For God’s Glory: Keeping Our Meetinghouse In Good Condition

“[W]hatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”   Col. 3:23-24. Put simply, the Apostle Paul told Christians repeatedly that they should work diligently because their doing so brings glory to God. The next few weeks bring reminders of this principle and opportunities to practice it, including in the two ways described below.

Our congregation has demonstrated this principle in our 16-year-long project to renew and expand our meetinghouse. My 2009 presentation about the project (as then envisioned) identified important needs, including these: expand and enhance space for education; replace outmoded existing kitchen; increase capacity and convenience of fellowship meals; improve accessibility for elderly and handicapped. In pursuit of these improvements, beginning in that year, many individuals gave generously. And with these gifts we began a multi-year planning process involving outside experts that persuaded congregational leaders that we needed to renovate much more extensively. A before-and-after video here shows the seriousness of our need and the dramatic results achieved (hailed by congregants and our neighbors). The cost of these renovations far exceeded our initial expectations. To meet these costs, the congregation sold a house long occupied by its ministers and borrowed $1.3 million dollars (at historically low interest rates). By God’s grace and with your continuing generosity, this week, the congregation repaid the remaining balance on this massive loan. We plan to give thanks and celebrate this significant achievement on August 2 at the meetinghouse. Please come!

But come in work clothes for this party because also on August 2, we will address various tasks relating to the current condition of the meetinghouse and its contents. From the completion date for the renovation described above, ten years have passed. Regular use of the meetinghouse has caused ordinary wear and tear. We will address some of the resulting needs (including by performing tasks described here). Among them is moving furniture, including items temporarily stored for a refugee who seeks our assistance in relocating them to a new storage facility. We plan to move other furniture into different meetinghouse locations to use our space more effectively. And we may take the remaining surplus furniture to charities making it available to needy people. On August 2, we expect to start this latest meetinghouse-related effort at 10:00 a.m. and finish by 3:00 p.m. Come at the start if you can or later if you can’t. We plan to have another workday on August 16 to complete tasks not finished on August 2.

Broadening our focus just a bit, we see that in earlier eras, God’s people brought glory to God by building the tabernacle, restoring Jerusalem’s walls, cleansing the temple, and maintaining the homes where early Christian congregations usually met. Hospitality, reverence, order, cleanliness, and beautification are not mere operational concerns but acts of worship and community care. God has blessed our congregation with an attractive and functional place to gather for study and worship. As stewards of this valuable resource, we should join to celebrate nearly two decades of work and generosity that renewed our meetinghouse – we should act together to keep it in excellent shape.