There is a gentleman in our church who is a generation or two ahead of me. He served as a police captain for many years and is now retired. He is a master craftsman with wood.
He doesn’t particularly like contemporary music, but he loves coming to our contemporary service because of the energy of the congregation. He loves seeing people half his age come to know and love the God he’s walked with since before they were born.
One morning, he walked into my office and said, “I don’t really know much about the technical equipment you’ve installed in the back of the sanctuary, but would it be OK if I build some furniture to house it in?”
6 months later, I walked into the sanctuary and there was a full oak sound board desk, split level lighting table, and video tech station, all built over newly installed flooring and behind a new oak half-wall with ornate detailed edges and panels. If we had hired in a professional crew and given them 100k, it would not have been this well designed or beautifully crafted. This whole area is an unbelievable work of art, the kind of craftsmanship you would expect on a communion table, or lectern, or in an art gallery. It’s that beautiful.
I want to be like Al. In one magnanimous act, he taught me so much. First, that nothing I could ever say to people from his generation about the value and purpose of contemporary technology and music would resonate as deeply as his act. By his actions, he said emphatically, “This matters.” Secondly, that I need to look for opportunities to be generous, not simply wait for them to present themselves. The active move toward service means more than the passive acquiescence to service.
And this. How great and wondrous and beautiful is the body of Christ. That God would give us wise elders to guide our youthful passions. That he would give us godly examples to tame our self-indulgent cynicism. That he would give us present mercies to sustain our energy toward mission. That he would teach his lessons wrapped as gifts, and that he would teach us love by the demonstrated self-giving of others toward us.
Beautifully stated. Embrace the best in every generation & the divine in every person.
God can be seen in the hands of the craftsman than builds the sound booth & in the heart of the one who gave him permission to do so. Through gifting, empowerment & release simple lumber became a work of art.