Surrounded by pines, a few birch trees, and neglected barberry bushes and undergrowth, the building stood like a soldier in the gloaming. The silence of a snowy night surrounded it in cold solidarity, and the stone structure, carved hundreds of years before, did not yield to occasional wind gusts that otherwise skittered grainy snow across the icy ground.
It had been celebrated at its inaugural opening to the town with speeches and flowers and a large shared meal. Depended upon during important and common occasions both, it was the town’s centerpiece!
But a national crisis came with its hardships and fear, and the building had been conscripted as a field hospital. Seating and large instruments had been stored away, small instruments had been given away, and books boxed and stacked away. The war over, the townspeople found other, newer buildings, and the stone building was deserted.
Eventually though, weary travelers’ hearts gladdened at the sight of it, and a few benches outside its doors became a welcome wayside rest.
Eventually whispers and uninformed opinions about it spread. Someone thought it of little use. The gradual and quiet growth of disinterest grew until the building was sold for much less than it was worth. They – the buyers – made it into a house. However, they, too, lost interest after a time. The property was too remote. The town – too small.
Sometimes words are mighty, but sometimes they are just syllables that dissipate into thin air. And the air – the quiet, purifying air of a Christmas night that was the pnuema of its Creator – began to stir; softly at first, then to swirl with sparkles of gold-tipped frostiness until an otherworldly brightness glowed from the building’s windows and swept over the grounds around it. Pine and birch branches rustled. Barberry bushes’ berries glowed red. And the church that had been used for – well, for its intended purposes – returned to its original stateliness. After all, not all needs are understood, and not all miracles are seen.
Images: annie-spratt-tEHoH5kP7w-unsplash-scaled.jpg; mateusz-majewski-rL40zBCi-Dk-unsplash-scaled.jpg; sharon-waldron-k_PscfWwz5w-unsplash-scaled.jpg; Luke 19:40 “I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”