This is only going to happen once. We will consecrate our new structure. It happens Sunday afternoon, April 8th at 4:30. I encourage you to attend.
Consecrate isn’t a word we use too much these days. It means to make holy and dedicate to a higher purpose. Anything consecrated is dedicated to God and thus sacred. So this weekend our building will become a church.
We will have guests. Our Bishop will be joining us. So will our District Superintendent. They will encourage us and remind us that we are part of the body of Christ who are in position to do amazing things in our neighborhoods and beyond.
We will take time and give thanks to some of the people who made this building possible, functional, and beautiful. Our building team will be present. They have worked so hard for so long. Our architects will be present. Their gifts of creativity and vision will be a blessing to our congregation and community for years to come. Craftsman, staff, and others will be recognized for their significant contribution to this wonderful space.
And God will be present as well. It’s Christ’s Church and his world. He is the one who guided us and sustained us through Chapter 1 and He is with us as we embark on Chapter 2, together believing the best is yet to come.
Joshua talks about another sort of consecration altogether. The people of Israel were moving from the wilderness to the land God promised to them. Joshua had just taken over from Moses and he speaks to the people:
Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. –Joshua 3:5
He is saying something like: Seek holiness. I mean: do your best to think, speak, and act like God thinks, speaks, and acts. Dedicate yourself to a higher purpose. God’s purposes. Be a bright light in our world that needs more light and better light. Be sacred in our secular world. And when we do such things, God’s promise is that God will do amazing things in us and through us.
The building that becomes a church is not why we will gather for this once-to-happen and never-to-be-repeated worship service. We will pray the church building allows us to consecrate ourselves better than an office condominium and public schools ever could so that we can better be the church: wherever, whenever, to whoever.
I invite you to come and experience this special moment in the life of The Water’s Edge.
