| From THE RAMBLER - August, 2007 |
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Why Finish the Basement?
Pastor Dave Denzer |
| This might seem like an odd question to ask when we have already begun the work on finishing the lower level of our church, but
I'll ask it anyway. Why finish the basement? |
| It has taken us four years to approval for this project. Four years ago we had a pretty good consensus for finishing the
lower level. We had numerous meetings about the design and layout and content of the basement. We talked about it as a congregational meeting. But then, one delay led to
another. we were delayed internally and we were delayed by the city and fire department. We have been through several people heading up this project. After four years, it is
hard to believe that we are actually, finally, beginning this project. |
| It has taken so long that I'm afraid that some of us might have forgotten why it is that this project is even important. We
have learned to make due with space that is inadequate. We have adapted to a space that is less than what is needed to accomplish our ministry as a church. It is easy to stay in
that place and lose the urgency to complete this project. |
| So, allow me to reintroduce to this new space. Envision with me what might take place in it. First of all, picture a
congregation pot luck dinner in the basement. Picture people in the kitchen using a space that has ample counter room for preparing meals. Picture refrigerators and stoves and
dishwashers for cleaning up after the meal. Picture your self in line at the pass through window in the kitchen where you dish up your meal. Picture yourself seated at one of the
round tables in the main hall, filled with laughter and conversation from the members of this congregation, getting to know those charming new members seated at the table with you and making
new friends. |
| Now, picture Sunday mornings with children gathered together in the main room, eagerly anticipating that day's events as they
engage in the opening sons and story as a large Sunday School group. they learn new songs that they will share with the congregation upstairs in the sanctuary. And then they go
their own classrooms lined with their artwork and staffed by a teacher who has the tools need to lead them into a real understanding of God's love for them. |
| On the third Tuesday of the month, as you walk down the stairs into this space you smell the dishes carefully prepared and now
displayed for the Seniors group meeting at the end of the fellowship space. On Wednesday, there is a group of people studying the Bible together around tables with the coffee brewing in
the kitchen and the donuts on the table. |
| On Sunday, the choir gathers at one end for their warm-up around the keyboard, and the slide into their robes before filing up
the stairs to their choir loft. |
| On Saturday, a bride prepares excitedly for the most important day of you life with her bridesmaids around her, water bottles in
hand and perfume in the air. After the ceremony, the guests all gather downstairs for the reception with the father-of-the-bride giving the toast to his daughter and new son-in-law
on their new life together. |
| These all all just glimpses in life in the new space that now under construction. Cane you see it? That is why we are
finishing the basement: because the ministry that God has in store in that space in the days ahead. If you haven't yet gotten on board with this vision, I hope you will begin to
picture yourself in this new space. |
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