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Honoring Our Past |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 7/2/2008 11:46 AM | I did something this morning I haven’t done for awhile. I simply took some time and walked around the church building and really looked at things. This little walk was prompted by the board meeting of last month. All of us were asked to really take a look around at the church and ask ourselves if there were things that needed our attention. Are there places that could be spruced up, repaired, updated, renovated? And then we were asked to let our “Building Enhancement Committee” what we saw and what our opinions are about renovations around the place. The committee will take all these ideas and opinions and begin to ask some hard questions: should we undertake a building enhancement renovation project? If yes, what should our priorities be? If yes, what can we afford? They are going into this with an open mind and a clean slate. Only time will tell what the outcome will be. They go into this work with the idea that we must keep our purpose of honoring, worshipping and serving God at the center of anything we do.
But as I wandered around the building today I was struck by something: if this building renovation comes about, it will be different from anything BCC has undertaken up to this point in our history. You see, every other project at the church was an expansion of our building, while the basic aim of this exploration is to make decisions about renovations. So? That would actually make things a little easier, wouldn’t it? Shouldn’t be as expensive, or as time consuming, right? Yes, that is right. But the idea of expansion adds a new dimension not present before. That is, in the past, we were literally adding to the work of those who came before us. With the issue of renovation, we are necessarily looking to change the work of those who came before us. And that is a heavy responsibility.
This church was built by people with a vision of a Christ-centered community of faith, and that is still our vision today. Over the years, the congregation has worked hard, planned, grown and continually added to the facilities as we welcomed people in to this wonderful fellowship. And along the way, sacrifices were made to build our church home today. From the very beginning, the people who came before us left a bit of themselves in order that we might have this wonderful place to worship and gather today. As I walked through the building I was almost overcome by the sheer magnitude of the special gifts that have made our church life possible today. Chancel furniture, pews, pew upholstery, stain glass windows, our meditation garden, the parlor, the theatre room, the communion table, banners in the fellowship hall, the sound system in the sanctuary….and on and on. And these are special gifts on top of what was given in undesignated pledges and gifts! It is truly amazing.
When I was looking at plaques in the sanctuary and elsewhere I saw many names I recognized: Greenway, Hurst, Kinney, Barnett, Freeman, Hughes, Mowrey, Therrien, Wilson, Cantrell, McLaughlin, Anderson, Low, Flemming, Davis, Duke, Travis, Rose, Knuckles, Meister, Martin and Morris to name just a few. And then were some that I recognized but never had the pleasure of knowing: McDougal, Hoobler, Helms, Turnbull, Clayton, Donohoe, Haynie, Carr. I could fill up a page and a half with names. Every single one of these names was connected to something special: a church they loved and wanted to see grow and prosper. Gifts were made in honor of people, in memory of loved ones, to God’s Glory and one very simply, “In Honor of Jesus Christ, Our Lord.” Make no mistake about it, this is sacred ground upon which we walk. It is made sacred by the presence of all those who toiled to make BCC what it is today.
Renovation means that some of the things given in honor and memory of loved ones could be changed, or even replaced. But what we must understand is that this sacred place was built because of the special gifts of faithful people and our honoring of those folks must never be given short shrift. Without those gifts, without those faithful followers of Jesus Christ and lovers of Brookhaven Christian Church, we would not be here today. And so, as much as renovating the building is a worthy task, we must take special care to make sure that it is done while respectfully and lovingly honoring those who were here before us.
I have a challenge for you. Besides looking around at the church structure and assessing how we might upgrade and renovate our building, look around at the building and think about what it took for all this to get here. Look at the plaques in the sanctuary and around the building…did you know that there are plaques at the outside end of some of the pews? Look at the names, and think about how we might build on what they have given us, and most importantly, think about how we might continue to honor them. We need to be as creative with this task as we are about any renovation plans. If you have any ideas, let the folks on the committee know. It is inevitable that the “things” people have donated will someday wear out. But the love with which they donated them is as strong as ever, and we must find a way to honor that love. I don’t yet know exactly how we will do that, but we will. We must. They found a way. So will we.
For an updated prayer list and list of upcoming events, please go to www.brookhavenchristian.org
A Celebration!
I just received a call from new member Ebonie James, who recently joined the church with her mother Tasha and was a big help at our VBS last week. Well, her mother, Tasha, gave birth this morning to a beautiful baby boy! Mother and son are doing well. Tasha is in transition from extended stay housing to a house of her own and could use some help with diapers, baby clothes, etc. If you have any gently used baby things, please bring them to the church and we’ll make sure they get where they need to go. If you would like to donate to a gift certificate for the baby, just drop it in the plate on Sunday and put “James baby” on the memo line. Thanks!
I hope you can make it to worship this Sunday. It is the first Sunday of the month and so we will be worshipping in the fellowship hall with our “Praise on Peachtree” alternative worship service. The theme this week is “The Faith of a Child” and the scripture is Mark 10:13-16. Have a wonderful and safe Independence Day celebration this 4th of July weekend!
Be peaceful,
Brad
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