveying God’s creation, this environment I adored was made for me, by the God that I also felt very annoyed with at being significant enough in our family, for me to be dragged to the meetings to on a very regular basis.

So.......last Sunday and this Sunday we didn't get up and go to Church, no, we took advantage of the glorious weather (and by that I mean it wasn't raining) you have to when you live in England, and we headed off for an hours drive to the beach.

Do I feel guilty?  No.  Am I less of a Christian?  No.  Should I have said to the kids, "I know today's the only day we have free, but you know we have to go to Church on Sunday?"  No.

God created this beautiful world, and I personally never feel closer to Him than when I am outdoors. Genesis 1:9,10 And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so. God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good.

Also I spent good needed quality time with my husband and kids, and whether they liked it or not, I pointed out God's goodness that was surrounding us to them!

Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

What have you 'missed' Church for lately?

Weekly Song Round Up

After visiting my Sister's last weekend, we were priveledged to see their new £1,000 000 Church building, which they didn't have a penny for 9 months ago!  They managed to get it built without going a penny over budget and within the time schedule.  They now have an amazing building to meet in as God's people, but also a building to serve the local village community in many ways giving testimony to God's love.

At the service their were three baptisms, each person had such a lovely moving testimony.  My favourite song of the morning was Matt Redman's Facedown such lovely words which really expressed the emotion of the morning.

My eldest daughter did her last exam this week and that is it - no more education for her and a new start to whatever she decides to do, this song came to mind as it was one of my absolute favourites at around her age.  I loved the music video more.Life's What You Make It.

And don't know if this is an age thing, but I can't get enough of James Taylor on spotify at the moment!  This is a lovely song, which I'm sure if you heard it at a particular time in your life it would mean a great deal to you.Fire And Rain.

Why am I being baptised again?

For the purposes of understanding, whenever I use the word 'baptism' I am talking about a full immersion baptism.

With my baptism coming up next month, I felt I wanted to write this post to help anyone else out there who is searching for the answers I was searching for over the last few months.  Obviously the place to look for any of these answers is The Bible, but it helped me a great deal to read of people's personal experiences of why they were being baptised for a second time.

I’ve always known that God exists and that Jesus died on the cross, you hear something enough times and it sinks in, but for me it was just blank facts, did I believe in God? Yes. Did I believe Jesus died on the cross? Yes.

So......at age 12, I knew baptism was the step that was expected of me.  Coming from a family of believers in a strong brethren church, the minute you say you know Jesus died on the cross, you keep getting the vibe of 'when are you going to be baptised'  I am sure it is subconcious, but I have even seen my Mum direct this vibe to her grandchildren.

The problem is, as I have said in a couple of my previous posts, we cannot save anyone, and I think my parents mission was, make sure the kids get saved and then baptised as soon as possible after that. 

What everyone failed to miss was, that I had a head knowledge of God, not a heart knowledge.  So, I could answer correctly when questioned by the elders of the church and was accepted for Baptism.

I can remember having regrets about what I had done almost immediately.  Not least because I was constantly reminded of 'Christian's don't do this' and 'Christian's shouldn't do that'.  I don't think I can ever recall a phrase that went 'God loves it when we...' or 'God rejoices over....' It was hard.  I now had to try to live to the expectations of my parents Christian view without really 'getting it'.

After being married for a few years and having young children ourselves and being in a similar kind of church, I decided my family life was not going to pan out the same way it had been as a child.  Despite not really having any interest in God and definately no relationship with him of sorts, I still wanted to attend a church, so we changed to a different one that had a lot of young families with children our ages.

Over the years we would make our best friends in this church.  I started to see in the Christians around me they didn't just believe something, they were living with something, they knew God loved them, they knew Jesus had borne their sins on the cross and that made them so different to me, I didn't understand what it was, I believed in God, Jesus died etc.etc.

A few years ago I thought I want some of those feelings and experiences, so I was thrilled one day to have the picture from God “When you fall, I will catch you” That was exciting for me to have that revelation and I felt really blessed to have had that communication from God.

Over the next period of my life there were many times when I felt I was falling, and my faith that God was catching me wasn’t always strong enough, and I probably pushed Him away more than I let Him in, but I have some unbelievably good faithful friends, who refused to let me slip away and did everything they could to bring me into God’s presence again.

My next experience with God was when I was being prayed over and was delivered from a spirit of ‘Restraint’, that thing had had me tied up so much, I just wouldn’t let anyone in, least of all God, who I had never believed Loved me, the times I sat in the services, were spent wondering about why I still felt on the edge of what was going on, I wanted to be there but hadn’t quite got the connections right, God could not love me.

Eventually, earlier this year I fell my lowest, and true to His word God most definitely caught me!  I had the experience of being covered with God’s love for me and it was a few days after that I accepted I was His daughter and that He accepted me just as I was.

So, am I being baptised again? I don't think so, I see the first one as a false testimony, so I didn't really symbolically bury my sins.  Or as an infant christening in which the adults are in control of the decisions, the child cannot confess to be a follower of Jesus.

I have had a personal realisation of the truth.

I was more concerned with the possibility of ‘dying’ without God, that I hadn’t accepted I could ‘live’ with God.

Now that I know Jesus as my personal saviour, I want to let people know how important he is in my life, I know he listens to my prayers and I know I am important to him!

The difference for me now and the reason I’m being baptised next month, is because I believe God loves ME and that Jesus died to save ME!

Weekly Song Round Up

Music is a huge part of my life, there is always an ipod or a radio playing somewhere, and I have been known to attempt to play the guitar - I need a lot of practice with that.

Anyway, I thought it might be a fun idea to round up the end of each week with a song selection, because I will usually start singing any random song to accompany my daily activities or emotions.

Hope the links work!

A favourite worship song we sing at our Church This Is Our God  The thing I love about the Church we attend now is the worship is incredible, it is clearly directed towards God with happy and hungry hearts.  Unlike the Church I grew up in which used to sing 'Happy Day' without so much as cracking a smile.

Friends Will Be Friends I posted about friendship earlier in the week and they were really there for me yesterday, they gave me the space I needed, but kept checking in with me to make sure I was alright.

Hmm, marriage course communication She Said, She Said I'm thinking sometimes I think I prefer When You Say Nothing At All

Gotta love a bit of mid-week zumba Evacuate The Dance Floor I hasten to add this is not a clip from the group I attend........Our routine is much better!

Trust And Obey worship songs aren't just for Sunday you know!  My sister posted this on her facebook, with the reminder we sang the original hymn version at her baptism.  I am getting baptised in July, so need to start thinking of a couple of songs.

A difficult day yesterday, lots of tears Stop Your Sobbing feeling a lot better today!

Now a favourite to lead us into the weekend.  I have been listening all week to a podcast on Song Of Songs it has been incredible, and really revealed to me not only, the love that Christ has for us his Church, but also, the love God intended us to show to each other as husband and wife.  With that in mind there can only be one song really.....................Feel Like Making Love!

Have a good weekend everybody, and if Harold Camping is right.........hallelujah, I think.


































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