What is the Church?

The church is many things.  It is weddings and holy vows spoken in love and reverence.  It is funerals and the promise of life eternal.  It is babies being baptized.  It is comfort and hope for a better tomorrow.  It is Easter lilies.  It is worn hymnbooks.  It is work and sacrifice and Holy Communion.

The church is little children singing, “Jesus Loves Me.”  It is robed choirs singing anthems of praise.  It is Christmas carols and little boys in bathrobes being wise men and shepherds, little girls in nightgowns portraying angels.

The church is stained glass windows.  It is an altar, a pulpit, and God’s Word in a big leather book.  It is fellowship dinners and foreign missions.  It is a helping hand.  It is a sermon that lifts the spirit.  It is the sound of chairs scraping the floor in the Sunday school rooms.  It is a bell ringing clear on a crisp, still morning.  It is an organ’s deep tones.  It is heads bowed in prayer, a warm, friendly handclasp, a solemn whispered benediction.  The church is giving and receiving.  It is budgets and figures.  It is wood and bricks and stone.  It is goodness and mercy.  It is a manger bed, a star, and a cross.  It is a way of life. 
                                                                                                            Charles O. Austin, Jr.            
Blessings,
Lisa Beretz, 518-330-9277