Was Juliet right when she said "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"? Do names/terms mean anything? Ponder with me if you will a couple of terms.
We call the buildings in which we meet "churches." Our Baptist ancestors often referred to the buildings as "meeting houses." They referred to the baptized believers, gathered to worship in Christ's name, as "churches." What is the difference? Is it right for us to refer to buildings as churches?
Also, the meetings that we hold on Sundays and Wednesdays are referred to as "services." They used to be called "gatherings." Is there a difference? Why do we call them services?
Many of our terms have changed and in this case are tragic.
ReplyDelete"church" should mean "the Body of Christ" but today it only means a building instead of a "meeting house".
"Services" is another one that has the same said out come. You take your car in to be serviced. I go to a restrant and hope to have good service. I like "gathering" it reminds me of times camping we would always gather at the camp fire. A "gaithering" is a place that you would tend to spend more than 2 hours on a Sunday.
Rooted in Christ,
Brian George