Change of View

Dear Friends,While in Honduras, among our community visits, I had a chance to bring a brief message to the community of Lomas del Aguila (Hills of the Eagles), our longest partner community.  I told them about, of all things, our renovated storm windows, protecting the five stained class windows that overlook Pike street.

In case you missed it, over the past couple of weeks we had a team from Baut Studios come out and clean our stained glass windows and install new storm windows on them.  Thinking about this a bit, I shared this story:

Canonsburg UP Church was founded almost 250 years ago – before the United States were… The United States, followers of Jesus were gathering in what is now Canonsburg to worship together.  In less than a century, what had been one presbyterian church had grown to four, and these churches worshipped and blessed this community for another century, before deciding that they could serve better by gathering together as one United Presbyterian Church.

That took a lot of time, effort and energy, but by God’s grace, over 55 years ago, Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church began worshipping together at 112 W Pike Street.  Over time, they expanded the CE building, formed and renewed various ministries and continued to worship together.  At some point, they decided that the beautiful stained glass windows that adorned the front of the sanctuary, needed to be protected – so they installed storm windows.  But… over time, those storm windows accumulated dust and dirt, growing cloudy and obscuring both the windows from being clearly seen by the community and metaphorically, from the church seeing the community.

Three years ago, the Session affirmed that they wanted Canonsburg UP Church to be a church for others, not just for itself.  We welcomed two new recovery groups, began hosting community events (like Santa for Old Fashioned Christmas), and started to look more closely at how we can open our arms to the world around us.

We renovated the sanctuary, and we backlit the cross and the stained glass window, so it would be clearly seen.  And now, we’ve cleared the cloudy storm windows, and are preparing to replace the rest of the (non-stained glass) windows… which will help us better see the world we’ve been invited to bless in Jesus’ name.

Those windows are a metaphor.  The lens that we view the world through – our newspapers and tablets, our televisions and smartphones, do as much to alter and obscure the world, as they do to open our eyes to see and know it.  Heading to Honduras, or even walking Pike Street, are much more helpful – and having the lens of God’s love, overlaid on our eyes, gives us a more honest view than anything else.

I pray that as our church windows are renewed and replaced, that God will continue to renew and replace our eyes for the community and world around us.  I pray that we would see the world the way that God does – not as an enemy, but as beloved sisters and brothers that we are invited to bless.

Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus, one new view at a time,

Pastor Don