Thousands of items made their way to Lord of Life this week for our annual rummage sale. If you stroll around, you will notice the carloads of toys, furniture, sports equipment, tools, jewelry, and a myriad of other items dropped off in hopes of finding a new place to call home. There were even a few heirlooms that made their way to the sale. (Pssst… Don’t miss the sale this Saturday, 8 am – 1 pm. There is literally something for everybody.)
One such item, not often associated as a treasured keepsake, was a hardcover version of the classic “Goodnight Moon.” Pictured here, you’ll notice that it was more than well loved. You can tell that it had been read and carried around so many times over the years that the binding was barely holding the whole package together. Pages were torn, mangled, or missing all together. This was a well-known and well-loved story.
We have a shelf of family Bibles in our home. Included in this array, there is one from the Foellner family in Germany and one from the Michelson family in Norway. We don’t read them for devotions, because, not only are they in German and Norwegian, but the fancy fonts and ancient versions of these foreign languages are far beyond the modern languages we could study and read.
The Norwegian Bible is an especially elegant old edition with several pages of family history including birth, wedding, and death dates hand calligraphied in the front pages by my ancestors. The leather cover is battered and the binding is barely holding together from years of usage. It is fascinating to imagine all the hands that held and reflected on the people and stories in this well-loved and holy book.
When you see the new addition on our campus from the Tylersville entrance, you might immediately notice the towering glass which splits the soaring rock walls on the north side of the building. Architect Art Hupp, speaking about the design, said that he wanted it to look like an open book that had the binding split open. Not only is the hope that our space—the book—will be so well loved and used that it bursts open in a new way, but also the reality that the Spirit of God is continually tearing into our world in mighty and powerful ways!
We are a faith community open to neighbors and the world. We are not an idle heirloom gathering dust on a shelf somewhere, but a vibrant place and a people who are continually being called into action for God’s purposes. In addition, we are a people who stand open to the way that the Spirit of God calls us into both time tested and new ways of worship, learning, serving, sharing, and caring.
As I mentioned in a previous reflection, our new space is literally pointing to the risen Jesus Christ as well as away from our existing building and out into the community. This isn’t by accident, but is an architectural choice to visually remind us that our mission—God’s mission—doesn’t reside on our property, but propels us upward and outward.
You may remember that Sir Winston Churchill said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” So it is with the angles of this expansion which fan out in open fashion. Open hearts. Open minds. Open Spirit.
I am excited for how this new space will shape and transform us and our community. God is building something beautiful and transformational at Lord of Life. It is a joy to be part of this season as God opens us up with stories of forgiveness and reconciliation, liberation and salvation, hope and joy.
I love to tell the Story,
Pastor Lowell