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On August 28th we celebrated what may be our last St. Augustine's Day in the old Quonset hut Chapel. At noon that day we broke ground for the new Chapel and it is in that Chapel we anticipate celebrating St. Augustine's Day next year. A church building is not to be confused with the Church as the people of God, but there is an important connection between the two somewhat analogous to the related ideas of house and home. It is people who erect, use and maintain church buildings. Human beings are as closely associated with their buildings as birds are with nests or foxes with their holes. Our homes, government buildings, factories, theaters, sports arenas and above all our places of worship are very much a part of who we are or more precisely who we think we are or want to be. In my homily on St. Augustine's Day I reflected on three very human aspirations that I would like to see characterize our new Chapel. I might have also noted that I believe that these attributes already characterize our present Chapel. First, I want our new Chapel to be a House of Love. In a sermon for the dedication of a church St. Augustine observed that we can see a figure of love by the way timber and stone of a church building are joined in harmonious relationship each giving support to the other. When we see the pieces thus fitting together securely we enter the building with an easy mind unafraid that it will topple down on our heads. We will entrust the erection of our new chapel in a sound and secure way to the competency of our architect and builder. When they have done their job I would hope that all who see the Chapel or worship in it would find it a reminder of the supportive, caring love that should characterize relationships within the Church. As each part of the structure from foundation to roof fits together and supports and completes the whole building so we as "living stones" should build up one another in love. From Fr. Arthur we have inherited a commitment to the ecumenical movement which seeks to strengthen love and understanding across denominational divides and to make the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church a more visible reality. In our old Chapel many prayed and worshipped with other Christians for the first time in their lives. Thank goodness that will probably not be able to be said of our new Chapel! Yet there is still much work to do before all Christians fit together to form a united house of faith. People still fear to enter the Church because it seems to be falling down for lack of love. May our new Chapel silently exhort us as St. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to "encourage one another and build one another up." How good, if what he then added might also be said of us, "just as you are doing" (1 Thes 5:11). My second hope is that our new Chapel will be a House of Prayer. Somewhere I read that in the early centuries of Christianity no building could be erected as a church building unless there was assurance given that regular (daily!) prayer could be maintained in that place. Church buildings were not thought of as versatile auditoriums or theaters only to serve the periodic needs of a large group of people. Churches were to be sacred places of prayer and as such were not to be left deserted for long periods of time. How incongruous for a "house of God" to go a whole day, not to mention a week, without anyone setting foot in it, without even one brief prayer being breathed forth. When I get the chance (like right now) I urge pastors to use their church buildings as their own places of prayer, to make entering the church at least once a day part of their personal discipline and public ministry. If they treat their church buildings as houses of prayer they will become places of reverence; God's glory-His kabod-will rest there, and the congregations that worship within their walls will be blessed. The church building is a tie that binds together those who pray or have prayed within it. In a litany, which the Lutheran Book of Worship has borrowed from the Orthodox tradition, we pray "for this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise." When I pray in our Chapel I feel a bond with all who have ever even briefly entered this place with a reverent attitude and lifted any heartfelt concern to God. I am interceding for them and in turn the prayers they voiced within these walls support and animate my own prayer. I hope our new Chapel will be a place where many people will come to bring their joys and sorrows to God and so transform the physical structure into a true house of prayer. My third desire is that our new Chapel will be a House of Peace. I am thinking of St. Benedict's very sensible concern that "the oratory [the place of prayer] ought to be what it is called, and nothing else is to be done or stored there" (RB 52). But I also understand peace in its deeper meaning. This meaning is conveyed by the Hebrew word shalom or by the Latin Benedictine motto pax, that is, a state of wholeness, well being, and safety. I would like our new Chapel to delineate a space set aside for this peace that comes in the silent awareness of God. It should be a place where just to enter it is already to pray, just to breath its air is already to be assured of God's certain, even if still hidden, presence. There are so many distracting voices competing for our attention in the world today. We need to carve out little sanctuaries where a modicum of silence can be guarded, where we can compose ourselves sufficiently to reflect on sacred truths so as to awaken to the fuller, more comprehensive reality revealed by faith. In heaven we will not need to erect walls in order to do this. There is in New Jerusalem "no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb" (Rev 21:22). For now, however, the sacred peace of our true homeland must exist as something set apart, separated, consecrated; and the walls of churches have their work to do. Even in these places we experience this peace only in an imperfect way, but it is not a false peace, not an illusion. In our earthly sanctuaries we have "a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf" (Heb 6:19f). We are told concerning the temple of Solomon that "neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built" (1 Kings 6:7). I have not actually discussed this possibility with our contractor. Nevertheless we can at least keep in mind that to erect a structure that is to be called "the house of God" is something to be undertaken with reverence. With the groundbreaking on St. Augustine's Day we have made a beginning and we ask you to join us in praying for its successful completion. Sincerely, Fr. Richard G. Herbel |