There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
- Psalm 46:4-6
When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together,
they saw her and were astounded;
they fled in terror.
Trembling seized them there,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
shattered by an east wind.
As we have heard,
so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
forever.
- Psalm 48:4-8
How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God..
- Psalm 84:1-3
Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:
“I will record Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush—
and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”
Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”
- Psalm 87:3-6
“Psalms 27, 42, 46, 48, 63, 81, 84, 87, and others sing of Jerusalem, the City of God, of the great festivals of the people of God, of the temple and the beautiful worship services. It is the presence of the God of salvation in his congregation for which we here give thanks, about which we here rejoice, for which we long. What Mount Zion and the temple were for the Israelites the church of God throughout the world is for us-the church where God always dwells with his people in word and sacrament. This church will withstand all enemies (Psalm 46); its imprisonment under the powers of the godless world will come to an end (Psalms 126 and 137). The present and gracious God, who is in Christ who in turn is in his congregation, is the fulfillment of all thanksgiving, all joy, and all longing in the Psalms. As Jesus, in whom God himself dwells, longed for fellowship with God because he had become a human as we (Luke 2:49), so he prays with us for the total nearness and presence of God with those who are his.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, psalms, The Prayer Book of the Bible
When I first saw this chapter, before reading it, I wondered what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant. The church age started after Jesus, and the Psalms were written hundreds of years before Jesus. David wrote roughly half of the psalms, and he never saw the temple. So having psalms about the “church” seemed odd until you see that Bonhoeffer meant the place of worship, the mountain of Zion, and the temple of God. It means a place of strength for God is with us. It means sanctuary. And God’s Holy city is even the focus of the End Times.
But in the present-day thinking, you can say that the church is the body of believers, but most who attend think of the building. Even when you read the psalms that Bonhoeffer mentions, you think of a walled city on a mountain, and it was extremely difficult to conquer. It was only possible when God allowed it.
But we must look past the building. I am often torn as to whether the building of such buildings was in God’s plan.
I was blessed in a special way when I was a deacon at a church across the street from the Augusta National, where the Masters Golf Tournament is played. I was on the building maintenance team and the church burned down. Actually only the education wing, but the smoke damage was extensive in the sanctuary.
Why was this a “blessing”? It required us to do some thinking and soul searching and a lot of praying. We found a nearby elementary school that allowed us to have Sunday school in some of the classrooms and a worship service in the cafeteria. In the year, plus a little, that we were in that school, the church grew in attendance and membership. We were told that church growth in such circumstances was a miracle. Usually, attendance dwindles and often the church building is never rebuilt as a result. It was not the building that drew people. It was the love that the members had for each other and the message God wanted that neighborhood to hear. We bought the property next door for expansion of Sunday school classes and parking. And the other church going in the other direction complained that some of our members were parking in their lot.
The church is not the building or the property. It is the people.
And I had another blessing upon moving to the Pittsburgh area when I was invited to the home of an elderly Indonesian couple. Once each month, they had a Bible Study. It was like a first century church. We prayed. We sang, usually off key. We had an in-depth Bible study given by an “elder” but really one of the members. And then we had a wonderful meal. The meal always had Bahmi Goreng with some kind of meat, but mostly noodles, and a freshly baked cake of some sort. We were each members of churches for various denominations, but for that one Friday night each month, we were family.
The church is not just the people. The church is family. We are all in God’s family. If church does not feel like that, are you in the wrong church or have you not realized whose family it is?
Lord, guide us as we pray. We build bigger and bigger churches, but the pews become more and more empty. But the basketball court is crowded. We have picture directories. Why? Most of the members have no idea who the others are in the church. The photo directory becomes their guide. We have forgotten that the church is the body of true believers. Have we forgotten that You adopt us into Your church and all true believers are our brothers and sisters? If not, then why do we act that way? In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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