Making Your Church a Home

By Pastor Gina Johnson

Last time, we were making our house a home, and we were talking about the internal house and the importance of aligning our mind and our body and our Spirit with the presence of God. So for those of you that haven’t read that, you're going to get a little review, and those of you that did read it, you'll get the beautiful reiteration to help keep these things strong.

So what are we called to do? Well, we're called to create a home. Remember, we are the home. We are the building. We're called to create a home in which Spirit can thrive. I'm not going to say in which Spirit can dwell, because Spirit's already dwelling there.

It's interesting how things just pop up along the way, and we call them synchronicities. I was sharing with a friend that as I was looking through a book, it made reference to St. Hildegard, and it just so happened that the night before, I was watching a little, I'll call it a mini documentary about St. Hildegard and other saints that had followed her, and I thought, how interesting.

And then I was sitting with one of my congregation members, and we were talking about her lovely scarf, and then we were talking about how you find these things and you keep them for years, like another friend’s lovely dress that everyone calls her cute when she wears, but then there are other things that just become clutter. And isn't that the truth also with our journey, with our relationship with the Creator, that there are certain facets, certain precepts, there are certain things that we discover within us, and we hold onto them forever.

But in the world we live in, other things come pouring in. Other relative things come in and they paint our reality into a false reality, and they become clutter. It was interesting, as I was sitting with this member, we were talking about a closet with those treasures that we'll hold onto forever, and there’s all the clutter in there. How fitting that is, because we are called to tend to our home in order to make it a house in which Spirit cannot only thrive, but flow from it effortlessly.

And so in our last lesson we first talked about building on the right foundation, which was the mind, and if you all remember, I was telling you that in order to build properly on that foundation, and the foundation is the “I” in presence, the foundation is Jesus, if we are building upon that, we have to align our thoughts, and we have to align them with the divine truth.

We must align them and make sure that they are grounded in love and in peace, and we have to eliminate those limiting thoughts. We must eliminate those limiting thoughts and put in their place affirmations. We have to put in their place those things that say, I am abundant, I am love, I am generous, I am grace, I am peace, and when we eliminate those limiting thoughts and continue to set our mindset on what we know about ourselves as the “I” in the presence of Christ, then we know that the foundation is set correctly.

And the next piece that we talked about was the body, as the body being a temple, and in order to know that your body is more than a structure, it's important that you take care of your body. It's important that you treat your body as a sacred temple, that you nourish it, that you allow it to have rest, that you honor it, that you look at all of the patterns that you have been practicing and habits when it comes to your body and see which ones need changes because there's more than just your organs and your bones that are residing in there. This body of yours is used to be the expression of the divine. This body of yours is used to house the presence and the beauty of the Spirit. So how are you taking care of your body?

The last piece is to fill your house with light, and that light is the Spirit. The way we do that is by making sure that our values, our choices, our Spiritual practices all bring light that continue to illuminate our home.

You know, it's that “leave a light on in the window and I'll know that I'm welcome there.” So everywhere we go, we should always have that light on that's inviting people in. And it's important that when you say, “Okay, so how do I get this light on? How do I make this light glow even brighter?” Well, what kind of materials are you using in your home? Are you meditating? Are you praying? Are you attending a church service or another community in which you get filled up, in which you feel nourished, in which you can nourish other people, because that's important.

It's like lamps, you know. If the oil runs out, they won't light, so it's really important that you take care of that light by making sure you keep it strong.

Those were some of the things I mentioned last time when I discussed making your house a home as individuals who are called to do this kingdom work. But we're not just individuals. We're not just individual homes out there.

We're actually a united group of homes which form a community. So in this lesson, I want to bring your attention to what it means to make your church a home. What does it mean to take those same elements of the mind of the church, the body of the church, and the heart of the church, and live out in its fullest expression?

What makes people see your church, and they say, that is a home. That is a home that I want to be a part of, that I want to visit, that I want to come into and grow and learn with.

So the first part of that is in the scripture from 1 Corinthians 3.11, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. So in order to make the mind of the church a strong foundation, we need to continue to build on love and unity.

