Reading 22: “See all the people”
“See all the people.” You may remember this line from the children’s rhyme that teaches how to make a church with your fingers. The rhyme ends with open doors showing the people while the building falls aside. In the last chapter of Romans the apostle Paul makes the same point. Instead of buildings his “churches” are the friends and co-workers to whom his travels had brought the gospel of Jesus Christ. They gathered for worship in homes or wherever they could. The Greek word for church is gathering or assembly and those who worship together in every age are the church.
As the Reformation began, Lutherans did not build new churches but worshiped in the same buildings that were Catholic churches before Lutherans took over. The interiors were renovated to conform to Lutheran theology but many of the buildings are still intact. The point is: buildings are just buildings, but the church is the generations of those who worship inside. Martin Luther agreed. When he dedicated a medieval chapel that had been revamped for Lutheran worship, he told the congregation if they no longer wanted to worship inside, they could gather “outside by the fountain or anywhere else.”
This emphasis on believers is a fitting climax to the first fifteen chapters of Romans. They explain the gospel of salvation and how it is available to both Jews and non-Jews through faith in Christ instead of by keeping the law. The theology is sometimes heavy, but Luther recommended it because it tells us what we need to know about “law, gospel, sin, grace, faith, righteousness, Christ, God, good works, love, hope, the cross.” As important as knowledge, adds Luther, it teaches us who are the church “how to conduct ourselves toward everyone, righteous or sinner, strong or weak, friend or foe, and even toward ourselves.”
When you hear the word church, what comes first to your mind?
Many of us treasure the church buildings in which we grew up and were taught the gospel. How have other churches in which you worshiped, both the building and the people, nurtured your faith?
Almighty God, remind us constantly that we who believe and are baptized are the church. We thank you for the buildings in which we can worship, but keep us mindful that we and all those who came before us are the true church that you love and sustain. In the name of Christ our Lord, Amen.
–Scott Hendrix is an ELCA pastor whose ministry was mainly teaching Church History in seminaries. He is the author of a recent biography of Luther entitled, “Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer.” Scott is retired and lives with his wife in Fearrington Village, NC.
