The Foundation Stone

The danger in reading is finding something which cannot be left on a page already read.  Some words seem to call us back even though pages are being flipped to take us toward the end.  G.K. Chesterton who died in 1936 did such a thing in his book entitled, "Saint Francis of Assisi."  As he wrote about that moment in the life of St. Francis when he heard God's voice telling him to rebuild a church, Chesterton says, "He (St. Francis) was truly building up something else, or beginning to build it up; something that has often fallen into ruins but has never been past rebuilding:  a church that could always be built anew though it had rotted away to its first foundation-stone, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail."  

The author could have been talking about the church of his day, he could have been talking about the church at the time of St. Francis, or he could be talking about the church as we know it in some places today.  As one ordained in the United Methodist Church, I see the church which has nurtured me since before I began the spiritual journey seemingly falling apart and lying in ruins.  While some may differ by declaring that it will rise up stronger, there are more than a few of us who disagree.  It is a sad and troubling thing to see a church which has meant so much coming apart at the seams.    

But, Chesterton reminds us that the institution through which the church expresses itself might end up in ruins, but not the church.  The spiritual community established through the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit shall prevail in some form.  It may not be a form we will recognize, but the church will prevail.  The structure may collapse, but not the foundation stone, not the cornerstone.  (Ephesians 2:20)