Dear friends,

At the end of September Deborah and I had a few days holiday in Brussels.  It really is a beautiful city and well worth a visit (first time or return!).  We saw the buildings of the Grande Place illuminated in a 'son et lumière' display one evening, we toured round the city and saw all the sights from the top of an open topped double-decker bus and we were whisked in a high speed lift to the top of the Atomium and back! We also visited Antwerp and went to Rubens' house and to Diamond Land - but there weren't any free samples to be had there!

Brussels itself is interesting for its architecture.  It was the home of the art nouveau movement and many buildings bear witness to that.  Brussels is also a very old city and many buildings date back hundreds of years.  The 'look' of Brussels is so important to the city officials that they are doing everything they can to preserve the outward look of the many historic buildings.  We saw a lot of what they call 'façading'.  This is where the façade of the building is constructed first so that the outside looks right, but behind there could be anything at all - hidden from sight.

It's much the same for human beings.  So much of the advertising we are bombarded with these days is about our looks; whether that be our hair style, our skin texture and colour, our nails, our dress.  Surely, what is more important is what is on the inside.

The great secret of the Christian faith (Colossians 1:27) is "Christ in us".  It's not the outward show that matters but what's on the inside of a person's heart and mind.  Jesus taught that it's not what goes into a person's mouth that can defile that person, but the words that come out of person's mouth - for they show just what's in that person's heart.

So it is for us in the Church.  It's not what the church building looks like, or how we're seen to behave towards other people, or how generous and charitable it appears that we are, but what matters is what the Spirit is doing on the inside; on the inside of the Church, on the inside of each person who makes up the Church.

The key to it all is love.  With love on the inside the whole building will shine, transfigured with the light of Christ.  Without that love the whole building will only be a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13).

Best wishes to you all,