What
does it take to turn a house into a home?
We all have different answers to that
question! Susan and Tim were overjoyed
when they moved into their new home and, like many a young couple, they hadn’t
been there long when they started getting home improvement ideas. Weekends would find them at the local DIY
store, buying paint and paper, tools and other bits and pieces to make their
home really theirs.
Soon
it became apparent that the previous occupier of the house had also indulged in
DIY. Sadly, he hadn’t been the thorough
worker whom it’s a delight to follow.
When the paper was stripped off the walls, large dollops of filler came
with it, and instead of being faced with a good surface to re-paper, they had
to undertake a major re-plastering job first.
They found that the washing machine had been plumbed into the wrong
pipe, and when it came to a simple job like replacing a light switch with a
dimmer unit, they uncovered a potential fire hazard which needed a complete
re-wiring to make it safe.
How
much was Susan and Tim’s home-decorating experience a reflection of the state
of our lives? When we peel back the
veneer of respectability, do we find a solid core, or is the life underneath
seething with corrosion and decay? Has
the decorator done a complete refurbishment, or merely plastered over the
cracks? It’s all too easy to think that
what’s on the outside is all that's important ... if it looks good, it must be good.
Jesus
told a parable about two house-builders (Luke 6:47-49). The wise man built his house on solid rock, but his fellow, whose house
probably looked just as good, could only stand and watch as his home was washed
away when the rains came. This parable
warns us that we should be thorough in the way we put our lives together,
making sure that we choose values and standards that are worthy and reflect the
will of our Lord. The danger is that, if
we don’t, we may find the whole of life collapsing around us, like the house
built on sand.
The
same is true of our churches, too. I
heard recently of a typical parish, with a medieval church unsuited in many
ways to twenty-first century life, where the new vicar had a few simple ideas
that, with minimal financial outlay, could improve the experience of people
coming to worship there. He faced a
tremendous uphill struggle, largely based on an outdated philosophy which held
that if something were part of a church then it had to remain the way it was in
perpetuity, notwithstanding its fitness for purpose, or the convenience of its
location.
Next
time you are doing some house repairs, and discover something that has been
bodged: smartened up to look nice while the underlying structure is failing,
spare a thought for Susan and Tim. Instead of grumbling as you put right
whatever wasn’t done well in the first place, ask whether Roger the Bodger is
at work in your life – or your church – as well as your home.
