“…built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” Ephesians 2:20
Returning home from vacation recently my wife and I took a side trip to the Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux. It’s a Trappist
monastery.
15 years earlier we had stumbled across it and learned
about “its sacred stones.”
While archeologists have thousands of years of history
about who had previously used the land, specific to the monastery its history started
in the mid-1800’s.
The stones are from a 12th century monastery in Spain…
…10,000 stones painstakingly dismantled and abandoned
in Golden Gate Park where they laid until the monastery’s
abbot who arranged to get 13 hundred of
those stones to the monastery not quite 30 years ago.
That’s where we first saw them, laid
out on a warehouse floor where those old stones gave shape to something new.
And recently we saw that ‘new’ church built
from those 800 year old stones.
I find this inspiring and informative as PPC – as part of
the larger Christian church - steps into the year 2022.
As our time in the larger span of history continues between
pre-pandemic…
…and…well…we’re still waiting to see where post pandemic
leads us.
Those 13 hundred stones brought over were used for the
arches and corners - the ‘distinctive’ arches and corners of the church
building.
The other stones form the more ‘ordinary’ flat wall
sections; built into the overall design to meet current day earthquake needs.
Our “teachable moment” comes as we make our way to the
post-pandemic church…
…with its shape and form built on the pre-pandemic church it
will look a lot like the pre-pandemic church…
…yet we must remain alert to making the church attractive
by meeting modern day needs.
With Christ as our cornerstone, with the distinguishing
marks of His unconditional love…His boundless grace…His ever present hope…and .His
steadfast compassion...
Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike