Plans are underway to remodel our beautiful church. This reminds me of a verse from Psalms that says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). The house in this verse can refer to multiple things. It can refer to you in your own soul, to your community, or to a specific work or task you are undertaking. It can also refer to the church building that we are remodeling. We can always be asking, what kind of house are we building? And are we letting the Lord build it?
This topic could fill up a whole book, but for this brief reflection, I'd like to suggest that whether it's within our soul or within our church building, we would allow the Lord to build a house of prayer and worship, of discipleship, and of loving community.
Prayer and Worship
As Christians, prayer and worship are at the heart of everything we do. When Jesus cleared out the temple, he quoted the prophet Isaiah saying, "My house shall be called a house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13). Just as we can't be physically alive without breathing, we cannot be spiritually alive without prayer. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that God must be worshiped in "spirit and truth" (John 4:23). Worship is not just singing and giving God glory. We can see in the Old Testament that worshiping God had very structured guidelines. Similarly, for us, there is a proper way to offer worship to God through participation with His Church. It's obvious that a house God builds will be a house of prayer and worship.
Discipleship
At the end of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus' words, which are often called "The Great Commission," are found. Sometimes, it seems that people think that Jesus said to go into all the world and make ethnic churches, but of course, He did not say that. He said, "Go into all the world and make disciples" (Matthew 28:19). We may not think about discipleship very much, but clearly, it is foundational to being a Christian. We can ask ourselves, "Who is discipling me? And whom am I discipling?"
The word disciple can convey the meaning of "learner" or "pupil," but Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos teaches us that for Christians, a disciple is not merely a learner, but is also a participant in following a healing way of life. He states, "Most Christians are satisfied with a formal confession or formal attendance at the Liturgy or even with a formal Communion and nothing more. They do not proceed to the cure of their souls" (Orthodox Psychotherapy, p. 44). He wants us to understand that following Christ and every aspect of our Christian faith is about healing. He also quotes Fr. John Romanides who stated, "Having faith in Christ without undergoing healing in Christ is not faith at all" (p. 29). A house of discipleship that is following in the footsteps of Jesus will be a house of healing.
Loving Community
Mother Maria Skobtsova of Paris was an amazing person, and she warned the Christians of her day against making their faith about "an immersion in oneself, a withdrawal from life, a standing of the solitary human soul before God" (Essential Writings, p. 45). She noted a temptation within Orthodoxy to make Christianity about one's personal journey of salvation, and she says that this temptation is terrible for each individual and the church as a whole. She says of this temptation, "I would like to rise against it with all my strength and call people to each other, to stand together before God, to suffer sorrows together, to resist temptations together" (p. 46). If you have not read Mother Maria's works, her insistence on the totality of a Christian's love for God and for all people will challenge you deeply.
When Mother Maria's young daughter died, she sat for hours in the hospital praying beside her beloved child. Finally, she told the Lord, "Now, I will be a mother to everyone," and that is how she lived her life. She strived to truly love every person that she met, and she invites us to do the same.
Her admonitions are echoed by another saint we commemorated on August 24, St. Cosmas of Aetolia. He preached that Christians "must have two loves: the love for God and the love for our neighbor. It is natural for us to have these two loves, and contrary to nature to not have them. Just as a swallow needs two wings in order to fly in the air, so we need these two loves, because without them we cannot be saved."
Again, Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." May we all trust the Lord to be the builder of our church and of our lives.
Originally published in the Holy Apostles E-bulletin. Subscribe here.
