Why church?

Why church?

Many of us have been starved of the company and communion of brothers and sisters in faith.  A eucharistic famine has covered our world in a way that any despot could not have imagined or attempted to realise. New technology, nonetheless, has brought relief and spiritual closeness to many while others have not been touched by loss of prayer and sacrament because they do not thirst. It is their loss. We have all known extraordinary acts of heroism as well as daily random acts of kindness. Thank you to one of my neighbours for leaving two books at my door step.

The virus from hell, otherwise known as Covid19, has displayed extraordinary intelligence in causing the maximum suffering to the maximum number of vulnerable persons. And it is not finished its job yet.  Fear not those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul (Matthew 10:28).  Alas, human behaviour has borne some responsibility in the degradation of natural habitats and the creation of conditions and opportunities for zoonotic transmission to human beings. But that is another story for another time.

Whatever is happening and whoever you are I suggest that we are not alone. If you find yourself alone by reason of self-imposed distancing and isolation for the good of the community then you are blessed. You are blessed because God is more present to you now than ever.  God seeks out those who are alone in a special way.  We have been entrusted to one who prays for us as a mother (John 19:26-27).  If only we knew. If have you had or have the virus you are blessed to be alive and hopefully on the road of recovery. Be gentle on yourself. If you have lost a loved one your suffering and sorrow are known to the angels who are close to us and those whom we have loved and have passed to the other side of the thin curtain.

Open your heart in silence and solitude and listen to your heart. Yet, we long for that day when we can be together again not just ‘virtually’ but in the ‘real presence’ of persons living, moving and breathing round us. It will not be the same as before but we will know a blessing that long absence and sacramental abstinence makes our souls fonder. It may be that the way we come together and celebrate will bear more similarity to the way our ancestors did over a thousand years – more standing, more outdoor if possible combined with innovative and safe ways of partaking in the consecrated elements. Is there a chance that we could take the pews out and use them to build homes from wood? As regards the eventual slow, gradual, orderly 'return to church', I suggest that it will take time, patience and all hands on deck as the saying goes.

If, right now, you are with others in the setting of family or essential work in the community (for example those heroic soldiers of healing on our frontlines) then you are blessed by the love and company of others through all the petty differences and friction. 

There is a bigger picture and a bigger heart enveloping this world. And it is not good to be alone too long (Genesis 2:18).

This Sunday is Pentecost day – the day on which tradition tells us the church was fully born. Church is nothing more or less than the gathering of those who have said yes to a God of infinite tenderness, love and innocence in Jesus Christ. And if we feel alone, fearful and unsure we can take comfort and reassurance from a time when the friends of Christ were driven by passionate love to go and tell the good news with their lives of what God has done. Culture, language and ideology will not deter the clear message and its living out.

If there is one lesson we have learned in all of this it is the role of small nucleus gatherings around kitchen tables and hearths – the domestic church making up the whole.  Níl aon tintéan mar do thinteán féin - there is no hearth like your own. The Italian word is focolare.

Happy birthday church! We have the Holy Spirit on our side and nothing will shake us. Faith and science will see this virus from hell go back to where it came from. We will not be overcome. I don't like to quote Nietzsche but he had a point: 'What does not kill us makes us stronger'.

Is there any chance that the Holy Spirit is driving us to reorder everything about the way we live, work and travel?

and how we do church?