I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
The Building
|
Hi Friends, I went on a tour of a church building this weekend. It was the 100 year anniversary of the building, and the congregation was celebrating by hosting an “Architectural Tour”. The guide was the architect who headed up the building’s restoration. We Evangelicals don’t typically put a lot of thought into our church spaces. Efficiency is the name of the game. A great coffee bar is often of greater importance than the beams in the ceiling (and when I’m late to church with my bunch of crazy boys, I can’t argue with the wisdom of that). Although it was new to me, I was captured by the care and attention this church gave the whole process: both the building’s restoration and the celebration of its 100th birthday. Every artistic detail was attended to with care when the building was restored by the church. The wood wrapped steel beams. The stenciling on the ceiling. The woodwork at the altar. The preservation of the immense stained glass windows. The architect who restored it is a congregant of the church. The craftsman who worked on the reconstruction of the altar is another congregant. I couldn’t help but think of the artisans in the Bible who, commissioned by God Himself, worked skillfully to make the tent of meeting and the Ark of the Covenant. It meant something to Him. I also see how they’ve loved their neighbors in their attention to the building. This body of believers, meeting in a towering buiding in the middle of a Kansas City neighborhood, has taken great care to preserve the stone walls and slate roof. The congregation’s attention to beauty is like a gift to the homes and pedestrians who see it every single day. They could have spared the expense, but they didn’t. I can’t help but see something of our generous, detail-attending God in that. Now, I’m not suggesting we all have to worship in cathedrals. Actually, not even this congregation would say that. There is another campus of this church, and they joyfully meet in an old Hobby Lobby. But maybe there’s something of value in beautifying the spaces in which we worship, whatever that looks like. Maybe it does mean something to the One who is known as the “Builder and Maker” of a city to come. Unfinished thoughts here, in many ways because they are new thoughts to me. Have you ever worshipped somewhere the building was meaningful in some way? I’d love to hear about it ♥️ — Anna |
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, What defines a life well lived? When you’re young, it’s easy to imagine your life stretching out in front of you like a line on graph paper. It ascends predictably, ending in the upper right hand corner. Success! But life is unpredictable. In some moments, it is chaos. I’ve been reading through the life of Moses in scripture these days. There is no sky-rocketing line of success on the graph of his life. In fact, the highs of miraculous wonders and lows of sin and failure spike and...
Hi Friends, When we were on our “church tour” about a year and a half ago, something stood out to us. With all the different expressions and traditions that have been handed down through different Christian denominations, there are a few practices they hold in common. One of those practices is communion. In some churches you kneel. In others you’re handed the bread. In some places you pass bits of crackers down the aisle. Some churches do it weekly, others less often, but I have yet to see a...
Hi Friends, We don’t often like to be “all in” for something. In fact, we are often cautioned against it. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Hedge your bets. Have a plan B. Except, when it comes to life in God, the only way forward is to give… everything. There’s no pseudo-form of Christianity where we write in our clauses and exemptions. No partial committing. No standing at the shore and dipping in our toes. It’s a head-first dive into the ocean of God. An all-in taking up of our cross....