All Saints' Parish Church, Leamington Spa
  • Home
  • Worship & Music
    • Service Schedule >
      • Sermons
    • Late Worship
    • Music List
    • Choir >
      • Recordings of the Choir
      • Choral Scholarships
      • Carol Singing
    • Organ >
      • Organ Specification
      • Organ History
      • Organists
    • Music Department
  • About All Saints
    • Vision
    • History & Heritage
    • Staff
    • Nightlight
    • Bell Ringers
    • Find Us
  • Friends
  • What's On
    • Bank Holiday Organ Recitals
    • Events Photo Gallery
  • Coffee Shop
  • Get Involved
    • Making a Donation
    • Repairs
  • Contact Us
    • Prayer Requests
    • Christenings/Baptisms
    • Weddings
    • Confirmation
    • School Visits
  • Blog
    • PCC Journal
    • Annual Report

Sandblasting the Bishop's car

8/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I reached out to the nearest buttress, grasped a handful of stone, and showed it to Bishop John.

Then I closed my fingers and squeezed it gently.

It dissolved into sand. The grains trickled through my fingers. Some of them sprinkled onto the bonnet of the Bishop's shiny almost-new car, sounding disproportionately noisy in the quiet of the evening. (OK, it wasn't quite sandblasting, but you get the idea.)

'That's what this building is made of.'

Sand.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand. My Victorian predecessor, the Revd John Craig, would have been familiar with those Gospel words. He'd have known that the wise man built his house upon the rock. Nevertheless, he chose to build the house of God out of sand. All Saints is an ecclesiastical sandcastle - albeit a very impressive one.

Later, I reflected. The entire Church is made of sand. Not just our magnificent building, with its lamentably soft Warwick sandstone construction, but the Church as the People of God. The Church is made up of human beings, all of us flawed, all of us carrying a weak and sinful nature, We're called to be like 'living stones', built by God into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2.5); but the stones of our lives are so often crumbly and unreliable - or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, so hard as to be unworkable. We do things wrong. We get into pointless arguments. We collapse under pressure. We fail to persevere when times are hard - or when they're easy - or when they're merely indifferent.

Yet that isn't the end of the story. Just as scientists recently developed a chocolate teapot which really can be used to make tea, so the Church can live and work and grow despite the poverty of the materials used. Moreover, it has two thousand years' experience of doing so. The whole is far greater, holier, and more effective than the sum of the parts. Together, we can surpass ourselves, and become nothing less than the Body of Christ in the world - broken, certainly, but even (and perhaps only) in our brokenness, able to share the good news of his redeeming love.

There is a caveat, of course. The foundations have to be in place. The Church is built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner-stone (Ephesians 2.20). But when that's secure, even the mediocre building materials of our lives can be shaped into something miraculous: the earthly temple of the eternal God.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    All Saints' Church, Leamington Spa
    News Blog

    Welcome to our blog - we hope you enjoy reading about what goes on at All Saints!

    Find us on facebook.
    Follow us on twitter.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    All Saints' Parish Church Leamington Priors and/or the blog authors retain copyright of all materials posted. Copying on a small scale for non-commercial purposes is permitted providing the copyright ownership is acknowledged. Please contact us for clarification or further details.
Cookies - Like most websites, our site uses cookies to help improve our visitor experience.  If you continue to use the website without changing your settings, we assume that you are happy with receiving cookies.  If not, click here for options or more information.