Confirmation

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Honestly, there have been more than a few moments over the last week when I thought, “Did we make the right decision to deconstruct our building?”  Yeah, it’s ‘green’ and it’s providing training for jobs in deconstruction, but  our church building is going to be gone!

But yesterday, I received a confirmation that God has led us in making the right decision.   God saw something we couldn’t see.  We knew the foundation on the north side of the building was eroding.  We knew there was a hole that had developed where the 1901 building and the 1904 building were joined.  That hole had become the front door for the squirrels who had taken up residence in the attic.  What we couldn’t see until we took out the ceiling and investigated the rafters was that the 1901 building and the 1904 addition are pulling apart!

So, if we had proceeded with repairs to the building, we would have had structural problems later on that would have required thousands of dollars more and–get this!–would have required deconstructing a portion of the ceiling!

We made the right decision.  And God who has led us safe thus far will safely lead us home.  Amen!

Review of Week 1

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The first week of deconstruction has concluded and it is amazing what has been accomplished.  Half of the ceiling wood has been removed, the choir loft, baptistry and the platform are gone, a third of the walls no longer have plaster or lath, and the fellowship room is filled with wood of various widths and lengths awaiting transport to the Rebuilding Exchange or storage for future use.

Our deconstruction trainees have filled the dumpster, removed nails from the wood taken from the ceiling and walls, organized the wood by length in preparation for transport and learned how to preserve tongue and groove wood.  The project supervisors have said that we are currently salvaging about 80% of the materials.  As the trainees improve their skills, it will likely go up to 90%

We thank God that everyone has been safe during the work with the exception of a few blisters.  The rain on Tuesday and the heat on Wednesday was a physical challenge, but everyone recovered and is standing on the Word, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  Needless to say, all the trainees were happy to see the weekend arrive so their bodies could recuperate.

The work will begin again on Monday, August 29.  The forecast calls for cooler temperatures and dry.  Thank you, Lord.

“Hollowed Ground”

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After worship service on August 21, a number of us went into the church building to see what it looked like now that the stained glass windows were removed.  Where there had been a golden glow thanks to the amber and yellow panes, there were gaping holes covered with paneling that had been ripped from the basement walls.  It was difficult–sadder than expected.  The sanctuary seemed empty–dead. It was as if the life was gone.  Someone made the comment, “What was hallowed ground is now hollowed ground.”

However, one window remained–the large window depicting Jesus praying in the garden.  Jesus was praying, “Take this cup from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Jesus was facing his own “deconstruction”, yet he knew he had to proceed.  He was confident that God had led him to this point, but he struggled with going forward.  That’s how we’re feeling: Knowing this is where God has led us and yet struggling to take the final step.  Standing there in the hollowed place, we felt that Jesus was praying for us.  We are not abandoned.  Jesus came through his “deconstruction” by God’s mighty power.  We will too.

Why Deconstruction is Different

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Starting Monday, August 22, 2011, the process of deconstructing the Kimball Avenue Church begins. Sometimes, the process is known as “reverse construction”. IT IS NOT DEMOLITION. The building is not trash. The building is resource. It is not destined for the landfill. It is destined to be used in new construction and alternative uses. Over the next 55 days, the building will be taken apart piece by piece. Some materials will be saved for our own future use. Most materials will be sold through the non-profit organization, The Rebuilding Exchange. Some materials like plaster will end up in a dumpster. But only about 10% of the total materials will end up in landfill. This fits with our church’s values to be environmentally responsible and care for God’s good creation.

 
The work of deconstruction will be performed by OBI Deconstruction. However, 12 of the workers will be men from the community that are currently unemployed. Over the project, they will receive training in deconstruction. At the end, they will receive a certificate which could potentially lead to employment with a deconstruction company. The loss of our building is actually becoming a gift of hope and security for these men and their families. We believe that’s what Jesus would want.

Throughout this process, we’ll post pictures, share memories and report how God is at work in this project.  We’ll also post pictures at www.flickr.com/kimballavenuechurch.  We invite your comments and appreciate your prayers.

Join us on this journey and watch how God will turn difficulty to blessing.

Debrief

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I knew going into this year’s Lenten Compact that it was going to be a challenge.  It was.  Every day, I was either confronted with my own violence (for me it is was more about domination and coercion than physical violence) or with the violence we accept as “normal” in our culture.  During the past 40 days, our nation got involved in another civil war (Libya), there were more murders in Chicago, the US House passed a budget that guts services to the poor and the marginalized.  While I was focused on Lent, the rest of the world went on as normal.  I grieved a lot over the past 40 days.

I appreciated that as we moved closer to Easter, the Scriptures we read shifted from a focus on violence to a focus on the “new creation” and God’s order of “shalom”.  With all the violence in and around me, I long for God’s reign.  And my Easter celebration was all the more hopeful as I considered that at the cross, the violence was exposed and absorbed and at empty tomb, the new day of God’s peace-full reign had begun.  Praise God!  My joy and hope is knowing that once God’s newness burst forth, nothing and no one can stop it.  And one day, the violence will end and God’s reign will be complete.  Maranatha!

