Remember this “hand play” we did as kids?
“Here is the church and here is the steeple…
Open the doors and see all the people!”
From childhood we have been taught that the church is the BUILDING in which we worship. Then, in 1972 a song came out which suggested a different idea!
“I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together…
All who follow Jesus all around the world … YES! We’re the church together!
The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place — the church is a PEOPLE! Since then all generations have embraced this upbeat children’s song as a “no-nonsense” description of the nature of the Christian church. First published in “Songs for An Easter People,” the music reflects the informal “free” style of the Vietnam era freedom songs and the post Vatican II folk masses. Who wrote it?
Richard Avery and Donald Marsh — two Presbyterian clergymen — companions and life partners as well as partners in ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Port Jervis, New York. Richard Avery served as Pastor for 44 years and for three decades Donald Marsh served as Choirmaster and Director of the Arts. Together they built a vital and exciting church and they also collaborated on more than 150 songs, breathing new life into hymnody!
The hymn continues: (click here to listen)
“We’re many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces
All colors and all ages too, from all times and places! (Refrain)
Sometimes the church is marching; sometimes it’s bravely burning,
Sometimes it’s riding, sometimes hiding; always, it’s learning. (Refrain)
And when the people gather, there’s singing and there’s praying;
There’s laughing and there’s crying sometimes, all of it saying… (Refrain)
At Pentecost some people received the Holy Spirit
And told the Good News through the world to all who would hear it! (Refrain)
As we meet each Sunday to worship — affirming our commitment to living out LOVE in Jesus’ name as the NMCC community, let us each affirm in our hearts that:
I am the church, you are the church, WE ARE THE CHURCH TOGETHER!
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