All Things Seen & Unseen

'Then the preacher said the most provocative words that church congregations need to hear and act on today. The most significant piece of 'furniture' or fitting in this building are :   the doors through which you will all leave at the end of this service and go out into the world.' I ended with the above words in my last post. I'm a bit crabby at the moment. Yes, I know, good Christians are not supposed to get irritable , fractious , fretful , cross , petulant , pettish , crabbed , crotchety , cantankerous , disagreeable , miserable , morose , peppery ,  edgy , impatient , querulous ; etc but I am.  I think my crabbiness has to do with the fact that the visible, institutional church doesn't get it! But then I have to remember that for many years I didn't get it either until a rude, Dutchman woke me up out of my dogmatic slumber.  So I have nothing to boast about. None of us does. The church is in such a parlous condition in Australia that none...

A church minister recently related this experience. He said, he heard another church minister ask his congregation, 'What is the most important piece of furniture in the church building?' You might think, the questioner went on, that it's the church's lectern because it's the place where the holy Scriptures are read.  But you'd be wrong. You might think, he continued, that it's the pulpit where the Word of God is preached or the Lord's table from where the 'spiritual body' and 'spiritual blood' of our Saviour are dispensed. But, you'd be wrong. By now, the whole congregation is wondering where is all this going? What could be more significant than any of these items that have been mentioned?