Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
This week I've been thinking a lot about buildings. Over the weekend Mallory and I went on a free architecture tour of some of the downtown skyscrapers in Detroit. I've driven or walked past many of those buildings before, been in a few of them, but many of the little details I've never noticed before and the history I barely knew. It is so hard to hear of all of the grand ideals that led to the construction of many buildings, the hope that by planting another skyscraper business would boom and people would come pouring in, knowing the painful truth that the ideal never made it to reality.
I've caught myself thinking back to some of the earlier posts I've written, especially this post from the summer of 2010, and all of the pieces of wood I've laid down, all of the nails hammered, all of the shingles put in place, all of the electrical work and all of the concrete that's been poured.
All of this has got me thinking: What is it that makes a place meaningful to us?
Is it the brick and mortar?
Is it the business that is conducted inside?
Is it how well worn the building is? or how well maintained?
Is it the history of a place? How long its been around?
There was an exercise that we did with the groups who came in for Motown Mission when I worked there in 2010. We made this big puzzle out of blank pieces of paper that when they were all assembled would make a house. On each piece of paper we asked our groups to write prayers they had at the end of their week.
Some folks would write how they were thankful to meet someone new. Others wrote about the new experiences they had shared. One person wrote this prayer:
"Lord, a house is broken, a house is in disrepair, a house is ugly. Your love, Your servants changed a house that's fixed, a house repaired, a house that is beautiful. Your love changed our hearts, your love changed the hearts of those with the house, Your love made a garden grow without weeds, your love made people happy and gave them hope."
In the opening verse of Hebrews chapter 11, the author of Hebrews says that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen." The words "not seen" do not necessarily connote a lack of vision, but rather a vision that has yet to be realized. There is some debate in biblical scholarship as to whether or not the "assurance" that is talked about is objective or subjective, whether the assurance is something immediately tangible or something felt by the individual. Alan Mitchell suggests that it is both, in that the assurance of things hoped for is not something we can produce, it exists as something that transcends the individual.1
This is true as well for the work we do with our hands.
Buildings are not simply a collection of things, assembled by the will of one person, but the result of a collective vision built in the hope that that vision may one day be realized.
In our faith life we continually strive toward a vision of what the world could be. We have biblical text, a history of faithful people, and the Holy Spirit to guide us in our endeavor. All of those resources point to one unifying factor: community.
A biblical text formed over thousands of years by many hands.
A history of faithful people, trying to live into their relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit, a member of the community of the Trinity, God as three in one, whose mission is giving life to the body of Christ.
Community is what makes a house a home, a building a reality, a vision not yet realized faith.
We need one another, a body, working together in the hope that the Kingdom of God would be made on earth as it is in heaven.
I enjoy the prayer I shared here so much because that prayer acknowledges that it is not the work of one person, or the vision of an individual by which the Kingdom comes, but through the power of God, driving the community to live into the new creation.
Community is what makes a place real, what transforms a building into something more, time spent here on earth into life, and broken people into the people of God.
1. Alan Mitchell, Sacra Pagina: Hebrews
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