Ruins

A few years ago my sister and I visited the ruins of a church that in its day was very grand. The ornate style and size overwhelmed me as I tried to imagine its original beauty. I felt the anticipation of the congregants as they smiled at their accomplishment and investment. It was a famous church, the largest Methodist church in the Midwest.

Have you ever felt like your life is in ruins? Your family, your city, your church? Funny thing about ruins, if you stand quietly in the midst of the rubble, you can almost imagine the beauty of its former glory. One can nearly envision the architect’s hopes and dreams for the building. It makes me want to gather a trowel and mortar to repair. Disrepair of a grand building breaks my heart and speaks clearly of a serious waste of money and effort. But more acutely felt when the formerly grand building is a church.

And why do we visit ruins? I visited one a few years ago. A grand church building that cost $800,000 in 1926. As I stood in the midst of chunks and pieces of the building on the ground all around me while the blue sky and sunshine shone through what once was the ceiling, I mourned the dreams and hopes set aside for this building. I admired the vision and what was left of its beauty.

And God used it to speak to me. Like the ruins of this once grand monument of a former blessing so it feels like the church, his body, is in ruins. Reeling from all the ramifications of the past year, virus, violence, heartache on every front, I feel like I am standing among ruins of a former blessing.

When I posted the pictures from this building on social media a friend who grew up in that neighborhood recognized the place. She knew that building! It’s disrepair didn’t disguise it to her. No, it was still City Methodist Church.

Just like recognizing those ruins with a name, praise God, he recognizes us by name, even if the stones of our life seem strewn on the ground all around us. If the roof lets in the elements he’s able to repair and restore those former blessings making us like new.

A building falls into disrepair because it has been ignored and forgotten for so long that the elements invade the space. The rain, the snow, the heat and the cold add to the deterioration of the stones and wood in the building. So with us individually and corporately: We have allowed the elements of the world to wear on our former blessings and now we hardly recognize the dream of the architect, the hope of our hearts. But if the foundation is exposed and solid, God will rebuild from the ground up!