The origins of today’s feast is the dedication of a church — the Lateran Archbasilica (officially, Cathedral of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran), the oldest public church in Rome and the seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. (St. Peter’s is in Vatican City, which is technically another country.) We at St. James know that buildings are not necessary to have church! The Bible agrees. In the Old Testament lesson Ezekiel describes the temple of the Lord as the source of life-giving and healing waters. But there was no temple when Ezekiel was writing having been destroyed by the Babylonians so he was speaking in metaphor. St. Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthius ans says that its not buildings but people that matter: you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. Jesus in the Gospel claims that the real temple was his body which God raised from the dead. Our church buildings are often important in the life of believers — witness the hue and cry when a church is closed. But the most important aspect of Church is what happens to each one of us as Jesus touches our life.
