ST Paul said: “Faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the Word of God” (Rom 10:17).
From recent letters there is a fuzzy logic in vogue which says the faith comes from the emotion hype we get out of certain church buildings and other structures. Have we forgotten that Christ said we are “temples of God’s spirit”!
Joanne Russell (CL 13/8/00) and others should take heart that God is not to be found only in churches. Maybe this is the reason they are becoming empty while the search goes on for him in other places. They may find this story told by Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa illuminating.
A small boy was cast out of an all-white church. As he wept on the church steps Jesus appeared and said, “Don’t worry, my boy, I’ve been trying to get into that church for years”.
I am sure when Christ said “the kingdom of God lies within us” he did not mean we were to build structures to house him. He left that to the institutions of the day. Instead, because of God’s in-dwelling, he knew that each one of us was far more valuable than any structure. Over 2000 years humans have tried to isolate God to particular places and times, and keep him out of their daily lives. To live a Christ-like life is immeasurably more important compared to any ritualistic lifestyle.
When we seriously endeavour to help someone the way Christ wants us to and our whole being get
s concentrated on the effort it has been called “sweating blood for someone” with good reason. With Christ within us at the time we then (spiritually speaking) become “eucharist” to that person.
Maybe this is what St Peter meant by calling us a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9). So J.K. Creevey (CL 13/8/00) was not far out when saying that we could offer “eucharist”. The only difference being that he envisaged a physical occurrence in his “Island in the Sun” and not a spiritual one.
I wonder what the early Christians did for 200 years after Christ without an ordained priest? Or did our early settlers go to hell because of no one to confess to?
HARVEY SMITH Lidcombe, NSW
