One of my favorite places in the world is a little known burned out church called "San Galgano". It is a beautiful church that lost its roof a long time ago to a fire. All that survives is the frame of the church.

I love walking through the grass as I feel the cool breeze that flows through the nave of the church. There are no windows, no roof, no doors. This church is open to all the elements and this has allowed me to see a beautiful correlation.

Sometimes we forget that we ARE the church. We use sayings like, "I'm going to church" or, "Church is important" when we really mean, "I'm going to worship AS/WITH the church" and "WE/CHRISTIANS are important to Gods plan".

We have become people of buildings and stopped being the very church we claim to be. We are not open to the elements of life. We are closed, walled, windowed, roofed, people. We live our Christianity in a closed space and our faith is defined by the very space we live in. 

Is it a beautiful building? Good. Then our faith must be good.

What has happened to the openness of Christ? What has happened to being the church instead of just inviting people to "it"?

Now, don't get me wrong. The church is the bride of Christ and must always remain so. The church (we) are to be all that God wants us to be. We are not the ones who decide what the church stands for or its direction. That is for our husband (God himself) to set. We are to be obedient to Him in all things.

Thus, I hope and pray that we as "the church" can finally start adopting the "elements of God" that should flow through "the church". Love, devotion to the word, humility, grace, passion. Let us stop telling God what he can and cant do. Let us become the "bride of Christ" that he so desperately wants.

Lord, help us to become true servants. Help us to tear down the walls of the buildings we live our faiths in and help us by putting down the cornerstone that is Christ in our very lives.

Amen.