Our Buildings, Our People, Our Future

Our Buildings, Our People, Our Future

1 Kings Ch. 5-8

Solomon’s plan to build a temple worthy of God was a bold ambition, born of a promise delivered to his father, David.

It had lived with him through all his childhood and now, as he has succeeded his father, the time is ripe. There is peace in the land, and God has blessed him with wisdom and discernment.

All is well, and now, is the time.

The temple was magnificent! In the verses that were excluded from our readings this morning, the cedars, the bronze, the gold – the tens of thousands of workers, the dimensions and the planning are detailed. Nothing was stinted; nothing denied – this house for God to dwell in would be like no other.

The temple was an important statement too: ‘We are Here’. The kingdom is established; and by dedicating it, establishing and performing rituals, Solomon is instilling in the people a certainty for their time. By repeating and performing set rituals they created a sense of belonging, a sense of self, and, most important of all, a permanent connection to God.

We live in a world of constant change and uncertainty. All around us things we knew are changing. We are in a change of age.

I’m not sure what the historians will make of it all a hundred years from now; but think for a moment of all the things you have witnessed in your lifetime.

Wars; communication; travel; entertainment; education; health… there is no area of life that has not been subject to change.

Not even in the church. Next year marks the 50^th anniversary of the ordination of women. In those 50 years the numbers of churches, ministers and members in the Church of Scotland has changed drastically.

Statistics are not always helpful – taken alone they can paint an extremely gloomy picture of decline and fall.

In the past fortnight, I have attended two particular events – the first was an introduction to Path of Renewal, and the second a Presbytery day with an excellent talk from Professor David Fergusson on Faith & Religion in Modern Scotland.

Each gave new insights, and each was very encouraging, even with those gloomy numbers.

Solomon was King in an age where the people had finally established a peaceful kingdom; wars were a thing of the past, and now was the time to look forward and plan a future with God in the midst of them.

I wonder – if I were to ask you right now what our church’s mission statement is, could you tell me? If not the exact words, can you recall the emphasis? The main hope?

Don’t worry – I didn’t remember it all either. I did remember something about being in the community, and bringing people closer to God.

It was that thought of Solomon’s desire to bring God into the midst of the people that brought our own mission statement to mind. It actually states:

“We are moved by faith to be recognised by all as the mainspring of the community, and so to bring its members closer to God”

Our motto appears on the wee logo that is always on the order sheet: Earlston Building Faith and Fellowship.

Those are our aims for the people of our community.

They are aims for all; not just the faithful few; not just those who happen to have their names on a list.

They are for everyone who lives in, or is part of, our community.

It is that desire which has inspired our application to join Path of Renewal. Over the past six months or so, a small group from Session and congregation have been working together to look to the future for our church community.

You have seen aspects of this in the questionnaire that asked you about what you might want to see happening to our buildings; you’ve seen it in the development of the Church Newsletter from a single sheet to a 20-page magazine with input from both church and community. You’ve seen it through the developing of a Community Café and of Messy Church.

Now though, we are seeking further development, and looking to join the Path of Renewal movement in order to get extra support and training; which we hope will help us build on the foundations we already have, to reach out to more people.

Our application has been successful – we just have to now accept and take the next step.

Solomon’s desire to build a place for God to be in-dwelling with God’s people was fit for his age. The Temple became a place for God to be contained. Yet, God can never be contained, for God is everywhere; God is everything; God is.

Solomon’s Kingdom was settled and secure, yet that magnificent temple would be pulled down, and rebuilt, and destroyed again. Nothing is really permanent.

As we reflect on that, we can reflect also on where we are. Settled? Or in turmoil? Or maybe, somewhere in between.

As I said earlier, we are in an age of change: this is the technological age; life has changed exponentially in the past century.

When I was a little girl, we didn’t have a phone in the house until I was 5 or 6 years old; we didn’t get a TV until I was 7 or 8… the radio had to be left to warm up; milk arrived on the doorstep every morning; there were two post deliveries every day; shops were only open five and a half days a week – or some even four and two half days.

My dad went to work, and my mum stayed home.

We went to church on Sunday – and it was simple, there were no shops open and no rival groups or clubs. We knew our minister and he knew each of the families in his very small parish.

The village I grew up in, was similar in size to Earlston, and it had three different churches, each with its own congregation, and its own story. And each had regular full attendance.

Fast forward from the 1960s to now and life couldn’t be more different. We can choose to wait in the church for the people to choose to come to us, or we can break down the barriers, and take the church out into the community.

That is the heart of Path of Renewal, to help us explore new ways of bringing the church beyond these four walls to the community.

This mission may involve doing things differently, but the one thing that will never change is our faith. Keeping God at the centre, encouraging faithfulness, helping others discover faith, showing those who’ve never heard or understood the Good News, that faith really is good news. That it is not for a small elite group, but for anyone, everyone.

If we as Earlston Church are able to grasp this challenge to bring the gospel out of the church and into the community, then being part of Path of Renewal will help us to increase and develop our missionary outlook, to bring the Good News of Jesus; to show God’s amazing love; and to build a team of people with a heart for God.

Everyone can have a role too!

Because even if you may feel you can’t do anything else, or take on anything more, there is one essential thing we need – your prayers. Prayer is the tool which we rely on; it inspires and encourages.

Path of Renewal isn’t a set programme with a defined number of stages. We can’t tell you that in month one we will do such and such, and by month six we will have achieved this or that. The tagline for Path of Renewal is “A Movement not a Programme”

Growth is still possible, even in this strange technological age; we can take small steps forward just as we have been doing in the past couple of years; or we can continue taking those steps with others alongside, to help and encourage each other, and bring about change that will last and leave a church fit for the future.

As Solomon dedicated his temple he prayed:

“You, Lord, have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness. Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in forever.”

Solomon’s Temple was right for its age; we have the opportunity to do something that is right for our age.

“We are moved by faith to be recognised by all as the mainspring of the community, and so to bring its members closer to God”

We are Earlston Church: Building Faith and Fellowship with our community.