The Listening Ear

Reflections On The Issues That Face Us—Part 2

One story that comes to mind as I reflect on the decision we face regarding our facilities is the conversation Jesus has with the Samaritan woman in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. At one point the conversation turns to worship. The woman notes that her people, the Samaritans claim that Mt. Gerizim is the proper place of worship, whereas Jews regard Jerusalem with its Temple as the only place to worship.

Jesus gives the woman a new perspective on things. He says that the time is coming and now has arrived when people will worship in neither place. True worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth.

I take that to mean that even though a site, a specific sanctuary can enhance and enrich worship, the most important aspect of worship is that it be ‘in spirit and in truth.’

It is very evident that the Temple in Jerusalem was the center for Jewish worship. If there were ever a structure that functioned as an icon, the Temple was it. When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, there was a sense that he entered the throne room of God. Heaven and earth intersected there.

It’s no wonder then, that there are many Jews who mourn the loss of the Temple even to this day. We should not discount their grief.

Yet the time came when God decided to do a new thing. Instead of focusing worship on a place, God shifted the focus to a person, to Jesus. Jesus is the truth (he says this!) because in Jesus God is truly revealed to humans. And it is through the power of the Spirit that we come to see and believe in Christ as God’s revelation. Worship in Spirit and truth means that our worship centers on what the God revealed in Christ has done for us. It focuses on Jesus.

So the question is whether the time has come that God wants to do a new thing among us. If the only reason we wanted to change the look or even the site of our worship center was to have something new and shiny, that’s not a good enough reason. The changes we make have to be in response to the call of God.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about why I believe God is ready to do a new thing among us.

Reflections On The Issues That Face Us—Part I

I have been thinking about the decision that faces our congregation regarding the need for new and expanded facilities. In this post, I want to reflect on the reluctance that many in our congregation feel about changing our worship space.

I want to put a positive construction on that reluctance. I think that for many of the people who have been members at St. Paul Lutheran for many years, our church building and our sanctuary in particular, has become an icon. An icon is not God, it isn’t an idol that is worshipped itself.

Rather, an icon might be thought of as a window through which we get a glimpse of the divine and also through which God looks down on us. That is the reason that in the Orthodox Church icons are venerated. They aren’t worshipped in themselves. They are honored because they are a means of communicating God’s presence in our midst.

Lets be honest. Many in our congregation may have difficulty understanding this way of regarding a church building. They don’t feel that deep, emotional attachment that some have for our building in general and our sanctuary in particular. They may not even understand that attachment

Thinking of a sanctuary as an icon may help us understand some of the resistance to change. If the sanctuary functions as an icon for some of our members, we can’t set it aside lightly.

If we change our church significantly or we build an entirely new sanctuary on a new site, we must have good reason to do so. And if we do make such a change, we must acknowledge the grief that people feel, the loss they will experience, when we let go of the old to take hold of something new. People need a chance to express that grief and to hear God’s word of comfort and hope in that situation. It is an opportunity for us to care for others in their sadness.

Tomorrow I want to reflect on a story from the life of Jesus and to talk about how that story can help us with the decision we face.

We Need Involvement

Most people in our congregation are aware that we are getting ready to make an important decision. Our church council and our Facility Needs team, after two years of study, have recommended that our congregation “move forward with the plan to expand our ministries and establish a dual site for those ministries, doing building renovation on the present site and establishing a second site.”

We recently sent out a set of Questions & Answers regarding this proposal. Another open forum has been scheduled for members of the congregation to discuss this proposal and ask question. My hope is that people will spend some time talking about how the Scriptures can inform our decision. What stories and other passages from the Scriptures come to mind as we consider this decision.

I and other leaders in the congregation have sense that some members are reluctant to get involved in making this decision. Rather than try to guess the reasons for such reluctance, let me simply say that I think we want as many of our members as possible to be involved.

Please make every effort to be at the special congregational meeting scheduled for May 31 at 9:15 a.m. We need your help to discern where God is leading us.

Walk To Kidugala

The team that is planning our Walk To Kidugala met last night and I am really excited about the plans they are making. One goal is for congregation members to walk enough miles to cover the distance between Treynor and Kidugala, Tanzania where St. Paul’s Companion Congregation is located. That’s a total of 8698 miles!

That sounds like a lot, but if you spread it over many members of the congregation and over as much of a years time, its really very doable.

The Walk To Kidugala team will be encouraging members of the congregation to sign up to walk and/or pledge to support someone else who is walking. Pledges can be made either in terms of number of miles the individual walks or can be a set amount. More information about that will be available shortly.

The money raised by the Walk will be split two ways. Half will help fund a new project that the Companion Congregation team has approved to connect the clinic in Kidugala to the national electrical grid. The small hydroelectric system that once supplied power for the clinic, the church and the school in Kidugala is no longer working. For a cost $3300, the clinic can be hooked up to the national grid. This would give them a reliable source of electricity. Helina Juma who is in charge of the clinic reports that the lack of power is a serious challenge to their work.

The other half of the money raise by the Walk will be used to help send representatives of our congregation to visit Kidugala next year. Current estimates is that we will need at least $12,000.00 to send 3-4 members of our congregation to Kidugala. Those who are planning to go have indicated a willingness to help pay their expenses, but since this is a mission trip and they are going as representatives of the congregation, it makes sense to allow congregational members to help out with travel costs.

Q & A For Facility Needs Set To Mail

Members of the church council and the facility needs team met last Thursday to go over the questions that have been received regarding the recommendation that they have made to the congregation to “move forward with the plan to expand our ministries and establish a dual site for those ministries, doing building renovation on the present site and establishing a second site.” 

After some demographic data was tracked down today, the Q & A sheets are ready to be sent out tomorrow. It is a long document,-12 pages-but I am told that it read easily. It is an attempt to give thorough and complete answers to the questions that have been asked.

The council expects to vote on this issue at the congregational meeting that has been set for Sunday, May 31 at 9:15 a.m in the sanctuary. Childcare will be available that day in the fellowship hall.

A final open forum to ask further questions and to offer comments has been scheduled for Sunday, May 24 at 9:15 a.m. in the fellowship hall. My hope is that a significant portion of that discussion can be devoted to ways that members believe that the Scriptures speak to the issue we need to decide. I hope that members will offer stories and other passages from Scripture that they believe speak to this issue. I believe that it is important to listen to God’s Word as we consider this matter.