Have you ever, like I have, been completely overawed with wonder when you’ve walked into a Cathedral or church building. It does not happen to me all the time but on occasion, as I enter a sacred building I am stopped in my tracks and just have to be still and wonder. Wonder at the grander, beauty or sheer workmanship which made this temple to God. It does not, for me, need to be a grand building in fact some of the most powerful places of worship have been wee chapels that you can feel are steeped with prayer and love. that was something I felt the first time I walked into the Good Shepherd.

Many thousands pass through a myriad of church buildings in a year but I’ve never stopped to wonder how many of these people are brought to faith by the building. How something in the awesomeness of stone, brick and mortar, wood, glass and light enable another to glimpse something of the divine that they might not have seen, otherwise.

We are often reminded that, however, beautiful or not a church building is, it is not ‘the church’. The Church is actually the people, the congregation and those whom they serve but we must not forget that the building can be a tool for mission and outreach just by being what it is.

The author of the piece from 1Kings this morning grasps this idea as does St.Luke. In 1Kings we are told to welcome the foreigner who chooses to worship in the Temple and who acknowledges God and Luke tells the story of the centurion held in great esteem by the locals in Capernaum for what he had done for the temple there. Buildings move people and even if they may say they don’t worship God, their actions speak otherwise. In that they are doing something for the ‘otherness’ that the building engenders.

The Church has always had its supporters who may not ever come to worship but would be amongst the first to help maintain its fabric and to ensure it remains standing for future generations. For some supporting the building might in a way be their act of worship to a God, they cannot yet proclaim. God has his supporters everywhere and not all of us will be worshippers. Those of us who are adherents and communicants worship not just on our own behalf but on the behalf of those others who cannot. We are called to give thanks for those who support the church and to pray for them just as we might pray for our own members. For Christ’s Church is made up of many different people.

Buildings do so often play a significant part in people’s faith. Making a pilgrimage to a favourite chapel or church can re-fresh belief or help us re-connect. Having a sacred building to seek peace and quiet in or sanctuary is also important and being a place just to be can be powerful. When I recently visited my parents I wandered into the town centre to walk round the restored ruins of Reading Abbey. The flint walls and window traceries still capture my imagination as much as they did when I was a boy. I like to imagine I can hear the benedictine monks singing the officers as I pace the grounds. I suspect those ruins had something to do with the reason I became a Benedictine Oblate and practice my faith. Even today those ruins speak of something greater than me or the world I see. This I believe is echoed in recent reports where it is recorded that Cathedral type congregations have increased over latter years simply because of the space they offer, just to be.

Buildings are a magnet and a magnet that can attract and lead someone into faith and fellowship given the right conditions. Some have joined our congregation because the building and its garden offered them a way into worship that they had not expected or were looking for. Perhaps they felt an atmosphere of ‘holiness’ that welcomed them in and made them stop for a while. We may not see these people every Sunday but they are there supporting us in what we do and we likewise should support them with our prayers.

Buildings may not be the people of God but they do have doors that should always be open in welcome; offering a glimpse of the Divine beyond.