802.725.8094
  Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are >
      • What we believe
      • Our Team
      • Our Building
      • Membership
      • Our Story
    • What We Do >
      • Worship
      • Children's Ministry
  • Give
    • Give
    • Volunteer
  • Grow
    • Discipleship and Small Group
    • Prayer Requests
    • We Care
    • Sermons >
      • Archived Sermons
    • Blog
    • Resources >
      • RightNow Media
      • Facility Use
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Stay up to date! >
      • Meeting Minutes
    • Need Help?
  • Events
    • Events
    • Calendar
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are >
      • What we believe
      • Our Team
      • Our Building
      • Membership
      • Our Story
    • What We Do >
      • Worship
      • Children's Ministry
  • Give
    • Give
    • Volunteer
  • Grow
    • Discipleship and Small Group
    • Prayer Requests
    • We Care
    • Sermons >
      • Archived Sermons
    • Blog
    • Resources >
      • RightNow Media
      • Facility Use
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Stay up to date! >
      • Meeting Minutes
    • Need Help?
  • Events
    • Events
    • Calendar

Adventures in Interior Design

9/24/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
When Jesus saw the Temple courts cluttered with people who were set up to make a profit off of the piety of the worshipers by selling them sacrificial animals and changing their currency at a profit, he was filled with indignation and made a whip and drove them out, tossing their tables about and making a mess of things. This past week a quote from NYC pastor Tim Keller made the rounds on social media where he put this event in context. “The only person who has the right to rearrange the furniture in the home is the owner.”
It got me thinking about the impulse to rearrange the furniture. When I was first married and Christine and I started a home together I was surprised at how frequently she wanted to rearrange things and how strongly she felt about it. I confess I was resistant more often than not. It was tiresome to me. I had to move the furniture and then stand about while she considered the new arrangement from every angle and then I had to pretend a cheerfulness I didn’t feel when I was finally instructed to put things back the way they had been. 
But I’ve matured. I can see now how stimulating a new arrangement can be and how big a difference even a modest improvement can make. 
I say all of this for two reasons. 
First, when we move into our new location there will be a lot of this sort of thing. Not having used this building before there will be an initial set up, then there will be all of the sort of changes that get made as we figure stuff out, then, finally, there will be the sort of changes we make out of domestic exuberance. And I’m here for it, for all of it. 
Secondly, all this about the importance of rearranging the furniture is no less true when we are speaking metaphorically about the church. For a long time now, for instance, we have been encouraged to think that all churches were either inwardly focused or outwardly focused and that the key to being a healthy, growing church was to make sure that you were outwardly focused. And that seemed to bear out for a season; there appeared to be evidence for the proposition. But what if we could add a third category? What if a church could be inclusively inward, and what would that look like? And, along those lines, what if we rearranged the house of God so that, as with a proper home, the focal point was not a platform but the hearth? What if, instead of inviting people to a presentation, we invited them to a warm fire on a cold day?
This is one of the things about making our move to the building in Pittsford that gets me excited. I see God at work in these things, compelling us to reconsider our assumptions about what church should be and what it should look like. And it’s kind of him to do for us with architecture what he did for others on another occasion with a whip. 


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church Blog 

    Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church, Pittsford VT


    Author

    Pastor Joel Tom Tate 
    ​Leads Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church and thoroughly enjoys life in the most un-churched state in the Union.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2013
    April 2013
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Belief
    Chittenden
    Church
    Doubt
    Evangelical
    Family
    Palm
    Pittsford
    Prayer
    Resurrection
    Rutland
    Sermon
    Sunday
    Thomas
    Wesleyan
    Worship

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly