What Are We Doing Here?

I shared these texts yesterday at the church meeting with fear and trembling.
And now I write them with even more fear.

Because sometimes the Word does not hand us immediate answers.

It gives us questions back.

And one of them keeps echoing in me:

What are we doing here?

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When announcing the new covenant, it is written:

I will put my law within them
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

No longer will anyone teach their neighbor
or their brother, saying:
“Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least to the greatest,” says the Lord.

“Because I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”Jeremiah 31:33–34

All your children will be taught by the Lord,
and great will be the peace of your children.Isaiah 54:13

Do not trust in deceptive words, saying:
“The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”Jeremiah 7:4

But look! You trust in deceptive words
that are of no value to you.Jeremiah 7:8

Destroy this temple,
and I will raise it up in three days.John 2:19

But the temple he had spoken of was his body.John 2:21

Do you not know that you are God's sanctuary
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?1 Corinthians 3:16

How will they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how will they hear, unless someone preaches?Romans 10:14

It is written in the Prophets:
“They will all be taught by God.”John 6:45

Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.Joshua 1:9

So I say: walk by the Spirit… live by the SpiritGalatians 5:16

But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.Matthew 6:33

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So…

if the Lord writes his law within us,
if everyone can know him,
if everyone can be taught by God,
if we must not trust in deceptive words,
if the temple is not made of stone,
if the temple is now us,
if preaching serves to awaken faith,
if the presence goes with us wherever we walk,
if we are called to walk by the Spirit,
and if the Kingdom is to be sought first…

what are we doing here?

Maybe we are not here to find God in a place.

Maybe we are here to learn to recognize him in us.

Maybe we are not here to sustain structures.

Maybe we are here to be built up as a dwelling.

Maybe we are not here to repeat traditions.

Maybe we are here to listen.

Let the reader understand.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches
not to the walls,
but to awakened hearts;
to those who were called out
and are learning to listen within,
awakening to the Kingdom.