CENTENARY OF THE CHURCH BUILDING 4/3/07

Transcription

1 CENTENARY OF THE CHURCH BUILDING 4/3/07 INTRODUCTION When we come to the New Testament, the essential book for Christians, we don t find too many comments about church buildings there were no church buildings as such over the time the New Testament was written. All that came later. You could argue the church was at its most potent when it didn t deal in land and buildings but it s easy to take cheap shots like that. Times did and have changed. As we celebrate the opening of this building always in these cases done to the glory of God I d like us to read two illustrations about the Christian journey from Paul s writings as the background for what we celebrate. TEXTS By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no-one can lay on any foundation other than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 For those who don t know the story of this faith community may I give you some background? In the 1860s when Dunedin was a thriving metropolis, indeed the first city in New Zealand, group of devout Baptists met at the home of Mrs Charles Coombes in Glen Road. When they outgrew the house, services were held in a building at the corner of Glen Road and South Road. Somewhere in the book on Caversham there s a photo of that building. Numbers grew at that location also and something had to be done. Providentially in 1870 Mr William Ings, a successful market gardener amongst other things, offered to give the section of land on the corner of Surrey St (which in passing used to be Forbury Rd) and South Road if friends interested in the cause would erect a building on it. And this is one of the amazing parts of the story how quickly they moved. A stone church was erected on the sight for the princely sum of 310 pounds. It was dedicated to the glory of God on the second Sunday of January 1871 less than a year later. As an aside it took from 1948 when there was 116 pounds in the youth building fund until 1984 when Surrey House was opened and then until 2001 to build what we have behind me. Never let it be said that modern means faster. On the January day in 1871, the first church was dedicated, Rev John Williams preached in the morning and Mr William Biss in the evening. Mr Biss not only preached, he put his money where his mouth was and donated another 46 pounds to build the vestry. A vestry was a place for the minister to keep his special clothes in more suitable for an Anglican church one might have thought. Some ministers could keep their golf clubs there I suppose. Two years later in February 1873 Caversham Baptist was constituted as a church and in the following decade would become a member of the Baptist Union. In 1876 another part was added to the stone church costing 498 pounds - it was opened debt free on July 2 nd I d

2 love to find out in today s terms what we re talking about - not cheap then and not today. By 1880 the church had 170 members. In 1888 the church split in two for what must have seemed, at the time, to be good reasons, and the people who split off built what is now the Caversham Community Church in Playfair St. I need to tell you for the record Trudy and her brother Mark s and Lorraine Crawford s ancestors were part of the split. In 1895 the two groups joined together again some sort of record for Baptists I imagine. The building in Playfair St (John St as it was then) continued to be used for Sunday school. In the early 1900s it was felt to be inconvenient to hold services in one place and Sunday school in the other (an inconvenient truth you might call it). Plans were made to sell John St and build a new church on the present site. They sold John St for 575 pounds, the Pastor Charles Boyall, with obviously great powers of persuasion, collected 437 pounds and the new church building programme was launched. Interestingly enough the first church only served as a worship centre for 35 years. Interestingly also when they built the new church they owed around one third of what it cost. The new church was opened at a public function on February 23 rd 1907 and the first worship service was held on Sunday February 26 th three days later. I have read the Otago Daily Times report of the opening. There were 8 revs and 2 misters in the official party. Rev A Davis from what was then called the Kaikorai Baptist church prayed, Psalm 84 was read and the choir conducted by C. Clark junior sang the anthem Arise shine for thy light has come. C. Clark junior was Lorraine Crawford s great grandfather? The current pastor Rev Charlie Boyall said he felt it was with feelings of deep gratitude to God that they witnessed the completion of the new building. He paid tribute to the members who had given so liberally and to the committee, which included Messers Reid, Wright, Clark, Jackson and someone else like one of his successors he too forgot names. The Clark was Lorraine Crawford s great grandfather and by marriage and birth he was related to Elsie and Ken; to Jocelyn, Brendan and Gareth. The Wright was Trudy and Mark Wright s great-grandfather James and naturally he is the great, great, grandfather of Trudy and Mark s children. So, 100 years ago last Monday, February 26 th 1907, this building became the worship centre for Caversham Baptist church. And in one of those quirky family co-incidences a hundred years later to the very day the people used this building as a worship centre for the first time, the great, great, great grandson of the same James Wright was born Joshua you know the one with the interesting second name. And on this day 6 days after the centenary service we welcomed him into our faith community, you might say, for the first time. Although to be fair anyone with half an eye knows where s he s been. And I m wondering if when James and Charlie and their fellow team members who worked so hard to make the dream of a new worship centre come true, they saw in vision what might

