Sacred Space -- what is THE way?

I was reading the Leadership Journal, a magazine on church issues, today.  Most of the material in this quarter's issue concerns how we use space and facilities to be the church.  Amidst mixed signals and ideas, and through some personal reflection I began to wonder if there really was one way to "do" church.  A few decades ago, you knew what you had to do.  Build a church with a sanctuary, some education rooms and a place to eat. End of story except for blessing those who would wander into your building.  But recently that story has been changing.

Today you can get lost amongst all the choices out there, and there is no longer a clear path to follow.  Coffee shops for Christ, retail stores on a church campus, multiple use facilities, and invitations for the community to use the building for *gasp* non-Christ-centered events!  Wow, my head started to spin as I read and thought about all the uses that churches were being put to.  And that is not even mentioning all the talk I have been hearing lately about using non-Christian buildings to do church.

There is a song that I used to sing as a child, and I think that I am going to teach it to my kids so that they can remind me of a very important fact.  It goes something like this: "The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is the people."

It may interest you to know that the bible is fairly quiet on what the church "building" is supposed to look like. What it primarily focuses on however, is what the church people are supposed to look like.  I may be preaching to the choir here, but its time for us to realize that the building and furnishings will not bring people into the presence of God.  Those doing the furnishing will!  We could have the best looking facility in the world where people would understand that they have entered something sacred and feel uplifted.  But that whole feeling can be destroyed by those present with the furnishings.  On the other hand, you could invite someone into a run-down, falling apart clap board shack anywhere, and they will enter into the presence of God provided that those gathered are seeking to be the people of God.

We have tremendous freedom in this world to furnish or not furnish the church.  We can build great buildings, ordinary buildings, or no buildings.  We do need to be creative and intentional about how our space is being used--especially now when times are so hard.  But it starts with our hearts and our desire to bring people to God.  That must be first and foremost before we even think about what our building says or stands for.  Then, when we are seeking to be the people of God and not just "do" church, we have the freedom to be creative and reach people through the building because we are already the church through our obedience.



 ^16-17 Going through the motions doesn't please you,
      a flawless performance is nothing to you.
   I learned God-worship
      when my pride was shattered.
   Heart-shattered lives ready for love
      don't for a moment escape God's notice. (Psalm 51:16-17, The Message)

A Christ-follower's thoughts on Halloween

From time to time you will hear about such-and-such famous Christian's tirade about Halloween.  About the evils of dressing up like a goblin or a witch or some other Satan inspired character on a very "dark" holiday.  Now, personally I agree with these sentiments as they regard satanic characters.  However, I was raised dressing up for Halloween and going trick-or-treating.  It was fun!


As a parent of a very self-aware child who likes to dress up and have fun, I am caught in a dilemma.  I remember the fun I had dressing up and going door to door.  I see the excitement in her eyes as she thinks about dressing up and meeting new people in a costume.  But I disagree with the overtones associated with Halloween.  So, what should I do?


I was watching a speaker at one of our youth retreats a couple of years ago, and in one of his talks he talked about going to "Harvest Parties" as a kid growing up.  For those of you who don't know, Harvest Parties were really popular among Christian groups as a Halloween alternative.  He spoke about being restricted to bible characters, and he had some good ideas. Like John the Baptist--after he was beheaded.  Or the six headed monster from the book of Revelation.  Talk about creative!


I think our response as Christians to things like Halloween should not to withdraw and retreat from things that offend us.  Nor should we attack.  I fully believe that the grace and love of God are more than sufficient to change the world--even holidays like Halloween.  We always complain about how commercialism and secularism are attacking Christmas.  Well, I believe that if we leverage our resources and love people in the process, we can take back Christmas and submit Halloween to Jesus Christ!


Our church is doing a Trunk or Treat even this Halloween, giving kids in our neighborhood a safe alternative to going door to door.  Maybe you will see me as a bible character this year...

Back To School Beach Bash

Yay!  Its finally almost here!  Our second Back to School Beach Bash, aka "B2SBB", will be Saturday September 5th.  We are so excited for this event.  It was very successful for us last year, we listened to great music, had amazing food, played games, got our faces painted, caught some great weather, got to know some neighbors we had not met before, and wow just had a wonderful time.

And guess what! we are looking forward to another great event this year.  We have some good entertainment that is being finalized as you read this, so I will update this post when I get a chance.  The food will also be amazing as well as the games and bouncy toys. This year we are partnering with Baker Middle School to give out school supplies to kids who need them.  So if you have a kid who needs supplies come and grab what you need.  If you would like to donate some too, come and do that as well. AND have fun eating the food and listening to the entertainment as well!!!!

Well, more later...

Pastor B

New blog, new site, new look.

Been working on a new site and look, with different options to fit the needs of the church.  The challenge comes when working with a limited budget (or no budget for that matter) while trying to create a clean, inviting and professional look.

Also, there is a need to keep it dynamic and update-able so that anyone who visits the site, whether they be a member of our church or a new person just wanting to find out about who we are, will feel that their time was rewarded and blessed.

So here we go.  Starting with the basics and we will work up from there. Comment with your feed back, suggestions, ideas and what information you think we are missing.

Thanks,
Pastor B