Church is not something you go to every Sunday or on any other day when you are feeling down.
Church is not a building or a structure even though it has been associated as such.
Church is not an hour of programming on your rest day that you even tire from.
The Church is not the Pastor or the Bishop or the Pope. Church is not them nor about them. A church will still be church without a pastor, and God will certainly raise up pastors within and wherever the Church is. BUT there is no such thing as a Pastor, a Bishop or a Pope without a Church because Church is people together.
Church is the people being and continually becoming the body of Christ on a world hungry for love.
A Church is a group of people who are passionate and committed to follow Jesus towards the many Galilee’s of this world.
Church are disciples proclaiming the reign of God for the poor, the sick and the rejected.
The Church are followers who over turn money changers in the many Jerusalems of our land.
The Church is a community where the wounded are healed only so that they may become wounded healers to others.
The Church are group of deeply connected friends encouraging everyone, lovingly correcting one another and praying with and for each other.
It is composed of diverse peoples with varying gifts and varying imperfections supporting each other and anyone who comes to seek God’s grace.
Church is an assembly of imperfect individuals who rely on God and each other with a commitment to follow its peasant Lord from Nazareth who leads them to calvary, the tomb and into the newness of life.
You are Church with…
After all Paul tells us, “you are the body of Christ, and each of you are members of it”
So think about that next time you visit “church” or when you decide to leave “church”.
by Ptr. Joseph Tiu San Jose
