On the third Sunday of June in 1971 I stood and preached from the pulpit of the Stapleton United Methodist Church for the first time. I would preach from that pulpit every first and third Sunday morning for the next three years. The Stapleton Church which was a part of a three point circuit was the first one to which I went as one sent by a Bishop. I was green as green can be. I was taking classes on preaching in seminary and learning how to preach from that first pulpit at Stapleton. It was also where I started writing, doing a weekly religious column for the county newspaper.
So, I was saddened a few weeks ago when I heard the Stapleton Church was closing. The last service was December 4. It was a moment for formally disbanding the congregation and deconsecrating the building and the grounds so that it could be used for other purposes. Deconsecrating what has throughout its history been sacred has always been a problem for me. Can such a thing be done with words and ritual? Can what has been regarded as holy for over a hundred years suddenly become "unholy?' The whole business is just unsettling and uncomfortable to think about.
On those grounds and in that building people lives were changed. How many prayers were prayed on bended knee around its altar? How many times was the Holy Meal offered and received? How many times did the baptismal water stir announcing the birth of a new believer? And what about all those marriages consecrated and funerals of the saints? In the beginning there was likely a moment of setting the place apart for holy purposes, but that setting apart was made even stronger as one after another passed that way for significant spiritual moments in their lives. Maybe the record says the Stapleton Church is no longer a holy place, but such is not what I will see whenever I pass that way again.
So, I was saddened a few weeks ago when I heard the Stapleton Church was closing. The last service was December 4. It was a moment for formally disbanding the congregation and deconsecrating the building and the grounds so that it could be used for other purposes. Deconsecrating what has throughout its history been sacred has always been a problem for me. Can such a thing be done with words and ritual? Can what has been regarded as holy for over a hundred years suddenly become "unholy?' The whole business is just unsettling and uncomfortable to think about.
On those grounds and in that building people lives were changed. How many prayers were prayed on bended knee around its altar? How many times was the Holy Meal offered and received? How many times did the baptismal water stir announcing the birth of a new believer? And what about all those marriages consecrated and funerals of the saints? In the beginning there was likely a moment of setting the place apart for holy purposes, but that setting apart was made even stronger as one after another passed that way for significant spiritual moments in their lives. Maybe the record says the Stapleton Church is no longer a holy place, but such is not what I will see whenever I pass that way again.
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