The House of God

We often talk about the church building as the house of God. But how many times does the church building seem more like a sterile, empty building than a house? We usually think of a house as a place filled with a family, their belongings and their activities, but the church often stands empty and quiet for hours or even days at a time, we don’t bring in many personal belongings, we eat only the occasional meal there, and we treat at least parts of it as though they are too special or sacred to be used for routine activities.

I was struck the other afternoon by the image of the church as the house of God AND God’s people. With over forty volunteers living here this week, nearly every room in the building is filled with inflatable mattresses. Most are covered with a pillow and blankets. In every corner, there seems to be a suitcase, many open with personal belongings spilling out into an area around the bed. These beds are in all the classrooms, the church parlor, the choir room, and even in the sanctuary. Every room is filled with the signs of people who live, at least for a short time, together in this place.

By mid-afternoon, the church was mostly deserted with a meeting going on quietly in one room, and most of the volunteers out working on jobsites, but there was a flurry of activity in the kitchen – and the enticing aroma of dinner began to fill the entire building.

In that moment, the church really seemed like a home; a place where a family lives, eating together and sleeping under one roof. A home where the family takes turns using the available shower facilities. A home where you have to really look for a quiet corner if you want to sit quietly and read, or pray, or just think. A home filled with activity as later in the evening, music filled the choir room, the sounds of the television came from one room, and the sound of conversations mixed as dishes were washed and the kitchen was cleaned up, while others gathered around a table to play a board game. Outside, rain fell and a cold wind blew.

Inside, the building was filled with people, happy for the shelter from the cold, wet weather. People not afraid to use every room in the building. A family, truly at home, in the house of God. What a delightful concept.