In a few short weeks the leaves will begin to turn and fall. In our part of the world It is a continual reminder of the swift-passing of life, a reminder to number our days and apply ourselves to what really matters. (Read Psalm 90).
Church is a weekly reminder of eternal things. Church is a way to keep our souls in tune with heaven. Church is a way to keep from being overcome with the “tyranny of the urgent.”
The Psalms and songs and scriptures and sermons and stained glass and lessons are ways of reminding our hearts that there is much more happening around us than what we can see with our eyes. Church is a way of giving us a glimpse into where we fit in the Epic Drama of Life that arches from the Garden of Eden to the New Heavens and the New Earth.
We used to live in a quiet valley in an old white farmhouse. North of the house was a steep hill. I liked to start my day by climbing the hill to watch the sunrise and the deer and wild turkey and listen to the birds greet the morning. From where I sat I could see the road snaking over the river to the West and laying like a ribbon in the valley off to the east as far a the eye could see.
Church is like that. It is a way of getting perspective on where you have been and where you are going. That has a way of settling your soul. When we let church to its work in us we leave with an sense that there is more to life than what we expeience on in our short walk across the stage of life.
Ken Pierpont
Lily Lake, Wisconsin
July 27, 2012
