A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily
prayers this week. The scripture is from our Sunday Service Bulletin.
Gospel Reading-
Matthew 16: 13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say
John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets.” 15 He said to
them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him,
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to
you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20
Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Devotion: What is
church?
When someone asks you where you go to church, you likely
visualize your place of worship briefly in your mind before you respond. The
person to whom you respond, likely forms a vision in his or her mind about a
building, and what it may look like. Digging a little deeper, if you attend
church in the US, it likely is a legal entity so that payments can be
transferred to and from a bank. Also, the US treasury is very demanding of paperwork
involving tax consequences—so there needs to be paperwork describing the individual
church’s enterprise. Now, the Greek word for “church” is "ecclesia" (ἐκκλησία,
ekklesía, meaning literally "assembly" or "congregation".
It refers to the people, not the structure, and we know that the early
Christians did just fine without a dedicated building. After all, the Great Commission
[“make disciples of all nations”] is the job of people, not a building and not
a legal entity. Now re-read verse 18 in our Gospel today. I know you can’t help but think of a sturdy
structure built on a great rock foundation. Now think again, dear reader, the
Gospel is not talking about a building -- it is talking about you. The gates
of hell shall not prevail against you!
We pray: “Lord thank
you for your unending and unconditional love.
Amen”
