Chapter 7 (Taken from You Are God’s Church)
I was just sitting writing when a vision came over the page I was typing. I have no idea what it meant or why it happened but it filled me with joy. It was the vision of a church. A white one with a high spire, but a small building. Nothing grand, more like a chapel one would see in a village rather than a church in a large town or city.
In my head I was told it was a place of no denomination and was manned by volunteers who kept it open all day so anyone could go in there and sit to pray, reflect and contemplate. It was a place of peace where all were welcome and no restrictions were placed.
No services were held and no rules about how to worship or serve were made. Just a place to be with God and He with them. Talks were held from time to time and these talks would be made by the people who came there. Talks where they shared their lives and beliefs with others. They would tell others interested how they choose to live and worship God in their own ways. It is this that would bring people together, rather than dividing as we see now. A place open to all denominations and none. A place to come and share with others and to meet and get to know one another.
What a wonderful vision to have had. This is the sort of building I would love to see in every town and city worldwide. It is a dream that seems impossible, but with God all things are possible, so who knows. I wouldn’t want them to replace buildings of individual denominations, as everyone is entitled to follow their own faith and belief whatever that may be. These buildings would be an extra for all those people to come to as one. A place where we could all unite properly and not how interfaith services now pretend to.
Interfaith services sound all very good and well, but we all know most sitting there partaking have no time for the way others sitting alongside them believe at all. I have spoken with many of the ones leading such events and services and once your beliefs are mentioned their hackles rise – very visibly.
The thought of being interfaith is wonderful in theory, but in practice it isn’t what it appears to be. It is a tolerance rather than an unconditional acceptance of each other. How can that be any better than just sitting in one’s own place of worship? Nothing on the surface that doesn’t reach deep inside is worth having. It is only worth having if it is sincere and meant – if it is solid.
A house could be built on sand that shifts and moves all the time. This would make it very unstable, meaning one day, the house will fall down and not survive. The one alongside it was built on solid ground with deep foundations. This was a house that would withstand much no matter what the forces of nature threw at it. The house built on sand with no foundation is what interfaith services are all about. Services built on no foundation with every different denomination in them like the shifting sands where none stick together to make anything solid and lasting.
To have a place where no services are held would mean false acceptance and tolerance wouldn’t be seen. It would be a coming together of people who are there for all the right reasons. They would want to hear about each others beliefs and ways of loving and serving God. They wouldn’t need to be only people within a religion as interfaith services have to be. Nor would they feel they could only be there if taking part in prayers, hymns and a service of some sort.
Not all people want that. If you are anything like me, you just want a place to be quiet with God. Just you and Him together. A quiet place where silence allows you to speak from within to Him and where that silence gives you a chance to listen, to hear what is possibly said back to you.
I don’t mean we literally hear Him speak to us, but often, when we pray or speak with God alone, a thought will come into our minds. Thoughts that are often answers or guidance from God. If we are too busy always following set prayers said in unison with no time for pause or contemplation and reflection, how then can we hear what is said to us? How can we feel or receive guidance? We can’t and that is why sitting in the quiet is so very important.
Imagine then if there was a place you could go to where you could find that peace. A place with a room set aside for anyone to come and sit in away from telephones, noise of the world and where there was just silence. Even if others sat alongside you, they too would be deep in their own thoughts or prayers. Not a word would be spoken apart from in your minds.
Once you feel ready to leave the room there would be a general meeting place for anyone dropping by. A room where people can make tea or coffee. People of all races, religions, no religion and every walk of life could come and meet. A place where the good come together united rather than divided as they all are now.
A place where they can do talks and teach others about their faith, their beliefs or their religion if they so wish. A place where we can learn that goodness comes in all forms and ways and not just in ways we are told they do. A place where even God’s supernatural gifts can be discussed and taught about in order that false spiritual ones can become a thing of the past.
Imagine if there was a place you could go to for real advice about such things and not just those we have now teaching only false ways that are nothing of God and that don’t even remotely resemble His supernatural gifts.
It would be incredible if more people came to recognise the huge differences in both. To see them turn away from false ways and come back to pure goodness without need of rituals or false messages done to lure them into a false sense of security.
These buildings would be for people who genuinely believe in goodness, love and living a natural life without preying on anyone’s vulnerabilities in order to gain in any way. People who seek deep within their own hearts, minds and souls for how to improve and become as God asks of us.
Imagine a place like that in every town. A place where everyone is welcome if they are genuine, non judgemental and striving only to become better people and to love each other unconditionally. A place where no one is preying on anyone else and forcing false gifts and messages or classes and workshops on them. Where no one is saying or demanding others believe only their way is the right way. One day, who knows if these places will become a reality, but how wonderful if they did.
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