Below is a single question.  It is multiple choice, two possible answers, only one is correct.  Your eternal reward depends on your getting the answer right.

The Church is most like an

                        a. Orphanage                          b.  Airport

You know what an orphanage is: an institution for the care of children.  Orphanages are great places.  They provide a home for kids who don’t have parents.  Programs are provided to see that they grow and develop through the stages of childhood.  They provide activities so that the children are happy.  Most important of all, they provide for a child’s safety.  Orphanages provide a secure home in an otherwise dangerous and uncaring world.  Orphanages are great places.  The thing about an orphanage, however, is that it is only for children.

Airports, on the other hand offer a home to no one.  There is not a single bed, and the food is outrageously expensive.  Airports provide security, but ironically, that is what makes most people most irate with the whole experience.  The airport is not designed for residents, but for people who are on their way to someplace else.  Airports, too, are great places; it’s just that no one actually wants to spend much time in one because they would rather be where they are going.  In contrast to an orphanage, the thing about an airport is that they are primarily for adults.

Ash Wednesday is February 22.  Beginning that day and continuing for the next seven weeks, the Church focuses on the maturity of her members.  The creeds profess faith in the apostolic Church.  Apostolic does not mean bureaucratic, but sent.  It is the core conviction of the Church that her existence is to be a place that raises up not the perpetually immature and dependent, but mission-minded, self aware, motivated people with a purpose; people who have a calling: someplace to go, and something to do; in other words, disciples of Jesus.  During the Sundays of Lent we will hear a sermon series on the Book of Hebrews.  Week by week we will dig into just one chapter.  We will measure our maturity by the challenges contained in it.  Think of it as a good read for the journey.  Bring your Bible.

So, how do you answer the question?  Is the Church an institution that provides for the care and programing of children?  Or, is it more like a place that sees people off to the real destiny that life has in store for them?  The question is timed. You have until your dying breath to answer.  But don’t wait to the last before making your selection . . . you may be asked to provide an example.