PJ’s Page –
Many of you know that the Seattle Public Schools started late this year because the teachers were on strike. As they walked the picket lines in front of Broadview Thomsen, Luther Memorial served as a respite center for the striking educators. They were able to use our restrooms, refill water bottles, and we even brewed up some coffee for them.
Our hospitality was not meant as approval or disapproval of the strike. Rather, it was meant as acknowledgement that our neighbors needed to find a place to tend to these basic needs and we had the capacity to respond to their need.
One day, though, I noticed an interesting thing happening. The teachers started to sit in our narthex and rest. They also began to wander into the sanctuary. Late one afternoon I overheard their conversation. They were talking about how our worship space reminded them of their childhoods. Everything from the numbers on the hymn board to the pews to the stained glass. They thought it was wonderful. I would agree.
There are those in the Church world who strongly suggest that church buildings are becoming obsolete. That the Church needs to figure out how to be a church without walls. And like any idea, I don’t think there are absolutes. In some contexts, perhaps being the church without walls is just what is needed. It worked for years for the early church, who often met in houses. Many churches still do. But in our context, we are stewards of a beautiful worship space and a meeting/education wing that works fairly well for our needs.
We have a new Caretaker to help us take care of our facilities. His name is Steven. (Jindak, our previous Caretaker, needed to resign to take a full time job.) There is still much to do in our building, however. We have a Facilities Team to help us stay on top of the work, but there is a great deal of extra work that needs to be done. Please look for the list in the narthex and if you can help, tend to one of the tasks on your own timetable. Recently the carpets throughout the building were cleaned as well.
It would be easy to allow the maintenance of our buildings to become a major focus. But we need to remember that the buildings are there to enable our worship, fellowship, service, and community building.
The teachers from Broadview Thomsen are now back at work, teaching the children and doing all of those other tasks that teachers tend to in the course of a day. (They deserve our prayers!) But before they went back to work in the classroom, they worked in the yard at the church all day on Friday. They weeded and moved mulch and pruned. And then they brought us LOTS of toilet paper and hand soap to thank us for the use of the restroom. Finally, they donated food to our Lunch Bag program.
I give thanks for this beautiful space in which we gather. And I give thanks that we are able to share this gift with our neighbors. Remember, in the words of the old Sunday School tune: The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a parking lot….the church is people!
Actively sharing Christ’s love in community,
(that’s our mission statement!)
PJ+