Holy Sepluchre

I have been thinking a lot about the Church of the Holy Sepluchre. Initially, I thought, "What a strange place. All those Christians competing with one another, getting their shorts all bunched up in a knot over someone moving a chair. How ridiculous!" Then it occurred to me. The Church of the Holy Sepluchre is every church I've served. (Please tell me that I'm not alone. I endured a meeting in which it took 45 minutes to decide how thick to slice the ham for a church supper!) There is a cacophony of noise arising from all the various groups in the church, all of which is done in the name of God, but which nevertheless seeks to drown out the noise from competing groups. There are marginal groups who struggle to have their voices heard. There are groups that worship the place and become irrate if someone moves anything in the sanctuary, or if someone changes the color of the carpeting, or replaces a worn out memorial gift given by someone's great-great grandmother. And then there are all the petty things about people care. Instead of a tomb, we have a baptismal font. An image that I didn't really appreciate until I got home comes from the glass Christmas ornaments I purchased at the International Center in Bethlehem. The ornaments are made from broken pieces of glass found on the streets of Bethlehem put together to form an ornament, something of beauty, reminding us of our own brokenness, but how when joined together we can become a thing of beauty and worth. Blessings, Jim