God the Architect and Engineer

Here I stand staring at these walls.  Concrete block walls, painted white, with so many coats they shine, and are cool and smooth to the touch.  These walls form the basement of an old elementary school, built in 1914 and then closed in 2004.  That’s 90 years-worth of children running, screaming, laughing, crying and learning.  Children who learned to read, to write, to be members of society.  Children who made mistakes and got into trouble, got stars on their work and made red and green craft paper chains at Christmas.

Absorbed into these walls is also the loving dedication of the many teachers who taught here.  Teachers who sacrificed more lucrative careers in order to impact the lives of children.  There is tangible evidence here of the laborers who constructed this building, each mortar line, each block, placed, stacked on top of, and next to each other.  Less clearly seen, but known by the hearts effected over 90 years, are the blocks and mortar which made up and bound together the community of this school.  They were together, not perfectly, not all in agreement, but they were together, dedicated to something bigger than themselves.

In his letter to the Ephesians St Paul writes, “in Him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  In Him, and only in Him who is the truth, are we able to be bound together, to become something more than a single rock, or a small, loosely collected pile of stones lying on the ground.  The building has an architect who designs its beauty and an engineer who ensures it remains standing.  In the same way that each block, stone or brick of a building is placed into its precise and required location based on the design and plan of the architect and engineer, so we too must be put into that place which is ours alone.  And although we alone occupy that small place, we are joined together, through His plan, to be a part of something bigger.  And that something is a living creation.

One thing our world needs to remember however, is that we are a part of this creation and not its designer.  Our purpose is hidden in His design, revealed according to His laws, and is not of our own making.  We have all been created in the image and likeness of God, with equal dignity before him.  We are not all the same, nor do we have the same skills and gifts, for equality is not sameness.  So here we are, individual people of different shapes and sizes with varied skills and abilities all being used to build up the body of Christ.  None of us is a copy of another, yet distinct and equal in dignity before God.  How amazing and awe inspiring to realize that only the infinite architect and engineer could design something that works together yet is made up of highly variable and distinct pieces.  Yet He does exactly that.

So here I stand looking at these walls.  I watch as people come in and out of this basement.  This basement which has now become the location of a free community clothing giveaway.  Members of multiple churches work to collect clothes and put them out for others to come, look and take as they need.  At this giveaway, there are no questions asked, no limits to the amount that can be taken, only help in carrying bags out to the cars.  People are invited to come and to be blessed by others generosity.  This building is continuing its legacy.  A legacy of community, a legacy of civil society, the legacy of the body of Christ coming together and being built up.  Block upon block, person next to person we are bound together, we are not our own or of our own making.  We are God’s children bound together by His truth and His love, in the Spirit.  We are being made into His dwelling place if we but accept His call and surrender to His will while leaving our own desires behind.