The source of this course if Churches together in Britain and Ireland
WELCOME TO THE PARISH OF SKETTY
45,000 VISITORS FROM NOVEMBER
2010
Sketty Parish
invites all to practise
Christian faith,
together
serving God
and
our community
by sharing
The
Good News
of Jesus.
MAY 20th. EASTER 7
The Last Word
About once a week someone rings me up to ask if they can “book the Church” – usually for a wedding, or perhaps a concert. I have to interpret that, asking other questions to see if they are able to be married in Church, or do whatever else they were enquiring about. More and more I find I am using the language of the Church “hosting” their event.
In the case of a wedding, for example, we are delighted for a couple to be married. We encourage them to think about what they are doing, and gently “sell” the continuing role the Church might have in their lives. The fees they are charged (about £400 for a wedding) cover building, minister, organist and certificate – good value, I think and hope. But they don’t amount to “hiring the Church”. The economic rate for that would be much more, and not realistic or appropriate. So I like to talk about the Church community “hosting” the event, happy to have the couple and their families and friends as their guests.
This might just be an eccentricity of my vocabulary, but think it through. There are many things we never acquire from God to own, yet are grateful that his hospitality allows us to use them for a time. Our bodies, for a start, belong to no other human – but neither are they under our control. Our homes, even if we have freehold title to them, host our families and the lives lived in them. We are learning to think of our planet as “host”, rather than “ours to do as we like with”.
In the case of a wedding, for example, we are delighted for a couple to be married. We encourage them to think about what they are doing, and gently “sell” the continuing role the Church might have in their lives. The fees they are charged (about £400 for a wedding) cover building, minister, organist and certificate – good value, I think and hope. But they don’t amount to “hiring the Church”. The economic rate for that would be much more, and not realistic or appropriate. So I like to talk about the Church community “hosting” the event, happy to have the couple and their families and friends as their guests.
This might just be an eccentricity of my vocabulary, but think it through. There are many things we never acquire from God to own, yet are grateful that his hospitality allows us to use them for a time. Our bodies, for a start, belong to no other human – but neither are they under our control. Our homes, even if we have freehold title to them, host our families and the lives lived in them. We are learning to think of our planet as “host”, rather than “ours to do as we like with”.
Perhaps the idea of God and his Church being “hosts”, and ourselves
being “guests” more often than we realise, would be helpful in shaping
lives of thankfulness and holiness. What do you think?
being “guests” more often than we realise, would be helpful in shaping
lives of thankfulness and holiness. What do you think?
Andrew Knight