-by Nick Phillips
Our landscape is enhanced by the scattering of buildings we call churches. Churches are everywhere. Driving to Chéticamp, how do you know you are getting close? You can see the church off in the distance, long before any other building in the town. Churches are landmarks in our communities. They are beautiful works of art; architecture that are witness to the faith of those who built them, and who still worship in them today. They are a gathering place for the faithful who seek to know more about our God and the stories of God’s people over the eons. But, is the building the only place we can meet God?
If we look at the early church in the book of Acts, the Apostles first experienced the life-changing Spirit of God while they were sitting in a house. Once they received the Holy Spirit, what was the first thing they did? Establish policies and procedures for communal worship? Set up a committee? No, the first thing they did was leave the building and share their experience with people in the streets. They would return to the house to report back what was happening and to read scripture and pray together. Then they would go back out into the streets sharing the Good News of their faith in God. Some of them would even travel many miles, establishing communities of faith in other cities, little churches of their own.
The building of the church is important, but so is expressing and experiencing our faith in other places with other people. I have had the privilege to lead church services on beaches, parks, and hockey rinks, and even in a small motel conference room. Some of those services have been the more powerful services I have been part of as we share an experience of God in a new place.
I also enjoy quiet worship time of my own in nature, such as on various walks. Some people even say they meet God on the golf course. They clearly have a different experience than I do on the course, unless you count the time of confession when I walk off the 18th green.
We can experience God in many ways, in many places. When my grandmother passed away, we found little slips of paper with prayers for her children and grandchildren on them at the table where she would wake up early before anyone else and have her tea. While she was unable to get to church most weeks, she clearly had her time with God.
Churches all over the world are struggling for people. It is not just a Canadian phenomenon. Attendance is down pretty much everywhere, at least in Western culture it is. So what is the fix? I believe in getting back to the basics of how the church began: getting outside of the buildings, just like the first Apostles. Sharing and showing our faith publicly. Engaging with our communities from a Christian perspective: by loving our neighbours as God loves us.
This weekend our pilgrimage hikes resume along the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail. For more information on what we are doing see the story elsewhere in this paper. I love these hikes because it allows us time to slow down and do a number of things. It allows us to engage with people we may not know very well for a long period of time. Hours of walking can make for some deep conversation. And it allows us to slow our thoughts down and maybe focus on some of the bigger questions of life and faith, all while walking in the beauty of God’s creation.
I also love our church buildings. Each structure is a monument erected to honour God and a place where the faithful can gather to seek a deeper understanding of God’s love for us. But our faith is not constrained by the four walls of the building. We take our faith with us wherever we go. And wherever we go is an opportunity to put into practice what we are learning, which in turn, helps us understand our faith in new ways.
Celebrate our churches, and celebrate our faith… together, everywhere!