Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. – Exodus 25:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 30, 2015): Exodus 25

What does a church look like? If you begin by describing the building down the way with a cross somewhere on the front of it, you have already taken a wrong turn. But it is these buildings that come to mind whenever we talk about the church. We “go to the church.” We “volunteer at the church.” I have good friends that spend time doing “building maintenance at the church.” We sometimes talk about building a church, and by that we mean that we are wanting to construct a building. We talk about the organization that is the church – an organization that seems to be indistinguishable from what we would call institutionalized religion. But the reality is that in every one of these cases we are wrong. It isn’t the church that we are involved with.

This idea of “the church” also lends itself to what might be one of the biggest misunderstandings in the Bible. In Matthew, Jesus asks his disciples who it is that the people say that he is. The answers he gets back are varied. Some say that you are Elijah, some believe that you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets sent back to us by God to give us guidance. Some believe that you are John the Baptist risen from the dead. Jesus listens to the answers, then he presses just a little harder. But Who do you say that I am? Peter is the one that answers. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus looks hard at Peter and then responds - “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:17-18). I will build my church. We have understood that to mean that Christ would build this organization we call the church and nothing could overcome it. And we are wrong. A better translation of Jesus’ words might be that he will build his people, his fellowship, or his congregation on this statement of faith spoken by Peter. Jesus would seem to be highly disinterested in the organization that is the church.

But we come by the mistake honestly. There was a time when the idea of a gathering place for the people of God was a building – well, kind of. God commands Israel to build his sanctuary. The sanctuary was to be a holy place – a place set apart. It would be a place where the people of God would rally and where God’s word would be proclaimed. It was to be a physical reminder of the presence of God within the community. It was to be a place where God could meet with his people and bless them.

The first sanctuary was the Tabernacle, a movable tent that travelled with Israel during their wanderings. The second sanctuary was the Temple, a physical building made of stone and mortar that was built in Jerusalem. It is the past presence of this Temple in Jerusalem that is the reason why Temple Mount remains such an important place for both Jews and Christians. But the current sanctuary is the church – not a building, but a people. We are the rallying place. We are the place where God’s word is spoken and where God’s blessing is received. The church – no longer a building, but now a people that walks out into the world.

So, on June 17, 2015, when Dylann Roof walked into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina and shot several people, he had the right idea if his action was against the Christian Church. He could have bombed the church building, or set fire to  it as has happened in the past, but then all he would have done was damaged a building. But the church was never the building, it has always been the people inside the building. Dylann Roof took action against the church – the real church – the one that Jesus said that even the gates of hell would not overcome. And as this church spoke its words of forgiveness back to their attacker, they were proving that Jesus was right. The real church would not be overcome by evil – no matter what form that evil might take.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 26