Style

"I will build my church," Matthew 16:18.

Who's talking? Jesus. What's he planning to build? His church. So. Walking around some town, we might see a building of a particular style and say: That's a church. Or, see a different structure and say: That's a synagogue. Or, yet again another and say: That's a mosque. Or, one more time, another style and say: That's a pagoda. And so on. That's not what Jesus was talking about. No. Not a church. He spoke of a group of people, of an assembly of human beings, of a gathering of earthlings, of a congregation of congregated persons. These all would have one commonality (and it wasn't what the building looked like!). They had confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. They had subjected themselves individually and freely to Jesus as his subjects in his kingdom. Sky kingdom.

In hope, we visit today with a brother or sister confessing our common Lord, living parts of his church. And in his kingdom together, we praise our God for his mercy and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.