We're getting closer and closer to moving into the new sanctuary. The doors are being hung, wood trim is being cut and put in place, the new audio system is taking shape, and there are rumors of carpet appearing soon. At times, it feels more like a countdown to Armaggedon than a countdown to something we've waited for for so many years! That's at least partly because I look at all the work entailed in moving from one space into another - and don't always remember to look at all the hands and hearts willing to help in that work. But they're there, whether I'm looking or not. They're waiting for the opportunity to pick up one small piece (or several large ones) and move them into a new worship space. They're waiting for the opportunity to help shape our lives together by helping to shape the space in which we share worship. The hands are there. I simply need to remember them...and be thankful.
Advent begins this Sunday - the beginning of a new church year, when we look forward not only to the coming of Jesus, born in a manger on Christmas day, but the coming of Christ at the end - or perhaps the beginning - of time. A new time. A new place. A new world, fully redeemed, completely made whole. We didn't plan to move during Advent, but I don't believe we could have chosen a more significant time, a more appropriate time. We've been waiting. Some people within the congregation have been waiting almost fifty years for this day. And now, here it is, right on our doorstep! The word from our construction manager is that we'll be in on Christmas Eve. But we won't. We'll be moving things before that day - starting to make the change into a new space while it's still Advent - while we're still remembering that we are waiting. And that is a good and blessed thing.
As the days grow short, and cold, our longing for home, for being settled, only seems to increase. A place of shelter and of warmth, of comfort and of safety. But for those of us in Riverview this year, our longing for home is bringing us into a countdown to the new, the unexpected, the untried and yet untested. It is bringing us to the brink of God's new adventure for us, giving us the opportunity both to shape, and to be shaped by new forms, new surroundings, new neighbors. God give us the courage to live into that newness with joy, with full abandon, and with delight!
