Even though I know it’s essentially a shelter from the rain, there’s still a special place in my heart for the building in which I heard God’s word as a youth, and was married as an adult.

Our Christian churches are often consecrated to set them apart for a noble use, but ultimately, the place we meet with God is not a physical building, but it’s in Christ Jesus, who is “the living cornerstone of God’s temple” (1 Peter 2:4). As John wrote in his Gospel, “when Jesus said, ‘this temple’, he meant his own body.” (John 2:21).

Jodie is the Rector of Jamberoo Anglican, a regional and rural parish in the Diocese of Sydney, Australia.