Cogges Parish newsletter February 2002

From the newsletter ...

DANGER! GOD AT WORK!

To be honest, the church doesn't enjoy a particularly good public image. How many people have given up on the church because they have found it messy and unattractive? I wonder - what were their expectations?

I've recently been involved in a small building alteration project, stripping out an old bathroom that was well past its sell-by date and creating something bright and new in its place. It's amazing how much mess even small-scale work causes: heaps of crumbled plaster, broken tiles, bits of brick and wood, dust everywhere. By the time you begin putting things back together, there are holes in the walls, boards up in the floor, pipes and wires sticking out, and building materials and tools all around.

Then the work of reconstruction starts. Yes - it's still noisy, it's still messy. But when it's done - the rubbish cleared away, everything finished and cleaned, ready for use - it was well worth all the upheaval. All the noise and mess are forgotten, the old has gone, the new has come.

The church is a bit like a building site. The Bible talks of its members as "living stones", with God as the builder. None of us are ideal building materials - we are dirty, with awkward corners - but God is at work on us, washing us clean, building us on the firm foundation of Jesus, squaring us to the truth of his gospel, building us plumb to his righteousness, bonding us together with his love. God still has more to do with each of us, which at times can be painful.

So why put up with it all? Is it worth it? As far as I am concerned: Yes! Yes! Yes! In spite of the mess of the building process, it's good to be part of, God is a great builder, and the finished result will be absolutely amazing: "a radiant church, without any blemish... a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

God's building work is far from complete. So not surprisingly it may well seem messy and unattractive at present. But one day, the upheaval of building will be forgotten in the joy of completion. The building still needs more stones before the work is done. Will you be one?

David Page

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