Weaving connections: the interface between church and community

How do we understand the interface between church and community? What do people see when they see the church?

Westminster Abbey on a Thursday morning was swarming with people, most (like me) armed with a camera. The question is, "Were they seeing the church?"

We understand the difference between "Church as the Body of Christ" and "church as a building", but we only have that understanding because we are on the inside. And what does it take to get to be on the inside?

For a start there are a significant number of cultural barriers to be crossed - in one of my photos there stands a verger in robes and a security guard. With the former, I'm struck by the trappings of a church from a previous era. How foreign to people in their everyday 21C lives. And I want to ask about the purpose of the guard: Who or what is he there to protect?

In my own context, I might be able to claim freedom from either of these things, but I'm not convinced we are free either of incomprehensible symbols or protections designed to keep the world at bay. There may be comfort in the familiar and safety in our separation, but these things also diminish the possibility of relationship with the community around us.

Surrounding St Paul's is the commercial region of the City. The grand cathedral stands like a beacon on a hill. Its very architecture speaks of something profoundly different, but is it merely different or is it counter-cultural in ways that Christ would recognise as bringing in the kingdom of God?Interestingly (at least, to me), beside St Paul's is a modern glass clad building: the headquarters of the Salvation Army. Its ground floor windows carry scriptural quotations but is it any more "in the world, but not of the world" than the cathedral it stands over against?

Are either of these structures the face of the church Paul had in mind when he wrote, "Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers... Rejoice with those rejoice, weep with those who weep"?

After visiting St Paul's with its thousands of visitors we went to the the site of a different sort of pilgrimage: the Borough Market. Here people flock to experience the wealth of English foods. Apart from the inevitable tourists (like us), there were also many people taking their lunch break.