Is the Church Essential?

Churches love committees.

My favorite committee is the Committee on Committees.

I am currently on the Health Task Force Committee.  (capitalization and emphasis mine)

Our role is to help guide the church with suggestions based on the current pandemic.  In other words… can we meet together as a congregation and minimize risk exposure?

But the point of this article will not be on the usefulness of committees nor will it be on appropriate means  of COVID prevention.

The point of this article is to answer the question….Is the Church Essential?

To answer this, we must first define terms.

The word “essential” that is currently being used is rather unfortunate.  It implies that some businesses are necessary while others are superfluous.   And I don’t think that was what was actually intended.  But language is tricky and we often interject our own interpretation and definition of the word.

Essentiality was really intended to keep businesses open, that if closed could cause a more immediate detriment than another.   (Now, let’s not get too bogged down here.   Because we could debate the issue all day and night.  And we all understand the impact closing any business can do to the families immediately involved.  The point of this is not to decide if our government’s approach was right or wrong, better or worse. Now let’s get back to it 😉

So, if essential doesn’t really mean essential, what does Church mean?

In the apostle’s creed we read: I believe in…the holy catholic Church.

Catholic here, would mean universal.

The church is a trinity of sorts:

1. A place of worship (building or not)
2. Local gathering of believers
3. Universal community of believers

The church becomes Christ’s body here on earth as well as man’s means to join God now and forever.

The church is God’s Kingdom, which can only be made whole in heaven.  This is why it is said that here on earth the church is a “hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints”.

But if all this is true, why we see so many problems arising from Christian churches: heresy, apathy, hypocrisy, and sexual predation?  Because, it’s full of people.  And people aren’t perfect, at least not yet.

It is our desire to pursue Goodness and follow God that leads us into a deeper understanding of our own faults.  It is by confessing the darkness within that we are able to see the light.

It’s very interesting to me that the church does not just mean the living, but the dead as well.

We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always [attentive] to our prayers” —Pope Paul VI

In the 2nd book of Maccabees, we find them making “atonement for the dead, that they might be absolved from their sins”.

In other words, the church doesn’t end here on earth.

The world needs the church today more than ever.

As cities burn, as hearts harden, as morals decay.

The church still stands, a lighthouse in the storm.

Chaos can not contain it.

A virus won’t slow it down.

Death can’t stop it.

The gates of Hades will never prevail against.

And if that’s not essential….

then to hell with it.

p.s.

In the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach” —The Lord of the Rings