A Better Place
Our church
burned down. It’s now going on five
months since we’ve been having services in our parish gym. The fire took out the main worship space, and
the water to put out the fire damaged the gathering area. Thankfully the fire department battled
valiantly, and their efforts saved the classroom area, kitchen, and gym.
Since then,
we’ve been having Sunday services in the gym.
Now in the five months that we’ve been in the gym, there have had to be
some dramatic changes. The wood floor is
gone—another victim of water damage.
Large red runners line the aisles on the concrete floor, chairs stand in
for pews, and a donated piano and organ have replaced the million dollar pipe
organ in the old church.
But there
are other things that aren’t quite so church-y about the space. For example, there are basketball goals on
either side, hanging down just over the congregation’s heads. Because there are only chairs, there are no
kneelers. And the swatch of seating in
the very back is simply the old bleachers.
Noisy things that were meant for a gym—not a worship space.
They’ve
brought in candles, lecterns, a baptismal font, an altar, and even the
tabernacle. It’s really quite remarkable
that a gym can look so worshipful.
However, as I looked out across it tonight, I couldn’t help but think
not only of the old church now being torn down but of the new worship space
that will be built in the coming months.
I thought
about the sound system which will be more reliable because it will be designed
for the space rather than rigged to make it work during a frantic, tear-filled
week. I thought about the pews with
actual kneelers so even the non-diehard church-goers can once again kneel
during the consecration. As I stood
there in the bleachers and looked out across the heads of the congregation, it
struck me that yes, we are here in this strange dichotomy of spaces,
worshipping, praising, and making the best of a bad situation.
The Bible
verse, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is,
you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19) came to me. I saw that spread before me was a metaphor of
exactly what Christ was talking about.
We are in the world but not of the world—just like we’re in the gym for
now, but it’s not where we’re destined to be.
This is temporary. There will be
a day in the future that we will trade in those basketball goals and bleachers
for real pews and carpet and maybe even a new pipe organ.
In the same
way one day we will trade in this life full of trials and suffering for a new
life in God’s Heaven where every tear will be wiped away, where He will trade
liberty for the bonds of captives, beauty for ashes, heartache for eternal
glory. Yes, it’s not just our church.
We’re all going to a better place… just you wait and see!
(Copyright Staci Stallings, 2007)Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a #1 Best Selling Contemporary Christian Romance author and the founder of Grace & Faith Author Connection. Staci has a special surprise for you today and tomorrow only...
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