Just as your mind shapes your internal house, the foundation of the church has to be built on the Christ's mind. Imagine that there's a group of builders, and they're all working together on a project, except each one of them has a different blueprint that they're working from. You know, one worker is going to go and lay a foundation in this spot, while the other one's going to say, “What are you doing? No, no, it's over here.”

And as they start to move forward, one's going to say, “We're going to build walls over here,” and another one's going to say, “No, no, no, no, my blueprint says we build it over there.”

How many times, especially those of you who have been in the church for a longer time than others, how many times have you gone to a meeting? How many times have you come into church, and everyone's walking in with a different set of blueprints? And as much as we love each other, and we want to say, you know, all are welcome, let's be open to everyone's ideas, everyone's holding their blueprints, saying, “But mine are right. Mine are right. These are the ones we've always had. These are the ones I always think that we should use. We got to keep to the traditions of it all.”

While someone's over here saying, “But no, these blueprints, you see, this is new, and this is modern, and this is what it really means to be the church.” And then someone's over there saying, “Well, wait a second, I found these, and they must have been from here because I found them here.” But at the end of the day, it's when you can take all of those blueprints and not look at how you think they should go, not look at how other churches are doing it or what the world is telling you that church should look like, but you should turn inward and say, “What are we all holding here? What is the way to show love and unity within this place? What ministries can come forth from this place?” Because when everyone is walking around with the wrong set of blueprints or a different set of blueprints, what happens? Chaos.

Nothing happens. A bunch of things will get started in different places, and a bunch of things will go back and forth saying, that's not how it's supposed to be. Everything will fall apart before it can even come to completion.

Sometimes church communities feel like this. We all know it. Most of us have probably experienced it.

But as you heard in that verse, for no one can lay any foundation other than that one already laid, which is Christ Jesus. We don't need to define the church. We don't need to create the church. We don't need to decide what the church is supposed to look like because Jesus did that for us. A gentleman by the name of Richard Rohr understood that. Jesus didn't build a church that said, “Hey, this is meant for you all over here, but that church is meant for you all over there, and then that religion is meant for you all over there, and that culture is meant for you all over there.”

Jesus said, “Come one, come all.” I said very boldly on a Zoom one day, “You know, don't be offended, but if you want to know my opinion, we're all Christians. If you understand the teaching of Jesus in the fullness, we are all the church. We are all Christians. We all come together with the same understanding, for whatever reason some of us have forgotten it.” That's why we're here reading this, to be reminded, to remember.

It's so important that a house with the wrong blueprints is not going to be a home. A church being built with the wrong blueprints is not going to be a home.

The second one is the body of the church. In Galatians 6.2, it says, carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 

So, I don't go to super fancy restaurants all that often. Honestly, I think I've been to a whopping two. And I don't necessarily have a desire, because one of the ones I went to, it reminded me of TV. It was like a movie where someone approaches the maître di, and they ask, “What is your name? Oh, Gina Johnson. Yes, right this way, Ms. Johnson.” And then they usher that person to their table.

My experience wasn’t exactly like that, but definitely something similar where, while you're sitting there, everything is so quiet. All the tables are perfectly set. All the people in the restaurant are perfectly dressed, and everything is just so perfect. And are they talking? Are they visiting? I have no idea. Because all you can hear is a ting-ting of their forks and their plates, and you can see them with their glasses, and it's like, “Wow.”

Well, in Fargo, North Dakota, there's this place called Mom's Kitchen, okay? And you go in, mom’s, it doesn't matter if it's your first time there, or you've been there a million times, at Mom's Kitchen, they're going to treat you like you've always been there. They're going to welcome you with open arms. And that's what the church is supposed to look like.

You know, when you go into a place that's so perfect and pristine, and no one's having conversations, no one is welcoming, no one is checking in on each other, that does not feel like the atmosphere you want to be in. You see, it goes far beyond that restaurant that I was describing to you. It’s more like that place where you walk in, and everyone knows your name.

You walk in, and everyone is glad to see you, and when you are missing, they are looking for you. Carry each other's burdens. That's what we truly need to be the body of the church, to be a church that's paying attention to one another, that's asking each other, how are you doing? And not just, “How are you doing? Good, all right, I'm out of here,” as you walk away, but genuinely, “What is stirring you? What's been on your mind lately? What's grabbing your attention? Where are you feeling things set in that aren't serving you, so perhaps I can help? Perhaps I can guide you along, and in exchange, you'll guide me along.”

