In our course of travels thru Central Europe, one of the highlights has been visiting the great churches erected in what seems like every neighborhood, every platz, every piazza, every square of Europe's great cities.
St. Mark's in Venice ...
St. Vitus' in Prague ...
St. Mary's in Erfurt, Germany ...
The Duomo in Florence ...
Majestic, ornate, inspiring edifices all. But many of them buildings today - not so much churches. Many empty of worshippers. Because what began as a movement 2,000 years ago driven by the power of the Holy Spirit became full of tradition, history, lifeless, inward, predictable, programmatic -- and in some cases destructive -- with little resemblance to what the very first church was about.
We can be thankful for buildings - I'm thankful for ours. But what we're involved in together is about a mission with extraordinary power -- never more alive than it is today -- and from here on, until our very last day, we'll be charged to continue the mission that Jesus began -- to go, and as we're going, to make disciples.
May our church always be gatherings of folks who have a passion and a calling and a hunger to be at the center of what God is doing.
And be blessed.
St. Mark's in Venice ...
St. Vitus' in Prague ...
St. Mary's in Erfurt, Germany ...
The Duomo in Florence ...
Majestic, ornate, inspiring edifices all. But many of them buildings today - not so much churches. Many empty of worshippers. Because what began as a movement 2,000 years ago driven by the power of the Holy Spirit became full of tradition, history, lifeless, inward, predictable, programmatic -- and in some cases destructive -- with little resemblance to what the very first church was about.
We can be thankful for buildings - I'm thankful for ours. But what we're involved in together is about a mission with extraordinary power -- never more alive than it is today -- and from here on, until our very last day, we'll be charged to continue the mission that Jesus began -- to go, and as we're going, to make disciples.
May our church always be gatherings of folks who have a passion and a calling and a hunger to be at the center of what God is doing.
And be blessed.
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