A STREAM FLOWED

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 9 November 2013

A STREAM FLOWED

Pause.  Be in the presence of God.

Reading. “A stream flowed eastwards from under the Temple threshold.” (Ezekiel 47:1…12)

Reflection. Tradition can be either enslaving or inspiring. There are many examples of the former in the gospels, especially in attitudes towards the Sabbath. But today we have the latter: the commemoration of the building of the first church (320) in Rome, the Lateran, after the age of persecution. A building is nothing in itself and the Church managed without “churches” until that time. But they soon became the norm and while the Reformation changed much about the interior fittings of churches they continued to use buildings.  Buildings are “out there”, reference points for our faith and reminders of our family and community histories. My parents are buried in the grounds of the church six thousand miles from here where we prayed as a family sixty years ago. But the reading from Ezekiel also reminds us that the church is “in here.” The church is the body of Christ and we are the members of that body.     

Prayer. Lord, we rejoice in the tradition that you give us in all that we see and hear in your Church. But help us to go deeper and find our place in the heart of your body, the community of your people. Amen.