Sunday 28th June, Dedication, (4th Sunday after Trinity)

Today we are celebrating the Priory’s Dedication, commemorating its founding, and those who bequeathed to us the amazing building we know and love today. Often when we speak of a church we refer to the building, and it’s easy to think of the congregation that meets in a church building as somehow being defined by the building. But the word “church” implies much more than that.

Our modern English “church” derives ultimately from the Greek Kyriakos. This literally means “belonging to the Lord”: the church is the house of God, a place where God can be sought and found. It’s a place of spiritual encounter, where we can bring ourselves, our experiences and needs to meet with a God who wants to meet with us. If you want to find God, here is a good place to look.

But “church” also translates another Greek word: ekklesia. This word means “gathering, assembly”, and describes not the building but the people who gather there. Paul speaks of the church as a “living temple” (Ephesians 2:19-22), founded on the example of Christ. If people want to know what God is like, he suggests, the best way is through the lives of God’s people.

Many visitors to the Priory report that they meet with God here. But very often they encounter him not in the building – in stone or glass – but in the people they meet when they visit. The Priory is a place to meet God – but the most powerful encounter is in meeting God in the welcome you receive from someone who knows Him.

Every blessing,

Roger