A Meal that Makes Church Church - September 28

From the Pastor - A Meal that Makes Church Church

                       What makes the Church Church?  This has been an important theological question for much of church history.  When a local church gathers together and engages in our practiced rituals, planned activities, work in the community, and times of fellowship, what makes it uniquely church?  What is the difference between a church and a social organization?  The Freemasons have rituals and they perform benevolent work.  Rotary and Lions Clubs have memberships and community service projects and good fellowship.  So what distinguishes a group of people as Church and not simply another community organization?

            For the Reformers this question is easy.  The Church is the place where the Word is rightly proclaimed and the sacraments are rightly administered and practiced.

            This coming Sunday in worship the May Memorial Church will once again celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, in our sanctuary.  Over the past six months we have made attempts of having Communion in our homes during a “virtual” worship service.  We have waited an additional month in our sanctuary to be sure the environment is relatively safe before we add another component to worship.  And finally this Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper in our sanctuary.

            In answering the question of what constitutes a “true church,” the 1800’s Baptist Newspaper Editor J. R. Graves of Tennessee had a lot to say.  He contended that the idea of a “universal” or “invisible” church is a dangerous fallacy.  The idea that the church is “God’s people from every time and place” sharing an invisible bond, according to Graves, was simply false.  According to Graves, the church is always local, visible, and “in-flesh.” 

            J. R. Graves and his “Old Landmarkism” is not popular these days, and rightly so.  But I know that being physically present with the church family, in our place of sanctuary, at the Lord’s Table, being fed the Lord’s Food, that is where my soul is nourished and I receive the Break of Life and Cup of Salvation.  It is not in front of a computer screen while I sit on my front porch.

            The Corona Virus is still keeping many of us apart.  It is a dreadful reality we all continue to live and struggle with.  But just as the Lord’s Supper is a forward-looking foretaste of that Heavenly Banquet for all of God’s people, our celebration now also looks forward to a time when we can all gather and be joined at that Table where we are all welcomed.