It’s the most wonderful time of the year … (love that song!). I was honored to be asked to write a reflection for designers at Christmas time. I have always loved Christmas, and as a grandfather, it is exciting all over again times four.
When my own first-born son was one year old and Christmas decorations were going up all over the house, he found everything magical and, of course, to be grabbed.
AMYRAAB
Ravi Waldon, AIA, LEED AP, Principal and Faith Based Sector Leader, Michael Graves Architecture and Design, Princeton, NJ
This posed a bit of a problem with the Christmas tree and the train I set up under the tree. So, I built a little fence with a 1x8 turned flat that I painted white with holly leaves. That worked perfectly, since my son could lean on that while enjoying the wonderful lights and all of the decorations. I still have visions of that little boy leaning on the fence with his diapered bottom dancing with joy. Silly as it may be, why do I remember that nearly 40 years later? Because the designer in me found a functional solution that enabled the joy and wonder to be enjoyed without danger.
That’s what we do as architects and other professionals who support ministry facilities. We want to design facilities using our creativity to enhance the worship and fellowship experience and to support the message of the churches we serve. I know it is very satisfying to me, and I’m sure it is for you too—to be able to be used by the Lord to contribute to His Kingdom.
Just think, people who find a church home in one of your buildings this Christmas will have an opportunity to learn more about the Lord, to find a deeper relationship in their walk with God, make new friendships, and find the joy of each season. The facilities we design, whether as architects, tech support, builders, coffee ministry professionals, bankers, you name it, help provide more than a building. We create spaces and environments for all of the ministry activities that can happen, creating with more inspiration, with more effective tools for ministering, and with less obstructions for ministry. In fact, I’ll just bet that you spend a lot of extra time designing in little subtleties that no one will notice, but that make the place safer invisibly, so that people aren't even aware. What a joy to design buildings that affect communities in such countless ways and help spread God's love.
I tell people I am surely called to be an architect as a pastor is called to be a pastor. You likely feel that way too. “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired” (I Cor. 12.18). I hope you possess that very real sense that God is using you to advance His Kingdom. Those of us that have found this intersection of doing something we love vocationally in service for ministries are truly blessed, indeed. This sense of calling is what enables us to keep persevering. Because, let’s face it, designing churches is not the easiest or most profitable way to make a living. There are a lot of clients that are familiar with the complexities of the construction process, but it's still endlessly difficult to explain to them the uncertainties of the economy outside of our control. But it’s that sense of calling that helps us keep that servant-like attitude, whether the process is hard or easy. But then, isn’t that what it means to be “Christ-like”?
What a joy to design buildings that affect communities in such countless ways and help spread God's love.
Think about it, our task will never be harder than the One who “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (Phil. 2:7). We have the joy of knowing that “God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil 2.13), and that frees us to serve with faithfulness.
A friend once told me, everyone has at least one good sermon in them. Maybe that’s true since I’ve only actually preached three times but it was almost the same sermon each time. Surprise, surprise, I spoke on the Bible’s metaphor of a physical building as a reflection of God’s spiritual building. Every building has a primary function, and this spiritual house is considered “the pillar and support of truth.” Consider, we are the “living stones” that constitute this spiritual building. What holds those stones together? The “love of God which is the perfect bond of unity" (Col. 3.14). With that purpose and with that mortar bonding us, what an amazing, life-changing, world-changing house that will be! I can’t think of a greater project to commit our lives and talents toward, can you? What loftier goal can there be than to design a place that speaks truth and love to the world?
Someday we will understand the true wonder of Christmas. We will get to see the One who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” We will hear the words we long to hear our whole life as a servant to the King: “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” But until that day, let’s enjoy every Christmas and sing like the angels in the skies of Bethlehem, “Glory to God in the highest.”
