I sat in the middle of the sanctuary last Friday, September 19, in a room of about 700 people (mostly from the community), listening to great music by Seph Schlueter with a crowd of people who was singing and dancing and lifting their hands in praise. And I thought, “This was the reason we built this Worship Center!”

I remember 28 years ago when the call committee of Christ Lutheran asked me if I could build a new sanctuary for them.  I said, “Sure!” not knowing it would take about 15 years of fundraising, land building, debt paying, parking expanding, and designing to pull that off.  It is no exaggeration that we designed the Worship Center over a 10-year period while having to do all the prep work.

As we sat down with the architects and envisioned what kind of sanctuary we wanted, we had two things in mind. First, we wanted a sacred space. We didn’t want a black box that looked like a community theater, nor did we want a room that looked like it could be flipped after worship for a potluck and a bingo game. We wanted a sanctuary in the truest sense of that term — a holy space set apart for the worship of God. We wanted a sense of awe when people came into the room. Check.

Second, we wanted a space that was less of an edifice unto ourselves and more of a space to welcome in the community. And for the past twelve years, that is exactly how this space has been used. From graduations to band recitals to choir competitions to some amazing concerts with Big Daddy Weave and Mark Schultz and Tasha Layton and now with Seph Schlueter, we can check off that second box of being engaged in the community and making this sanctuary a place to gather in faith and to experience the amazing joy in the presence of the Lord.

How good, Lord, to be here, in this place, surrounded by music of praise while dancing and singing with your children. This is the reason we built this sanctuary — to open up this House of the Lord for the community to experience your goodness!

Peace,
Pastor Scott