Imagine a preacher standing on Sunday morning and giving a lengthy account of the physical characteristics of the church building. Perhaps it's an old building, medieval in design and he begins by pointing out easily missed but beautiful carvings in the entrance porch, urging his congregation to take a closer look as they leave. He goes on to talk about the font near the entrance with its striking carvings and font cover. Moving on to the pews he points out how generations of parishioners have polished them down the years with their fidgeting, but surely appreciating this wonderful little building. The pulpit where he stands next gets his attention and he then draws people's eyes to the intricately carved rood screen that leads him to naturally talk about the choir stalls and on to the altar and furniture that adorns it.

After some time of this his hearers might be forgiven for wondering when he was going to get to the point. A guided tour is all well and good but they are not tourists and he not a tour guide. They appreciate their building in their quiet moments, perhaps during the week when they slip inside for a moment of prayer, or help with some practical service to the church but, really now; there is a time and a place. He has mentioned the font but nothing of its significance. He has spoken of the altar but nothing of what it represents. He has mentioned the pulpit but where is the sermon?

For some life is entirely about the physical and "church" nothing but a building on the corner of the street around which you take a guided tour, trying to remember the "interesting features" but nothing that should impact the entirely physical world in which they live. This reading tells of another dimension to life altogether. It tells of a Roman army officer whose "highly valued" servant was sick and about to die and he decided to plead with Jesus for his servant's life. Being posted to Palestine, he had come to appreciate the culture and religion of the Jews. His Jewish friends petitioned on his behalf saying:

"This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue"

The remarkable thing about this story is that, as Jesus began to go to his home, the centurion sent a message:

"Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed"

Jesus declared himself amazed at the centurion's faith saying, "Not even in Israel have I found such great faith!" The centurion had recognised in the God of Israel a dimension of life far beyond the mere physical and, acknowledging it, called upon the power behind it to have mercy and heal. His servant was healed.

Soon afterwards, we are told, he came across a funeral procession and a grieving mother. Having pity on her (the Bible says that "his heart went out to her") he said, "Don't cry" and commanded the dead son to live:

"The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother"

We are told that people were filled with awe and praised God.

How often we allow others to draw us into limiting our perspective to the physical as though that other dimension isn't there. In our witnessing we appeal, as does the Bible, to the physical, pointing out from Romans 1 that, "since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." Of course, the evidence of our senses is important and God can be seen through his works in creation but as we witness we rob people of that great opportunity to know him as we know him if, like that preacher, we concentrate entirely on the physical. We point to creation, the history of God's people in the Old Testament, the historical church and its great movements, etc. However, like the centurion, we need to recognise and help others realise that there is much more than what we can see with our eyes and appreciate with our other senses. Like him people must be led to seek God himself, acknowledge his reality and great power and purpose in creating and saving us.

We reason from Scripture and from life to explain our faith and that is right but we also confidently declare, "If you seek him you will find him if you look for him with all your heart" (Deut.4:29) If this is not our hope and our message then nothing else we say can be of any worth.

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