The word ‘church’

Some words have different meanings.  Take, for example, the word ‘school’.  If I said to you that the school needed a new roof, you would know I was thinking of the building.   If, however, I said that the school was getting up a concert, that would mean the children and young people, including you.

In the same way the word ‘church’ can mean either the building or else the Church people.  Over the next few weeks we shall be thinking about the Church as the People of God.

The Jewish Nation-Church

When the Queen and Prince Philip visit another country, the people there begin making preparations to receive them a long time beforehand, so that when they arrive everything is ready for them to be given a good welcome.

The same kind of thing happened before God visited this world as Jesus Christ, except that he arranged for the Jewish people to make ready for his coming.  They had 2,000 years in which to prepare, and during that time they learnt what God was like and what kind of lives he expected them to lead.

The Jewish people were really one big Church or people of God.  That is why they are often called in the Old Testament ‘the congregation’ of Israel, and all who belonged to the Jewish nation also belonged to the Jewish Church as the two were the same thing.

That is why the Jewish nation had holy days and festivals as the Christian Church has today.  We keep Sunday as our day of worship, but the Jews kept Saturday or the Sabbath.  Every Saturday they went to worship God in the synagogue, and every day services were held in the Temple at Jerusalem. 

The services in the Temple were taken by priests and at their head was the High Priest who was also head of the government.

Just as we have our special festivals, like Christmas and Easter, so they had theirs; for example, the feast of the Passover, which commemorated the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, the Feast of Unleavened Bread which marked the beginning of the corn harvest, and the Feast of Pentecost seven weeks later which marked its end.  The Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Ingathering) in the autumn was a great harvest thanksgiving after the fruit and grapes and olives had been gathered in.

The Faithful Remnant

God’s plan when he came was to give great blessings, first of all to the Jewish people and then through them to people of every nation, and the greatest blessing of all was to be eternal life with him.  This is what he promised to Abraham at the beginning: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you,…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (NRSV, Genesis 12:2,3).

When Jesus came, however, the welcome that he received was a very terrible one indeed.  He was nailed on a Cross outside the walls of Jerusalem.  But although he was “despised and rejected by others” (NRSV, Isaiah 53:3), there were some who loved him and followed him, and chief among them were his Apostles.  In fact, they were the only people who could now be called the Church or People of God, and so Jesus made a new start with them.

If you build a house the first thing you have to make sure is that the foundation is strong and sound.  So when Jesus rebuilt his Church, his People, he did so on the only part of the Jewish people which remained firm and faithful – on the foundation of the Apostles (Revelation 21:14).

The Christian Church

At the Last Supper, Jesus made a New Covenant or Partnership with the Apostles to replace the Old Covenant made by God with the People of Israel at Mount Sinai.  When Jesus had ascended into Heaven, the blessings which God had promised years before to Abraham began to be given.

On the Day of Pentecost, at nine o’clock in the morning, Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to the Apostles, making them the Christian Church, the New People of God, whose members would be drawn from all nations and races.  The Holy Spirit came, first to the Apostles and then to all those who were baptised and so joined the Church.  In the morning the Church had, besides Our Lady, only 12 members, the 12 Apostles.  By the time the evening came so many people had been baptised that it had grown to 3,000.  That is why Pentecost is often called the Birthday of the Christian Church.

The first people to be baptised were all Jews, but as the Church spread farther and farther, peoples of all nations began to join until now it is to be found all over the world.  So God kept his promise to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”.

We still remember that the Christian Church goes back to the old Jewish Church because we still read the books of the Old Testament which are the holy books of the old Jewish Church.  We also sing the Psalms which are the hymns of the old Jewish Church.

The mission of the Christian Church

Through his Church, in every generation and in every part of the world, Jesus – the Ascended Christ – continues his ministry of:

• preaching the Gospel (Good News) of the Crucified Saviour and Risen Lord;
• teaching the Christian Faith and the Christian way of life;
• saving people from their sins and giving them eternal life with God both here and hereafter, by restoring them to God and renewing them in his own likeness.

SUMMARY

1. The Jewish nation was God’s Church (Chosen People) which was to prepare for Jesus and then bring all nations to know and love him too.

2. When Jesus came, however, he was crucified and only the Apostles remained faithful.  At Pentecost (Whitsunday), therefore, he made a new start with them and so began the Christian Church to which people of all nations now belong.

3. Through his Church, Jesus continues his ministry in every generation and in every part of the world.