Ensign: So They Stole The Church.
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 May 2015
In 1897 the tiny railway hamlet of Donald in western [specifically British Columbia] Canada was condemned to death. The Canadian Pacific railway, the hamlet's only employer, decided to move its local headquarters 80 miles to Revelstoke to take advantage of a more profitable freight route across the Rocky Mountains.
The church from Donald was supposed to go to Revelstoke too, but many of Donald's residents had already moved to another town named Windermere in anticipation of the closure, and they were furious at the idea. So they stole the church. Dismantling it, they smuggled it by rail and river ferry to their new home. The church reached Windermere safely -- except for its bell. That was stolen along the way by a second group of Anglicans from the village of Golden.
Today two churches still bear witness to the thefts. Windermere's church is called St. Peter's the Stolen, and Golden's is known as St. Paul's of the Stolen Bell.
(Reader's Digest Book of Facts, 1987, p. 182)
I had a totally different topic in mind today, and don't worry, should God let me stay here another week we'll get to it. But I was doing some research for a post I wrote this week about Dante and his lady love Beatrice -- whom he saw only TWICE in his life, once when he was nine and again when he was eighteen (and you thought the guy or girl you liked didn't know you were alive!) -- who became his ... muse, I guess, and came across this story I'm sure I've read before as I've read the book! I laughed out loud, and that usually gets my attention, particularly when I want to rip someone's lungs out some other time during the day. I need a laugh.
I imagine to the former people of Donald who'd relocated to Revelstoke and Windermere, and even to the people of Golden, this was a serious matter. You don't just move a building and people see nothing wrong with that. Someone WILL know it's missing. (The story does make you wonder, though, if we should move our own church in light of the courthouse expansion blotting out everything -- my local friends will know what I'm talking about.) But here's the thing: the church people think of today is not the church Jesus, Peter, Paul, and others in the New Testament refer to. In fact, it took until the early fourth century before a separate worship building called a church existed.
Whenever church is mentioned in the Bible, it refers to an assembly of believers -- in this context, a coming together of believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as God Himself, our Savior and Lord. But I'll tell you a secret: it's not enough to believe or accept as a fact that He is either one. James' letter refers to even demons believing in God, but they're not saved because they accept Jesus is Lord, but not that He's Savior because He has not saved -- they do not ask Him to save -- them. Consequently we human beings made a little lower than the angels have a converse problem -- we believe in Jesus as Savior but don't or don't want to accept Him as Lord.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO WHAT WE WANT.
I do know of one church in our town that is moving across the street just for the sake of building a bigger church building, and like the restaurant that stayed in the same place in my hometown but just remodeled itself inside, I found and find myself thinking of Jesus' parable regarding the rich man who planned to tear down his barns and build bigger ones but then God told him he'd die that night. The full story's in Luke 12:13-21, but you know it's just as much our story too, for we tend to accumulate goods and build bigger barns to hold more of the abundance that God has blessed us with, but we forget that our time is running out.
The church as it's spoken of in Scripture is far bigger than you, or me, or any one person or group, because we're all going to die. (Or get taken into heaven when Jesus returns, but that's another story.) But no matter how far we move physically from where we were born or baptized and no matter how we are blessed as continue to act and live in this world God has created, we are never never NEVER far enough from God to be cast away unless we want to be! We don't have to steal a church (building) to be part of, to remain part of, the fellowship of believers that Jesus started and the Holy Spirit sustains for us and within us. It comes down to what we want, and how we act on what we want.
Amen.
David
Whenever church is mentioned in the Bible, it refers to an assembly of believers -- in this context, a coming together of believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as God Himself, our Savior and Lord. But I'll tell you a secret: it's not enough to believe or accept as a fact that He is either one. James' letter refers to even demons believing in God, but they're not saved because they accept Jesus is Lord, but not that He's Savior because He has not saved -- they do not ask Him to save -- them. Consequently we human beings made a little lower than the angels have a converse problem -- we believe in Jesus as Savior but don't or don't want to accept Him as Lord.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO WHAT WE WANT.
I do know of one church in our town that is moving across the street just for the sake of building a bigger church building, and like the restaurant that stayed in the same place in my hometown but just remodeled itself inside, I found and find myself thinking of Jesus' parable regarding the rich man who planned to tear down his barns and build bigger ones but then God told him he'd die that night. The full story's in Luke 12:13-21, but you know it's just as much our story too, for we tend to accumulate goods and build bigger barns to hold more of the abundance that God has blessed us with, but we forget that our time is running out.
The church as it's spoken of in Scripture is far bigger than you, or me, or any one person or group, because we're all going to die. (Or get taken into heaven when Jesus returns, but that's another story.) But no matter how far we move physically from where we were born or baptized and no matter how we are blessed as continue to act and live in this world God has created, we are never never NEVER far enough from God to be cast away unless we want to be! We don't have to steal a church (building) to be part of, to remain part of, the fellowship of believers that Jesus started and the Holy Spirit sustains for us and within us. It comes down to what we want, and how we act on what we want.
Amen.
David
P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!
We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.
Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.
Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
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