It’s so very exciting these days to walk into the sanctuary and take stock of the changes that are taking place.  The “tearing down” phase seems to have come to completion, so now every time one enters for a peek the “building up” parts are being crafted into place.  Yesterday a little molding, today a little paint, tomorrow a new wall or flooring.

While that may be an exciting thing to see and witness day by day, it’s also the perfect time for us to recall a few of the words of the powerful Grundtvig hymn, based on I Peter 2, “Christ builds a house of living stones/we are his own habitation.”

As living stones, we are called to be mission minded, not mason-minded.  It’s not so much what gets built.  More important to the life and health of the congregation for the years to come is what grows out of our building.  How will we use it for Christ’s mission in the world?

A large part of the June Congregation Council meeting will be devoted to this question.  Together we will sit and pray, vision and dream around those things to which God is calling us as we prepare in just a few short weeks to re-occupy our newly renovated sanctuary.  This would be the perfect time for you to share your ideas, thoughts, hopes and dreams with council members and staff as we prepare for this important conversation.

I suspect that as with all mission done in the name of Christ, we will be looking at what it is that we get to give away in the name of our Risen Lord Jesus.  While we will no doubt casually talk for a long, long time about “our” new building, the truth of the matter is that it is not ours at all, but a gift from God, given to us for the good of the Gospel.  An important learning for us as we re-occupy will be acting on the question, “How can we give this away for the sake of the Gospel?”

Where two or three will seek his face, he is their midst will show his grace, blessing upon them bestowing.  And through those two or three – or two or three hundred, that blessing will be bestowed upon the world as we are mission-, not mason-, minded.

See you in church,

Pastor Hoffman