Wednesday 9 November

Dedication of St John Lateran

Ezekiel 47: 1-2, 8-9, 12, Ps. 46,
1 Corinthians 3: 9-11, 16-17, John 2:13-22

To build or to destroy

Paul laid the foundations of numerous local churches, leaving other Christian leaders to continue the work. He emphasizes here that the only foundation on which a church can be built is Jesus Christ. He fought tirelessly against Christians who required Gentile converts to keep the Jewish law. This is probably the sort of flawed foundation that concerns him here. Legalism about aspects of faith remains a temptation for some, but it is only one of the ways in which we can weaken the local church of which we are a part. How can I best build the church up?