From the outside a church (the people not the building) is a funny thing: it’s not quite a concert, not quite a special interest group like a bridge club or the pigeon fanciers, nor is it about party politics or agitating for social change. But if you go to any church you’ll probably find something of all these different ways of belonging.
Church goers too have all sorts of reasons for going to church but they have a core reason – God.
Christians believe in a God who has revealed God own self to humanity as Love. In the Bible we find an inspired collection of history, poetry, law and dramatic tales of human beings discovering God for themselves in their time. So, we read the bible constantly during church services because it’s our core text.
But also because Jesus of Nazareth read, prayed and pondered the bible texts that we read today. Jesus is, Christians believe, the ultimate expression of the God who is Love. One saint said ‘God is greater than anything you can imagine’ and that’s absolutely true. But in Jesus God reveals God’s own self in a unique way – relationship; in a relationship of Father and Son, in a relationship of mother and Son, as a friend, teacher, healer.
Jesus talked about the community of believers – the Church – as part of himself, his body, that transcends time and space. The irony about turning up at church is that whilst God isn’t complicated human beings can be! Going to church can appear daunting because of other human beings. But in church you’ll discover human beings who find that their relationship with Jesus makes them the best people they can be. It’s a bit like the hospital or pharmacy – we come not as a finished product but as people needing healing, hope and the joy that comes with God.
If you’d like to know more about the Christian faith or becoming a part of the Christian church email caenpriest@stgeorgesparis.org or just turn up on Sunday morning and find one of the many friendly faces that make up the church here.
St Mary's, Caen 