Awake

Strength in the sanctuary

I'm on the building committee at Village. My dad is the chair. He is an excellent man altogether and a great person for this role. This has been one of the most exciting things I've ever participated in at Village, because though it is not "mega-huge", Village is a large-ish church and I had/have been feeling rather lost in it. There has been much talk of the future vision but not a lot to show for it. This is all changed being on the building committee. It's been made clear to us that it is not about the building, but about building the vision. I have seen this to be much more than rhetoric. I believe it to be true, and this has encouraged my heart more than anything.

One of the focuses Dad has started us thinking about is the idea of "sacred spaces". This is not anything new, in general, or to the church at large, but it is a bit new to us. We are a suburban church focused on families, programs, and functionality. Creating "sacred spaces" has never really been on the agenda. Until now.

Why am I writing about the building committee in Beaverton from a hotel room in India? Because, exactly seven days before I left, I went to the downtown house of prayer to visit my old small group that I decided to leave in favor of teaching a group of 3rd grade girls on Wednesday night. Though I hadn't prayed with them in 6 months (they're still faithfully praying through the seven days of creation, as they have for the past 3 years or so), (this may sound silly) I wanted to be prayed for "properly" before I left. And though I could only stay for 20 minutes (3rd graders calling), prayed for properly, I was.

The Word I was left with was Psalm 96. And in it, the psalmist proclaims, "Strength and majesty are in His sanctuary." The word "strength" really stops me in my tracks. Translating that down to building a new sanctuary in Beaverton, Oregon...how do we design a space that proclaims the "strength" of God? What does that look like? What does that feel like? How do you invite the stregnth of God to be present in a house of worship? How do you imprint that on the walls? Really really really big columns? Giant mural of thunder and lightning on the ceiling? Thrones as chairs? "All caps" in the weekly bulletins? Ok, not really serious on those. But serious about the question. We think about the beauty of God, the love of God, the reverence of God, the joy and hope we have in God when designing worship services. But, I personally, have never considered the strength of God within the context of worship. And I have a feeling it will require more than the conspiracy of a sound guy and a worship leader to create a climax that may or may not be presently real.