Amidst the Destruction, There is Inspiration

Included in the many images of the destruction wreaked by the tornado that struck Goderich, Ontario ("Canada's Prettiest Town) earlier this week is a yellow-brick church missing its roof and parts of the walls, seen below.



That church is Victoria Street United Church, and Minister Tom Dunbar is thankful the tornado did not hit three hours earlier, when the building was packed with worshippers. Interviewed in the days following the carnage, Dunbar displayed a very practical attitude.

“I feel a great sense of loss,” he said. “It’s a physical connection, and it’s a connection with all the generations before. But as a Christian community we know that out of death comes new life and so that’s what we hold on to.” (The Record.com)

I wonder how my own congregation would respond, should a similar fate befall our church. I hope that we would, after the initial shock had worn off, adopt a similar attitude.

After all, a "church" is just a building.

Yes, the building contains and embodies the history of it's congregation. Over the years many people have given time and money to its construction, upkeep, and renovation.

But it is just a building.

The Church (note the capitalization) is more than a building: it is the people who meet in that building, on Sunday morning and throughout the week. it is the community that forms from those who meet in that building, who share in the life and work of the congregation; caring for each other, and for their neighbours both near and far.

I made a similar comment on Facebook, and was chastised by one poster for my "heartless" comment.

I recognize the loss, and the need for the Victoria Street congregation to mourn their loss. But if their minister's attitude is any indication, they will move on and rebuild, and continue to thrive as a congregation.

As I believe my own congregation would.

In 1959, Carol Rose Butler wrote lyrics to what has become a popular hymn in the United Church, "The Church is Wherever God's People."

The second verse is:

The church is wherever God's people are helping, caring for neighbours in sickness and need. The church is wherever God's people are sharing the words of the Bible in gift and in deed.

Non-believers -- atheists, some like to call themselves -- often have trouble understanding just what it means to be a Church. They also have questions about God -- the nature of God, what they see as an unhealthy belief in a mythical, supernatural being, and the motives sometimes attributed to God.

There was a time, and some of the more evangelical believers still believe this, that God causes everything to happen, from the sun coming up in the morning to winter blizzards, earth quakes, and, yes, tornadoes.

Rev Dunbar has a more pragmatic notion of the nature of God.

“It’s a very common thing to blame natural disasters on God, because it’s human nature we have to find blame,” Dunbar said.

“But God doesn’t do this. God is in the response. God is in all the people and all the actions and all the sharing and God is in the teenagers who are walking up and down the road here with saws in hand willing to help neighbours.” (The Record.com)

The Church is wherever God's people are. Including the teenagers.

In Goderich, amidst the destruction, God's people are an inspiration for us all.