Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Wow! We had a big, middle of the summer, crowd of 70 at church this past Sunday! Thank each of you for coming and a hearty thank you to all who participated in worship and all who helped with the luncheon afterwards. I saw several newcomers again which always brightens the day.
After our luncheon, the vestry gathered for our July meeting. The vestry elected Suzanne Smith to fill a vacant position and to serve as Calvary’s Junior Warden. She is fulfilling the last year of a three-year term that ends at our Annual Parish Meeting on January 19, 2025.
Suzanne brings several wonderful gifts to this role from her prior work experience. In an Episcopal Church, The Junior Warden helps organize projects related to the building and grounds. She will have support from a newly formed Building Committee and, of course, our Sexton Cade Mahan.
The phrase “Many hands make light work” comes to mind with this new approach to the many tasks needing attention around the church campus. We are grateful to Cade’s contributions to our building use making sure we are in good shape whenever the doors are open.
Thinking about “many hands” and a unified solution-based approach, I am also reminded of the classic parable of The Three Bricklayers. There are many versions of this parable about having a common vision and purpose. The parable is based on an actual event.
The story goes that after the great London fire in 1666 which leveled the city, Christopher Wren, England’s most famous architect, was commissioned to rebuild St. Paul’s Cathedral.
One day in 1671, Christopher Wren was checking on the progress of this massive project. (Talk about many hands…). Anyway, Wren walked over to three bricklayers all working on sections of a wall. As Wren walked along inspecting the wall he asked each bricklayer the same question, “What are you doing?”
The first bricklayer responded to his question by saying, “I’m laying these bricks to feed my family.”
Then Wren moved down the wall to the second bricklayer asking, “What are you doing?” The second bricklayer’s response was, “I’m a builder, and I’m building a wall.”
Moving along to the third man he asked, “What are you doing?” The man stepped back and looking up said, “I’m building a cathedral to the glory of God!”
The first man referred to his work as a job and having a job to provide for your basic needs is indeed honorable. The second man referred to his occupation as his main reason for being there. The third man referred to a sense of purpose for his bricklaying as a calling in devotion to the Almighty.
All this to say that we all have jobs at some point and at least one, if not more, occupations during our life. However, when it comes to the Church, we are doing more than merely laying bricks. We are “cathedral builders” if we choose to view our contributions, and the contributions of others, as an offering to the Lord we can build a cathedral together. I mean, how many cathedrals do you suppose there are in the world? How many of those were built by one person? Exactly!
Roger Waters, founding member of Pink Floyd, wrote the lyric – “all we are is another brick in the wall.” That worked for the purposes of that song and album, but God has more in store for those who see over and around the brick walls that can halt us. Yes, we belong to a team of cathedral builders.
To the many “cathedral builders” at Calvary, I give thanks to God. For our choir who sounds beautiful due to a combination of voices. For our kiddos at VBS this week and our youth and adult sponsors who just returned from a great day at King’s Island together, I give thanks to God. For our staff and lay leadership are often behind the scenes bricklayers, I give thanks to God. For our pastoral care ministry and all our prayer warriors, I give thanks to God. You get the point that I could go on and on with the thanksgivings here at Calvary.
My vision is that we “bricklayers” are building a firm foundation to support the kind of growth that will be coming. Not flash in the pan growth. Not a cult of personality growth. Not here today and gone tomorrow growth either. Building a firm foundation takes time. There are inevitable adjustments to be made. Some people are seeing things with new eyes and ideas and some with older eyes that offer a different wisdom. When we cooperate and work together, we are saying that the experiences and ideas from everyone are valuable. For instance, instead of saying, “Well, this is the way we’ve always done it.” we can ask ourselves and others if they have some thoughts towards a solution-based approach whatever the project or ministry might be. In my experience there are gifts in listening to the past and the future. Otherwise, a church will perpetuate operating under the structure of the church that has been.
See you all Sunday!
Blessings, Fr. Jon
P.S. BYOB! Bring your own brick 😊
