Making Room: Radical Renovation
This past weekend at my church we continued our Radical Renovation series with an idea titled “Making Room.” The concept for the day is that as we renovate our spiritual homes, we need to pull out the old junk we have stored in our closets. And it’s not just that “spring cleaning” or getting rid of the junk, but it’s that we’re doing it in order to make room for life, for Jesus – for the good stuff. It’s based on the story of the rich young ruler, who had a lot of junk stored up, literally and maybe figuratively too, and wasn’t able to get rid of it in order to follow Jesus.
In my theme setup from stage at the beginning of worship, I joked about how, with 4 years of history in our current house, we’re missing baseboards and wishing for a house fire to take away all of the stuff that piles up.
A couple of days after worship an email came over to the staff. Notice here how while the writer never specifically refers to the metaphor as the reason worship was powerful for him, it is infused throughout his note. It’s the basis for his experience:
John, I can’t recall the last time I wrote a member of the Church, but then again I can’t recall the last time a Church experience had the effect on me that Sunday’s worship service did, and I wanted you to know. My wife and I have been members at Trietsch for several years now, but we’ve been sitting on the sidelines for far too long. Our “closet” has been full of many things, running a business, raising our children, extended family, just the normal everyday stuff we all live.
Sunday began, quite frankly, as just another day in Church. I dropped our 8-year-old son off in Sunday School, and our 11-yearold daughter, currently going through confirmation, went off to her class. I found Charlotte [names have been changed] and her mother in the sanctuary and sat down, bible in hand; ready for “another day in Church.” What I didn’t know was Spring Cleaning was about to smack Art Parker right in the face.
I knew something was different when Marcos Hernandez and his sister, Ciamar, sang so beautifully. The words, “I don’t believe he brought me this far to leave me” just hit home. And what wonderful voices Marcos and Ciamar have. Then you dropped the first bomb of the morning, telling us that Marcos was leaving for the Marines the very next day. I stood with the rest of the congregation and applauded his talent, his commitment to country and what I knew was his deeply-felt devotion to the Lord.
Then I listened to your message. I know now the difference was I was ready also to hear. “Surrender Nothing Short of Everything” might as well have been titled “What’s Eating Art Parker?” For too long I’ve been comfortable ?Äì lazy ?Äì holding on to my closet full of stuff. I’m the rich man Luke wrote about, too blessed, too busy, too self-assured to surrender and follow.
Then you dropped Bomb #2, and spoke of the friend whose name was on the slip of paper you are carrying, and some bad feelings left unresolved. I knew exactly what you were talking about. I was deeply moved by your words, “before this Lenten season is over, I will clean out this closet.” That was powerful stuff.
Bomb #3 came in the closing song, one of my all time favorites, ?ÄòI Surrender All.” Funny, I didn’t read through the program, so I didn’t see that one coming, but as soon as the music started up, I knew this Sunday wasn’t supposed to be like all the others. This Sunday was very much about Art Parker, his very full closet and a long-overdue emptying of my junk.
As soon as the Service was over, I picked up my son because I wanted him to meet Marcos. We weren’t able to find him, so I’m hoping you might have an email for him, as I want our Family to pray for him and his family every day while he serves our Country. It’s been a long time since I felt a calling to pray for someone else as deeply as this, and I don’t want anything to junk this up. I also want to thank you for the message on Sunday. You shone a big light right in my direction and I find myself recalling this Bible verse; “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
My prayer now is to keep emptying the junk and to fill my heart with a willing spirit. Thank You for being my minister in a very different and important moment for me Sunday morning. You helped clean out at least one other closet this week.
A good metaphor in worship facilitates the ability of the worshipper to receive, understand, and remember the message. It makes the message stick, and it helps to transform lives. In our ministry, we have seen and continue to see this all the time. Our prayer is that you will discover its power.
