One of the
things I have always loved about CTK is the fact that you can see into it.
There is something very important about this for dealing with own feelings of
vulnerability about entering new places – we want to know what it’s like before
we commit; we want to be able to see what’s going on before we put our toe in
the door; we want to know whether there are people we might be able to relate
to. Having glass windows and doors breaks down barriers in a way that I think other
churches find difficult at times.
These
thoughts, however, were given more focus for me recently when someone spoke
about walking past one Sunday morning whilst the service was taking place. He
said that although outside looking in he felt included because the bread and
the wine being offered extended beyond the church building into the community
of which he is a part.
It was a sharp reminder to me of one
of the reasons the church exists - to be a focus of God’s presence within a
community. Speaking, recently, about the parable of the foolish bridesmaids
whose oil ran out before the bridegroom arrived (Matthew 25:1-15), I reflected
that not only do we have a responsibility to be build up the reserves of oil of
our own faith but that we have an equal responsibility, where we can, as a
church community to help keep the channels of faith alive for those whose faith
is flickering and have lost their way to their own reserves. This is our
calling.
As we begin a new calendar year let
us make a church resolution to keep focussed on the light we celebrated at
Christmas and allow that light to shine out of our church windows as a guiding
beacon to those whose reserves of faith are running low.
Maggie McLean
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