3 happen if this building became a place where promises were made, commitments honoured and where generations to come would find and be found by Jesus and where they would decide to follow his way. The article in the paper described the new church in this way: The new building is designed in the classic style of brick and cement. The general arrangement is quite new so far as Dunedin is concerned, the seats being arranged in an ampi-theatre style in a half circle in front of the platform. Each seat is stepped up above the other, which enables the congregation to have an interrupted view of the preacher. The windows are large and are glazed with cathedral glass in pleasing tints. the choir is placed in the corner to the left of the platform and will accommodate 30 singers. There is seating accommodation for a congregation of 350. That number intrigued me as I think at a pinch with the addition we may get 300. Maybe people were smaller then. Who in 1907 knew of McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hutt and the like? There are just a couple of things I would like to say about what was built then: The pulpit was central and the baptistery prominent, and plenty of room was given to the choir, which was an important feature of the life of the community. Weddings were OK although I nearly fell off the platform at my brother in law s wedding but I feel the person who planned the church never thought about a funeral. I ve stood and watched helplessly as caskets have been manhandled through one of the doors I never felt here was much dignity in that. The article about the opening in the paper wasn t very well written in places - some speech marks are missing but someone who spoke the night of the opening said Consecration and cooperation must be the watchwords ever fresh in their minds. May the walls of their church crumble to dust before they should hear within them the voice that preached any other Gospel than that Christ died for their sins and rose again for their justification. We may not use quite those words today but the intention was clear. The walls of the church haven t crumbled other than in a few places but those words got me thinking. If these walls could speak what would tell us of all that has taken place here. They d tell us about: 1. The common ventures of life a. Faith placed in Jesus b. Baptism c. Commitment to this faith community d. Marriage e. Dedication of children f. Sending people to other places to serve

4 g. Death - celebrations 2. The spiritual battles within who hasn t sat in the seats here and wrestled with an issue or a response that needed to be made. 3. The courage and trust shown by people who in the midst of great sorrow or trouble have consistently come to this place, to be part of the faith community 4. The Bible proclaimed, preached possibly the walls heard some heresy, some drivel, some glorification of man but mostly we trust Biblical truth proclaimed 5. The God of glory being worshipped 6. The Holy Spirit bringing people into a living relationship with Jesus; filling them with himself; gifting them to serve 7. And on just a few occasions the walls have heard the times when people have been less than Christian in the way they ve spoken and the attitudes they ve displayed We heard last night of some stories. And some who weren t there have their own stories to tell. Today we want to honour the vision, the commitment the generosity of those who ve gone before and who now know what is hidden to us. And in honouring them we want to build on their faith, their work. From our second text we recognise that this has been and is God s work. While people were involved in the process, ultimately the inspiration, the energy came out of a commitment to the God of the universe and his son Jesus. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. Applying this text you could say, the community here in planted a building, succeeding generations have watered it by using it, by adding to or by replacing parts of the property that were decaying. But it s God who has sustained the life of this community over these last 100 years and it is God who will do so on into the future until Jesus returns. We affirm together only God makes things grow say it together ONLY GOD WHO MAKES THINGS GROW! And yet God uses people, he enables people; he gifts people with his Spirit; he gives people vision; he encourages people with dreams and with hope all these are true but it is God who makes things grow. And this is how we are to face our tomorrows willing to work but knowing that any real spiritual growth is from God or from cooperating with God.

5 The first text reminds us graphically of the importance of good foundations. We experienced this to our cost when our house was being built. We d signed a contract in good faith for a set amount. And everything was sweet until we were invited to a site meeting. The manager told us in a very nice way that the foundations they d planned to build the house on required strengthening and extending. That was all right then the news that this came with a price - another $ for this they were able to make the foundations good and solid. I wasn t so sure at this point about our personal foundations. We said no don t spend the money, they look good enough to us, and anyway we don t have $ Right! We simply agreed with the builder that it was essential to have a solid foundation. Good, solid foundations are essential. And we felt strangely comforted in January when visiting old friends in Nelson. They had to spend $ more to get solid foundations. When it comes to faith communities the only sure and secure foundation, the only solid foundation is that of Jesus Christ. Not Jesus Christ as Islam sees him, not Jesus Christ as Mormons and Jehovah s Witnesses see him - for these are all inadequate understandings but as Paul saw him, and as he described to the church at Colossae: He is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For no-one can lay on any foundation other than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. As the person said on the night this church was opened May the walls of their church crumble to dust if we seek to build on anything else. So, as we face our tomorrows with this great history of faith, vision, commitment and love for God and his son Jesus behind us what are we to do? How about this? The most successful batsman in the history of cricket is surely Don Bradman. When Don Bradman reached a century, unlike most batsmen who go out soon afterwards, he would take a fresh guard, adjust his pads, his cap and set his mind and energies for the next century. For those of us who are part of this great story, this first century, we afford to do anything less?