United in Christ
by Maria Rudolph
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Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast (Hebrews 3:6).
Read Hebrews 3:1–8
Do you know the finger game, ‘This is the church, and this is the steeple – open the doors and here are all the people!’ I played this countless times with my young children, and they would try to imitate my gestures with their tiny hands. One day, my son studied the formation of his hand after finishing the rhyme and exclaimed, ‘Mum, why are the people attached to the inside of the church?!’ He’s very observant. The little finger game we like to play is misleading.
The church is not the building with people inside. The people are the church. In 1 Peter 2:5, it says, ‘You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God.’
Similarly, Ephesians 2:20–22 says:
Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
You are the church. But not by yourself. All people who are in Christ make up this church together. And yes, when we step back and look at the building, it’s patchy. Various denominations, churches and congregations form this construct with all kinds of strange nooks and crannies. And yet, somehow, we all live in God’s house together.
While we sometimes find great comfort in crawling into our small, familiar corner, we need to realise that Christ is the one who holds us all together and who requires us to bear the Christ-light together and for one another.
It brings to mind a song I used to sing with my small children: Jesus bids us shine like a clear, pure light; like a burning candle glowing in the night. In this world of darkness, he does bid us shine – you in your small corner, and I in mine.
Christ, our Cornerstone, thank you for being faithful as a Son over God’s house. Give me courage and help me with your Holy Spirit to hold on to the hope I have in you. I am your living stone. Use me as a member of your holy priesthood. Amen.
Pastor Maria serves at St John’s Lutheran Church in Perth, Western Australia. She is blessed with her pastor husband, Michael, who serves at Concordia Lutheran Church, Duncraig. With God’s help, they navigate ministry across two parishes and life at home with two beautiful high schoolers and one amazing boy in primary school. Pastor Maria also serves the Lutheran Church on the Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations.
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