There goes another one, and another one. Just read on the internet that one of the big cathedrals in England is having difficulty paying its bills. They say it is now costing thirty thousand dollars a month to pay the bills. Another church just north of downtown Toronto has closed its doors and will soon open in December as condos. It was a large imposing structure of cut grey stone. It stands four or five stories high and taking up most of one whole city block. It has been standing on this prominent corner for more than eighty years. And now, it’s gone. The people could not afford to pay to heat the building. For most of its life, an office building next door provided the heat. Now that office is gone and so it the church.
Moving closer to home. A church in Brantford is buckling under the weight of a two thousand dollars a month heating bill.
A short drive down the highway brings us to another boarded up building. It needed so many repairs, they just sold the property to a developer and condo’s will be springing up on the manicured lawn by spring. Gone, gone, gone. One after another we see these wonderful buildings disappearing. Some have been transformed, standing as something other then what it was built for. The ones that have crumbled under the wreckers ball is replaced by;
“Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.”
On streets that have names like Bishop’s Gate.
For years, we as followers of Jesus, have said that the church is not a building on a corner. We have tried to tell ourselves that the church is people. It is each and every person who believes in Jesus Christ. Now, we are beginning to live out this reality. We can and should morn the closing of each and every sanctuary. And yet, as we walk away from those closed doors we need to rise up and cheer on the church that we know and love. For indeed it is, a group of people who are committed to having a relationship with a God who loves them and a commitment to each other.
God in Christ encouraged us to fellowship, a big word meaning that we should get together. It is you and I, coming together, helping, sharing and stepping up to the plate, with support, encouragement and a thousand other things the church has always done and needs to continue to be in a world that is experiencing so much pain.
And where there is still a building. Go there and make a joyful noise to God. After all, He is listening.
Something to think about
Rob