Maybe we can put new wine in old wine skins?

When I arrived at All Saints’ in Tupelo I was shown throughout the parish. When I walked into the chapel I was blown away with the beauty and spirituality that permeated through this holy space. It is a quiet space that allows for meditation, listening to God, healing and wholeness. I had images of weekday services, Taize services and a space for small group prayer. Those visions were before I realized that there was not a handicapped entrance to the building. Strange as it may seem the handicap entrance ramp was done away with in the construction of the new building! The plan was, of course, to finish the construction project with a different entrance and new access. Best laid plans….
Even though we have not held any services, since I have been the interim rector, I have used the space for my individual prayer and, really it hasn’t been all that peaceful. Some people have teasingly suggested that it is the ghost of a formidable woman, Mrs. Gore, who never got over the building of a new church! I have felt a drawing to this place for my prayers and, yet, every time I begin my prayers I am ‘haunted’ by this holy space that is basically unusable. I would coach myself to ‘let it go’ and ‘release it’ but day after day the thought was taking over my prayer time. There were all sorts of reasons to ‘let it alone.’ The parish has just gone through building a new building and the chapel is old and small. Besides the fact that there is not an appropriate entrance for all God’s people, the wood around the windows needs repair, the doors need to be repaired (or replaced) and the animals that use the crawl space of the chapel need to be relocated and the holes where they have no trouble getting in need to be repaired. One of the people baptized in the chapel in the 1940’s, and a long term member of the parish, told me there was no reason to spend a lot of money on a building. It is old, she told me, and will continue to need repairs. She was right, of course, but she didn’t have to listen to these….whatever they were,,,,every day! Then, a woman stopped into my office one day and told me how sad she was that we can’t use the chapel anymore and essentially described the same thoughts that had been plaguing me. She said if she could get some other donors she would help at least make it handicap accessible!
It is one of those irrational things that we do in our lives that doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. I told myself that if I went to the vestry and asked to raise the money outside of the budget and they told me ‘no’ then I would have done what I could and I could done and I would be at peace. But, it seems like a God thing. The vestry said: go for it! Now, this is the most bizarre thing that happened! The people that I approached who I thought would have a heart for this project just couldn’t see the practicality of doing this. I was about ready to give up when a couple (who doesn’t really have any emotional connection to the building but are very faithful people) offered to help! It became the kind of new old building project. The contractor we talked to said he would be willing to use parish labor for the demolition and whatever else we could do to help with the cost. Another parishoner who owns a saw mill – donated the lumber. Get Out! I wonder what God holds for this building? It must be something wonderful.

This is one of those things that is really bad about being an Interim Rector and it doesn’t get easier – it gets harder. I see the Spirit of God doing new things and breathing new life into parishes and people but that is far as it goes. It is like seeing a breeze beginning to blow across the lake – but never being able to sit and enjoy the freshness. One of the great things about being an Interim Rector is seeing that breeze beginning to blow and God working in ways I could never imagine – even on my most psychotic days!