What A Building Project Should Be

Mark 13:1-5; 1 Samuel 1:4-20

Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

These two scriptures hint at the same thing: what we have to offer God is only what God has already given to us.  Nothing more. Nothing less.   Hannah prays to the point of desperation for a child, whom she agrees to give to God, for God's purposes.  She receives her blessing and offers Samuel before the Lord.  Jesus implores those around him to understand that buildings are not lasting offerings to God, that they will be reduced to rubble in the end. His apocalyptic warning to the disciples is  there is nothing that man builds that will last.

Put these two texts into one thought process and you have the idea that the only lasting offering we can offer before God is our fully human selves, just as Hannah offers sacrificially Samuel, her precious only son.  (Reminds us, of course, of Mary, who offers the baby Jesus to God's will.)

We are the temple. Our lives are the temple. Our breath the bricks and mortar.  Not any building we call church, whether that is an actual church building or a more hip place like a bar.  No brick and mortar meeting place is able to be an offering to God.

We. are. an. offering. Our lives are the brick and mortar that builds the 'congregation' and keeps it strong.

But we fail to deliver that offering. We fear the commitment of fully laying our lives on the line to be used for God's purposes.   It's much easier to hide in the pews (or chairs) than to throw ourselves prostrate on the altar area and say, "God, I am yours. Use me to your purposes."

What does it take to create a sustainable building project these days? The first answer is to understand exactly what you mean by 'building.' If you mean adding square footage and some windows and a new front door, that's all well and good, but remember Jesus's words when he says it will all be torn down in the end.

A sustainable building project starts with people who bring themselves as their gift to God. A sustainable building project lists as the primary goal the building up of a congregation, in service and witness to the world. A sustainable building project means caring for children and youth and offering the aged a chance to participate in abundant living.  None of these involve hammers and drills and square footage. But they all require the greatest asset we have to be willing to part with: TIME.

What a building project requires most is TIME and ATTENTION and LOVE and SACRIFICE.  Do we have what it takes to build Christ's kingdom in this place?