Reflections in Ordinary Time

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 4, 2005

The Real Meaning of Church

I belong to what I would call a full-service church. It is located in an affluent neighborhood of a medium-sized city. The Sunday masses draw large crowds, the liturgies are well-planned, and the collections are good. The church facilities are spacious and up-to-date, including a parish center with lots of amenities and an elementary school with a waiting list to get in. The parish offers a wide range of activities that provide opportunities for involvement and fellowship for just about everyone. It offers many activities for the youth of the parish, including an extensive and well-organized sports program. It organizes social activities for young adults, senior citizens, and every group in between. The pastor and his associate keep very busy coordinating all these activities with the help of a parish staff and many unpaid volunteers. Those who lament the decline of the church today, the dwindling church attendance, the shortage of priests, and the closing of parishes, should come and take a look at my church. We are doing quite well. Or are we?

Actually, my church has a problem, one that it shares with most churches today, both those that are doing well and those that are struggling. It has lost touch with what its mission is. It has lost sight of the real meaning of church.

This is not the fault of the hard-working pastors and dedicated volunteers who devote themselves to the work of the church. It is actually a symptom of a deeper problem. The world is undergoing a sea change of collective consciousness about God. People still talk about God, but awareness of God, and more importantly faith in God, is disappearing. The world no longer needs God, it doesn't pray to God, and it doesn't believe in God.

This change of consciousness affects the people who come to church. I see it in my own church. I'm not one to feel nostalgic for the past, but I notice something is missing at church that I remember from my childhood. When people come into church today, they don't seem to sense that they have entered a sacred place, a place that is different from other places. They don't feel a sense of awe in church. They don't have a sense of how unworthy they are to be there. They don't seem to be aware that what they do in church is different from what they do everywhere else. They have lost sight of the fact that when they gather in church, the Lord Jesus himself is in their midst, and that being in the Lord's presence is the whole purpose for gathering. They miss the real meaning of church.

God went to a lot of trouble to become man and overcome the brokenness and alienation that separate us from him. He wants us to know that nothing can separate us from his love. He wants us to know that he came among us not just once in the distant past, but that he is with us now and forever. He wants us to know that he is still in our midst. This is why we gather in his name. This is the real meaning of church. Our churches should continue to offer the many programs and activities that benefit our communities. But if they do not bring God to us, they miss the whole point.

- Responsorial Psalm for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time