Church?

Opening Prayers

Loving God,

It's all in the touch,

the touch of love,

the touch of healing,

the touch of compassion,

the touch of reassurance,

the touch that says,

'You are special, wanted,

held in high regard'.

It's all in that touch,

that very special touch,

the touch you give through us

who reach out to those in need,

to those who need to know.

Help us to be channels of your touch

in this dark world,

to bring your love,

healing,

compassion,

and reassurance,

to a world that knows

none of these

 

Bible verse (Amos 5:4-5)

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live;

but do not seek Bethel,

and do not enter into Gilgal

 

Thought for the day

The perennial conversation in Church is what is the Church? The discussions will range from the Church as the bride of Christ, through to the Church being the people of God rather than the buildings. And yet as much as we like to think that the Church is the people of God we invest heavily

in our buildings. And don’t get me wrong, we have some amazing buildings but so much of what we call Christianity has evolved around and because of those places of worship we call churches, chapels, cathedrals etc. So much so that for those people who are not Christians, when they think about Christianity they see churches. The three places Amos mentions in today’s verse were three of the holiest places in Ancient Israel. And yet God is telling Amos’ readers that the life they seek is in God, not in those holy places. Don’t get me wrong Churches and places of worship are important, but we can worship God anywhere. But when our desire to see holy places outweighs our desire to see God we have a problem.