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Dear Covenant Family,
Outside the stained-glass windows of the Pastor’s study, I can see the demolition of the Ford Road Garage. I can hear it too, the chunks of concrete landing in the dump tracks, the incessant beeps of bulldozers backing up. Back in 1967, the Church conveyed to University Circle Development Foundation (now called University Circle Incorporated, “UCI”) a parcel of land on which was later located the Ford Road Garage. The garage has completed its lifespan and at some point, a surface lot will take its place.
Construction is messy, and almost always entails taking down or cleaning up what is already there before building something new. This can be uncomfortable if we have become so used to what’s already there, that we fail to see the defects and the problems. In our personal lives, it means changing bad habits or facing an addiction. In our society, it means dismantling racism and eradicating systemic poverty. In our church...well, I’m not sure yet what it means. We already have scaffolding and dust and committees figuring out building use. We have more precious children, and new programming in the fall, and strong traditions we want to keep. What do we need to let go of that isn’t working? What needs to be reconstructed? I’d love to hear from you.
Meanwhile, let’s be patient as God continues to do good work in us and among us. It will be messy sometimes, and maybe a little uncomfortable. May God keep us from giving up or becoming cynical. And when we begin to feel like it’s all a bit too much, let’s join in prayer for our siblings in Maui who faced raging walls of fire and rising waves and have lost so very much.
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