It was 1914 and this German Lutheran congregation was about to lay the cornerstone for their new sanctuary. Because Europe was descending into war, church members decided the inscription on the concrete cornerstone should be in English. Good move; four years later and not too far from the new church, a drunken mob seized a German coal miner and hung him.
Yesterday Holy Cross in Collinsville, Illinois celebrated the 100th anniversary of the dedication of that building. For a century it's walls have resounded with music, its pulpit has put forth God's inspired Word, it's chancel provided the miracle of the sacraments, and its pews held people in every imaginable emotional condition, and whenever places in the pews were empty, people wondered why. Diane, who served on the anniversary committee, described yesterday's celebration as "fantastic" and all appreciated an excellent sermon by a former pastor, Rev. Ron Jansen.
There is no command in the Bible to build churches. That's because God's people are pilgrims, "for here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14). But pilgrims need rest, just as wandering Israel stopped its wilderness wanderings every seventh day, and so we build churches to rest with Him who leads us on our way to the Father (Matthew 11:28; John 14:6).
In some ways church buildings don't make as much sense as they used to. Economically, they sit unused most of the time. Missionally, they can tempt us to hide, to withdraw from Christian involvement in the community. I know of new congregations that are determined not to build sanctuaries for just those reasons. But there these architecturally different buildings stand, continuing to remind passers-by that previous generations valued something more than the things of the day, something more mysterious than our bare lives. God the first and God the last.