Where there was once a pile of wood, now there grows a clump of brown fungi. It seems that fungus are extremely important on this planet, as is everything the creator made – which is everything! They are important for recycling dead materials, for medicines and for food. Does anyone else wonder what the earth would have been like before the earth was cursed? Where there many mushrooms and edible fungi, many trees bearing fruit and many plants to cultivate and eat?

Today I have listened to two sermons on how the church is here, not for us, but for the broken. We are meant to reach out to those broken. How many of us invite someone we worry about to church? Do we think that they will actually stay, or will they be bored and embarrassed by not knowing what to say and still go away without actually talking about why they came, just have a coffee at the end and have some chit chat. We are not just at church to make a pleasant time, it is to make disciples.

Are traditional churches a thing of the past, will they be turned into concert venues and halls of use for the community? Would Jesus really be this worried about buildings?

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus does not send us out to build and repair churches. He sends us out to make disciples. In Jesus’ time people were baptised in rivers and natural places, very few were baptised in fonts, or walk in pools heated to not be too shocking.

Perhaps we are scared that if we loose our buildings that we will loose the church, but Jesus has promised to be with us till the end of the age, so cast our fears away and pray to him for direction. I am never exited in my faith about buildings, they just serve a purpose. Perhaps if we lose our buildings we will be forced to act and go out and make disciples of everyone. So when we think the church is conquered it rises from the dead ashes, it rises from the dead wood like the fungi have risen from the dead branches.

Dear Lord, let us have direction so we can know how to act to bring your kingdom about here on earth today.

Amen