“Table, Font, and Pulpit”
A Meditation for the Consecration of the New Sanctuary by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
November 28, 2010, Pleasantville United Church of Christ
Matthew 24:36-55
“Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming…
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
(Matthew 24:42-44)

There’s a headstone out in the cemetery that bears the words, “To God Glory.”  There’s no name on the stone – just those words.  It faces the road so that when you come round the bend, that’s what you see: “To God Glory.”  What you also see as you come round the bend, is the astonishing beauty of our new sanctuary set behind the resting saints.  “To God Glory” – it’s a powerful visual reminder of what all this is really about.

Soli Deo Gloria – that’s the Latin version of the words, “To God Glory.”  You see those words mean something.  They have history.  They are one of the “Five Solas” – five Latin phrases which summarize the basic theological beliefs of the Protestant Reformation:

Sola scriptura – by Scripture alone
Sola fide – by faith alone
Sola gratia – by grace alone
Solus Christus – by Christ alone
Soli Deo Gloria – glory to God alone

Many of us know that the stone out there is Fred Kohler’s.  It doesn’t bear his name.  It doesn’t bear his dates.  It only bears those words; that reminder: To God Glory.  For all of his foibles, Fred really got that piece right.

We are here today to consecrate this space to the glory of God.  Last week, Pastor Amelie taught the children that to consecrate something means to “set it aside for a holy purpose.”  It means that something which may be – in some ways very ordinary – becomes something quite extraordinary; something holy; something set apart in order that God’s glory might be made visible through it and by it. 

Today we consecrate this space – these four walls – this vaulted ceiling – this place built of stone and steel and concrete and wood – today we consecrate this space to the Glory of God. 

And we do this because we know that this place is built not just of these ordinary things.  But it is built instead of hopes and dreams and visions.  This is a place built by prayer and lengthy discernment.  It’s a place built by careful stewardship and sleepless nights.  This is a place built by sacrifice and loss and the peace of God’s healing that passes all understanding.  This is a place made extraordinary by the unfailing love and unending grace of God.

To God Glory.

We start our worshipping journey here today.  A journey that reminds us of who we are and whose we are as a people.

These are the waters of our identity.  We are a people marked by the waters of baptism; named and claimed in the sight of God.  A people formed and blessed, forgiven and cleansed by the waters of grace – waters that make us members of one family, united by promises we have before God to love and care for and nurture one another.  And these waters that claim us make all the difference in the world.

This is the feast of our future.  This is the table that reminds us we are One Body.  It is here that the Word made Flesh comes to dwell among us and become food for our souls.  And so, nourished on this bread of life and this cup of blessing, we are given strength to go out and be Christ’s disciples -- ministers of compassion and grace in a world greatly in need of healing.

Here is the book of our story.  Here, we learn of God’s saving love.  Here we learn of God’s demands for justice.  Here, we learn how, “in Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to himself.”[1]  Here we learn that it is and has always been God’s desire to move into the neighborhood of our lives and shake things up.

Table, Font, and Pulpit – these are the things that remind us of who we are.

Some of you know that I had a hard time trying to figure out what to say today.  We’ve been on a journey for years now; more than a decade in fact.  And all that time there’s been a need for words of encouragement; words of hope and vision; words that help us keep going and help us keep believing and help us keep trusting.

But now… well… look around you. 

Really…

Look around you…

Let the room speak…

Let it speak to you about how this place was built in such a fashion that that sun would move across these windows in the same way as it does in our old Sanctuary.  And we did this because, for some of us, how the sun moved through those windows made all the difference in the world to them as they were growing up and finding their way.

Let it speak to you about how – for the people of Pleasantville – the shape of worship required curved pews and a sloped floor so that we could create a space where the body of Christ could gather and see one another and hear one another and know one another.

Let it speak to you of how our own George Klein and our own Kent Anderson figured out how to build this ceiling when the architects could not.

Let it speak to you of how we came together as a people, young and old, those who have been here for generations and those who have come to us recently – we came together and we reasoned together and we prayed together and we built this place to the glory of God.

Let the room speak…

Every time we gather as God’s people the room will speak in a new way to us.  Today, William and Nathan have been baptized here -- and from this point on, the room will speak to us of their baptisms and remind us of ours. 

In a few moments, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and forever after, the room will remind us of our unity in Christ.  Soon we will celebrate our first Christmas Eve in this place and we will see the faces of those we love in the holy glow of Christmas.  There will be future baptisms and weddings; there will be funerals and All Saints’ Day celebrations.  In this way, and gradually, the room will speak with all the richness and depth that our beloved Chapel has won.  Because a holy space takes time to hallow; and this place has already been and will be in the future hallowed by the prayers of many.

Are we there yet?  Yes we are.  We are here.  And from this place we move into a new future, discerning – once again – where God would have us go next.

To God Glory – now and forever!  Amen.