Returning after a long absence, I find
The tall wooden, white columns support the front portico
As they did twenty, forty, and sixty years ago.
The green copper steeple still reaches for the sky.
The indoor stone stairway smells the same—
Fresh, yet old;
Stone steps no longer level,
Now dip with age;
Years of children running up and down
To and from the Sunday School.
I ask the auditorium, the stately pews,
The sunny windows,
The massive desk and platform,
“Have you done your job? Have you
Afforded proof of your utility?
Have you roused dormant understanding?
Have you cast out error and healed the sick?”
They reply, “Not we. Windows, pews, pulpit,
Carpeting, landscaping, steeple, and paint. We are not Church.
Church is idea, it exists because God created it;
It is spiritual, everlasting, in your heart.
Church is wherever you are.”
Church, “the structure of Truth and Love,” remains
Eternal, "rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 583
Church is forever.
