Architecture of Holiness - Part 4 - God the Builder
NOTES: So far in this series We have looked at how all our building speak volumes about those are responsible for them and to those who pass by?which is why we are concerned about maintaining them and making changes to reflect the message we want to convey. We have looked at ?church? to say that we need to refer to church as people more than buildings. The buildings we call churches are intended to serve the needs of the church as people, who in turn are God?s mission to the world, and to see them as ?houses? or ?meeting places? of the church. We identified all sorts of changes that we have made to our meeting places?even in the last ten years?ramps, stained glass windows, toilet facilities, floodlights. They are a sign that we are always thinking and trying to respond to make the most of what we have. It is a dynamic relationship we have with our environment?including our homes and meeting places. Now, on All Saints Sunday we recognise I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ?Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.? He who was seated on the throne said, ?I am making everything new!? Revelation
And the Lord asks: ?Can I not do with you as this potter does? Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.? Jeremiah 18
| All Saints Sunday Sermon
What do the images of God the Potter and God the Surgeon mean to us? Meaning God lays his hands on us and gets to work on us to shape our lives to his purpose. He has designs on us for the building of a How can this ever be unless God works on the hearts and minds of people ? because it is very much out of the hearts and minds of people that death, mourning, crying and pain are inflicted. So we have these images of God as potter and God aas surgeon ? fashioning us, making us with love ? remaking us when we?ve gone wrong One Sunday we ought to all get the clay out and do some modelling ? not to see what we can produce, but just to get the feel of hands on clay ? to appreciate the nature of the relationship between God and his people which is being explored in this image. God?s work in our lives is not so easy to feel. We don?t feel his hands at work on us ? but there can be a word which we allow to play on our minds, an incident which can appeal to our heart, a person who we allow to inspire us ? in these ways we allow our lives to be shaped ? we allow God to shape our hearts and minds. Or we can resist this workl of God ? and plenty of people do that. When God has worked his best on people we refer to them as saints ? which comes from the word SANCTUS ? meaning holiness. Saints are God?s building of holiness in flesh and blood. Always they are works in progress ? never the finished article ? never perfect Referring back to the image of the POTTER ? and using words of Leonard Cohen ? there is a crack in every pot ? that?s how the light gets in ? the light being the work of God. They are work in progress because they are continually challenged in their day to day life. How will they handle the events of their lives? How will they respond to what life throws at them. Saints become known for the holiness that they build. I?m not talking BIG saints. I am talking about saints ? like you and me ? which is what I hope we will see ourselves as ? God?s work in progress ? open to his suggestion, open to his love, to his hand in our hearts and minds ? moulding us for his purpose and project. I will use one example of how one saint handled what life threw at him. The saint I want to refer to is Stephen Broadbent " a work in progress " - and he will be embarassed to be referred to like this! He appears to be a saint because he has allowed God's love to shape his response to the world (a saint is nothing more than that!) I use him as an example because his responses to life are 'BUILDINGS' not as architecture but as sculptures. Some will know his sculpture outside the Town hall in Chester.
About 13 years ago there were terrorist bombs in Warrington. Two boys were killed and many were injured. Warriington became a twon of crying, pain, death and mourning, and was physically and emotionally scarred. The authorities invited bids for repairing the High Street and Stephen was given the job.
He took John's vision from Revelation as his inspiration, and where the bomb was planted has built a sculpture called the River of Life. On either side of the river are trees which according to John's vision produce fruits for each month of the year. The leaves are "ffor the healing of the nations."
Along the pavement are twelve discs, one for each month of the year. Each disc has a leaf - November's leaf is the hortse chestnut, and on the disc is also mentioned a fruit - not like a strawberry, but a fruit of the Spirit. For November it's PATIENCE.
Stephen is just one example of God's building of holiness in the hearts and minds of those who are saints. Saints in turn build holiness in the world by the way they respond to what life throws at them. Stephen saw Warrington's pain in the light of John's vision and was able to offer God's promise to the people of Warrington to wipe away some tears from some eyes and to help them to focus o the promised future of peace. |
