What is church? Karen Stallard from Tearfund partner The Geoff Ashcroft Community shares some thoughts on church and asks us to reflect on the picture of church painted by Jesus in Luke’s gospel.
Together
I have been church planting in Tower Hamlets for seven years. Over these years my experience of church has been one of a roller coaster. An exhilarating, slightly terrifying ride, with others around me expressing rather mixed emotions! I am no closer to answering the question ‘What is church?’ now than when I started.
Christmas party for the craft group
But as I work alongside the people here in Tower Hamlets I do get a few glimpses of something quite incredible which speaks of oneness and love. Perhaps it’s these glimpses that will be an expression of the church in all her glory when she finally meets her bridegroom face to face.
Time to party
‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ Luke 14:21
Imagine being invited to a fantastic party, one that you would never dream of being invited to, with fabulous food, entertainment and wonderful decoration. Perhaps you would feel nervous, knowing that you didn’t have the right clothes to wear or that you would say the wrong thing?
However, you swallow your nerves and go along to the party, and what a party! You soon realise that you should never have worried. You are welcomed completely and treated like royalty. You are given the best wine and shown around the banqueting hall, and told to help yourself to anything and make yourself at home.
Coming home
You meet the hosts and they thank you from the bottom of their hearts for coming to their party. They seem genuinely pleased that you have come and they take great interest in you, making you feel important and special. You are invited to stay forever, to get to know the hosts and the other guests, all of whom are also bowled over by the generosity and welcome they’ve each received.
And you decide to stay; after all it’s either the party or the dark streets from which you came. You thank God for the people who ventured out to your dark street and invited you to the banquet. From now on you have a much better option for your life, from now on you have something to live for.
Reflect
Reflect on your experiences of ‘church’: in what ways do they resonate with this picture of the great banquet in Luke 14?
What challenges you personally about this picture?
How might this picture challenge the church?