The parking lot at the church is filled with big machines. And the crews have been working hard. Yesterday they put in nearly 12 hours, milling asphalt, cleaning out cracks, filling, patching and repairing. Most things that we human beings make require maintenance from time to time. The time has come when we need to have some repairs made to our parking lot. They will be making the major repairs this week. Next week is sealing and striping and the work on the lot will be finished. By the standards of our small church, the cost is high. The benefit is that our church will be more attractive to visitors, more accessible to persons with disabilities and more useful for all of our members. We have the money in hand to pay for the work. We over subscribed phase one of our current capital funds plan, and now we are proceeding with the work that we envisioned as part of the project. Other phase one projects include repairs to the entry way including new energy-efficient glass front doors; new flooring paint and sound system for our fellowship hall; and a new sound system for our sanctuary. When we have completed these items, we head into phase two of our project that has major tasks like a new fireproof roof and heating, ventilation and air condition systems.

It is important work and it is not hard to convince me or other church members that we need to do the work. The fund raising was surprisingly easy. More difficult than raising the money are the decisions about how best to invest it. For example, the architect designed a flagstone entryway for our church. After 54 years of use, some of the stones are cracked. The surface is uneven because they have settled unevenly. The cracks are a hazard to those who use wheelchairs and walkers and to those who don’t see well. The proposal presented to the congregation was to replace the flagstone with stamped and colored concrete. It seemed simple. Then questions arose about slipperiness with the concrete. There were problems with the color we wanted. There were differing opinions about maintenance. The task force ended up reconsidering how best to do our entryway. They considered everything from having the original flagstone re-set to pavers of a different kind to concrete that was not colored to stamped and colored concrete. The decision is not yet made, but there are now advocates for different solutions. Since a single solution must be chosen, it is evident that not everyone is going to get his or her way. Since the project was pitched to the congregation with the stamped and colored concrete, a different choice runs the risk of having missed donors. It is complex and although I am confident we will see our way through the decision-making process, there is more involved than just raising money and spending it.

Because we like our building and want to preserve its look while upgrading systems to serve the next several decades, we have made inquiries into the original design and colors and somehow we were put in touch with the proponents of historic preservation in our community. While we do want to preserve our historic building, we didn’t set out to obtain grants from others and we are wary of the strings that may be attached to having our building designated as historic. Apparently once you are on the register of historic buildings there is no way to get off of it. That means that the decisions we make in this generation could have large impacts on the choices available to following generations.

And the bottom line to all of these decisions is that the heart and soul of a church is not in the building. Yes, we need a building to house our mission and ministry. Yes, we need to be responsible with the resources we have received from previous generations. But a church is so much more than a building. Focusing too much attention and energy on the building threatens to distract us from the work of serving others. Yes, spending over $100,000 on building improvements is important and the money needs to be invested wisely. But we do more than three times that amount each year in mission and ministry in our community. Our real task is listening and responding to the needs of our neighbors. Our business is providing meaningful worship that is connected to the call to service.

Again, life is never that simple. As much as I wish I could ignore the sound system and allow others with expertise and training to make all of those decisions, the bottom line is that we are in the business of communication and when people can’t hear, they can’t participate fully in worship. When the echoes in our fellowship hall literally drive some people out of the room, we are not serving all of our people. So I need to learn about the sound system and pay attention to it.

It is one of the balancing acts of ministry. My training is in planning and leading worship and in providing pastoral care. More and more my job is administering an institution: managing the complexities of building and employees and funds. The church has struggled with the tendency to become institutionalized from the early days. Jesus’ call to be disciples is a call to serve others. The institutions that grow out of that call to service can be a distraction. Throughout the history of the church there have been many times when we focused too much on hierarchies and chains of authority instead of simply walking with God’s people in need.

I certainly don’t have the answers. We live into the solutions by trying to be faithful in each of the decisions and each of the challenges. But as we move into the fall this year, I have resolved to pay attention to my time. I am not going to spend so much time in meetings that I neglect the simple, hands on service to others. I intend to be involved in workdays and firewood delivery and serving food at the mission. I am resolved to spend more time praying than fretting, more time studying scripture than meeting with vendors, more time in worship than in meetings.

As usual, it will be a challenging and inspiring year to serve as a pastor.

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