Day 40

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Today is the final day of Lent.  But will it be my final day to be nonviolent?  I hope not.  Today’s Scripture (1 Peter 3:8-12) gives me some incentive to stay on the course of peace.  I’d like a long life filled with God’s blessing, fulfilling relationships and happiness.  And if I’m seeking peace and pursuing it, I’m not only going to get a blessing; I’m giving a blessing to those around me.  Others will benefit. Doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God will bring joy to the world.

Fellow travelers, don’t become weary in working for peace.  In due time, we will reap a harvest.  We shall overcome…someday.

Day 39

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April 22, 2011.  It is Good Friday.  It is also Earth Day. I began my day thinking that these two emphases are related.

Earth Day is a call to care for the planet that sustains us.  That is there an “Earth Day” exposes the truth that we  have abused it and polluted it and raped it for our own purposes.  We have done violence to the earth.  We have sinned against it.  Earth Day is a call to repentance.

Good Friday also calls us to repentance.  All we like sheep have gone astray.  In our arrogance and self-centeredness, we have lived for our own ends to our own destruction.  Our violence against the earth is just one example.  And Christ hangs on a cross, exposing our brokenness.  But the One on the cross also reveals the way of restoration.    We come to the cross because it is there that we can die to sin and live for righteousness.  (1 Peter 2:24-25)  It is at the cross that we are healed so we can live a new life–a life in restored and new relationship to God, to ourselves, to one another, and even to the planet.

Day 38

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One early church father observed that when Jesus told the disciple, “Put your sword away”, Jesus disarmed every Christian. (Matthew 26:52).  In fact, until 175 AD, Roman soldiers who became Christians left their commission behind.  Gradually though, the church took up arms once again.  And once the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity(312 AD), the armies of Rome became the armies of God.   Within 75 years, St. Augustine developed the “just war” theory and articulated rules of engagement for Christian armies.

How far we’ve come!  Today, Christians serve in the US military all the time and we provide them with spiritual support through a system of military chaplaincy (paid for by the US government).  The iconic building at the Air Force Academy in Colorado is a church (ok, we call it a chapel, but that’s semantics).  A majority of evangelical Christians supported George W. Bush’s pre-emptive war in Iraq.  Militarism is alive and well in the church.

At the start of the war in Iraq, a political cartoonist noted  that George W. Bush’s favorite philosopher was Jesus Christ. The cartoon depicted Dubya pondering which weapons to use in Iraq: daisy cutters?  cluster bombs? cruise missiles?  The caption read, “The president considers the question: WWJD–what  would Jesus drop?”

I think it’s time to consider Jesus’ words again: “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”  It’s time for Christians to put the sword away and live by new rules of engagement.  How about, “Love your neighbor.”

Day 37

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Why doesn’t he say anything?  Why doesn’t he protest the way he is being treated?  Why doesn’t he defend himself?  Why doesn’t he fight back?  His silence, his non-resistance, confirms what we’ve always believed–he’s weak.  (Isaiah 53)

Or maybe he’s just been beaten down so long that he figures, “what difference is protesting going to make?”  Or maybe he has sized up the situation and knows his fists are no match for the guns pointed at him.  Or maybe there is a power in silence that we are not aware of.

Fire needs fuel–wood and oxygen.  Once the wood is gone, the fire burns itself out.  Once the oxygen is gone, the fire cannot sustain itself.  The servant’s silence sucks the oxygen out of the room.  There is no fuel for the fire.   How often we add fuel to the fire by our reactions and responses–the timely insult, the sarcastic barb, the witty comeback, the punch in the face.  Our response only justifies more aggression.  Silence has the power to extinguish the violence.

Day 36

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Blessed are the Shalom-makers!  (Matthew 5:9)  One of the speakers at the SCUPE Congress, “Peacemakers in a Culture of Violence”, observed that God has called us to peace-making, not peace-keeping.  Peace keepers maintain the status quo, make sure that nothing upsets the equilibrium, keep conflict from erupting.  Peace-makers, on the other hand, are world-changers.

The church, unfortunately, has often been satisfied to keep the peace and has taught us be nice and polite and non-confrontational.  The church has become a collaborator in maintaining the culture of violence.   But God calls us to a much more challenging task–pulling down strongholds and taking captive every argument and pretension that inhibit the coming of God’s shalom.

Peace-making requires us to name the powers that bind and confront the powers that enslave.  Peace-making is prophetic and dangerous.  It means standing with the victims of violence.  It means spending ourselves on caring for the wounded.  It means calling for an end to the bloodshed.  It means boycotting those who perpetrate the violence and profit from it.  It means action.  It means going before “Pharaoh” by the power of the Spirit and saying, “Let my people go!”

Let the church rise!