By the Rev. Jim Rushton, First Lutheran Church of Glenville

You’ve heard the saying, “There are two seasons in Minnesota: winter and construction.”

At this time of year you don’t have to drive very far before you come across signs that say, “Road Work Ahead, or “Construction Zone.”

Today, from our verses in Ephesians, we have an interesting image of Jesus.

Today we picture Jesus — not in a flowing robe and carrying a shepherd’s staff — but working in a hard hat with a cement trowel in hand, making of us “the household of God.”

Yes, we are built into the body of Christ, with Jesus as our cornerstone.

We’re reminded of that contemporary hymn “We are the Church.”

 

The church is not a building,

the church is not a steeple,

the church is not a resting place,

the church is a people.

 

Yes, an impressive building with many ornate crosses is not the church. In one of my former congregations one of my parishioners couldn’t get over the fact that I had never been to California to see the Crystal Cathedral.

But it seems to me, it’s only a building. No, the church is not a building. Nor is the church something to be run using the business model where everything is measured by the sought after upward trend of flow charts. We are the church.

And Christ rules his church, not with a business model, but by the biblical model. “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:46)

The biblical model is one of worship that centers around the Lord’s Supper and fellowship and mission. Yes, we are the church, and individually members of it.

And we of God’s church are still under construction — not only because we daily remember our baptism and die and rise in repentance and faith — but because the building is not quite finished.

There remain others who are still far off and need to be brought in. And by the cross of Christ he will draw all people to himself.