Just as we care for our physical bodies, as we talked about last time, it's so important that we care for the body of the church. You know, a healthy church isn't just going to look good. It's going to be nurtured, and it's going to be nurtured from within. It's going to feel good.

The question is, are we actively cultivating a space that feels good when people come into it? Are we offering and extending love and grace and outreach in such a way where people can recognize that church isn't just a church, it's a family. It's a family that resides in a beautiful home, and when I go in there, regardless of being a member, a guest, a visitor for just a day, I feel at home.

Our door is not a door where you need a special key, and if it ever is locked, then look under the mat and it's there, because that's what we want this place to be, a place where everyone comes in and feels welcomed at home.

The last part of making your church into a home is the heart of the church. You may have heard that phrase, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them. You know, the Spirit brings life to the church. The Spirit is what ignites your internal house, so it is with worship, it is with prayer, it is with sharing our faith that continues to brighten that light and make the church into a home.

There's a movie, The Secret Garden. Have you seen it? A young girl goes to stay, I believe it's with her uncle, and he has this wonderful, wonderful house. I wouldn't quite call it a castle, but I would call it a mansion. And all around his house, the gardens are beautifully tended.

He has wealth and is away. The uncle has a sick son, and together these two young people end up forming a bond. And while they're out and about exploring, they stumble upon a garden that doesn't look very beautiful and alive and flowing like the gardens around the home. This is overgrown. There are weeds, and there are thorns, and it needs new life. It's been neglected.

As you continue to watch the story, you see the secret garden bloom and flourish and turn into so much more. You see the relationships within that house change and take on new life. Well, that garden being taken care of is the same thing as nurturing the Spirit.

When you don't take time to nurture the garden of the Spirit within you, what's going to happen to it? You know there's that phrase, you either use it or lose it? Well, the same goes. You either nurture it, you either acknowledge the Spirit, invite the Spirit, continue to let the Spirit flow from you, or you will start to look like that garden, dead, ready to be cleaned out, ready to have things just done with. Let's lock the gate and no one even know this garden exists anymore because there's no life to it.

But that's not what you want to do here. Again, what does a healthy church look like? A healthy church looks like a place where people are nurturing it, where people are taking the time to cultivate what is there, where people are taking the time to recognize that this is something that we need to do together, this is something that we need to do by the Spirit's leading, and this is something that we need to do standing on the foundation of Christ. It's not just about, you know, here's a space where you can come on Sunday morning, you can grab communion, you can say hi to a few friends, listen to a message and maybe you'll get something from it.

This is truly a place where you come with your cup, empty or full, and you let us fill it. You open yourself up to the presence of the Spirit and become filled to overflowing. And that is exactly what you do when you go from this place.

In order to make this church a home, you are the Spirit. You are the light that is within it. Every time you go from this place, you are that light going out into the world. You are the invitation. It is your presence of light that invites people into our home.

I want to leave you all with a challenge. So part one in the last message was this emphasis on making sure that you are taking care of your individual internal temple. Making sure that you are taking care of your mind, making sure that you are expressing the Spirit in all that you do. With this lesson we're called to take that same and extend it to knowing that our church is a community, that we are the living houses, the living houses of God.

We are the greatest Spiritual community and we're here to make our presence known. So as you are moving forward in this week ahead, I want you to examine this it, what more can I do to strengthen the foundation of the church? What can I do more to strengthen the body of the church? How can I carry the burdens of my brothers and sisters? And most of all, what more can I do to shine forth the light of the church, which is me, which is you?

Please join me in prayer. Lord God, we give you thanks that you have equipped us with such great attributes, such great gifts, great talents, great empowerment.

May we use our mind, body and Spirit to not only be transformed, but to transform all those that come into our presence. May we recognize that as we are the home of the Spirit, our church is the home of the Spirit. May we recognize that wherever we are, Spirit is there, and the church is present.

God, we thank you so much for the blessings of our church and the life that it brings to this community. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen.