A Work in Progress 6-1-08
In 1386 the Archbishop of Milan, Antonio da Saluzzo, began work on a cathedral to replace older structures. Over the next five hundred years, the cathedral would go through long periods of “unfinished usability” punctuated by brief periods of energetic construction. Not only did the project outlast the original builders, it would outlast several kingdoms and nations. Between 1386 and 1965, the project was ongoing through the Italian Renaissance, the Hundred Years War in neighboring France, the great pandemic outbreaks of the Black Death, the rise of the printed word, the discovery of the New World, the Protestant Reformation, the rise of America, numerous great European wars, two world wars, and the rise of the Cold War. When the project began, Europe had not yet found the Americas – when it ended, man was only a few years from setting foot on the moon!
There is a mood within the church today of impatience mixed with apprehension. The view of many seems to be “why are we not growing like we used to?” Yet, the growth that most refer to was in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and that view is based solely on anecdotal evidence. There are some who say that churches today do not grow because they lack relevance to people’s lives and that services have to change in some way to get that growth. Others say that churches do not grow because they have drifted away from the truth and have adopted too much the ways of today. All of this because both of these views have at their core a belief that the church is a new movement.It is not. The church is a body that has been in existence for approximately 2000 years. If you do not believe that, then you call God and Jesus liars, and you claim the Bible is false!
“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:31-33 NIV)
The church has been in existence this whole time. Now, I am not claiming that all who proclaim Jesus Christ belong to the church; I am merely saying that I believe God has kept the church alive and well throughout the centuries. Sometimes he has granted growth; sometimes he has let the fields lie fallow. There have been times that he has cause a great deal of work to be done to his temple here on earth (the church), and there have been times that he has caused the construction project to lie dormant.
My dear brothers and sisters, we must never forget that God is in control – not us, and certainly not the world around us. If we grow, it is because God has blessed our faith and our work, allowing us new opportunities and a larger family. If God withholds the growth, it is because God has blessed our faith and our work, allowing us to build our character and strength. Either way, we must remember that God is faithful and true and will always bless us – but either way, we must keep working.
There were many who worked on the cathedral in Milan; they died and the building that they worked on will eventually crumble into nothingness. But there have been many more who have faithfully worked on the church; they will rise again, and this building will never fall.
-Charles Peterson