in memoriam

Last night my church, St Barnabas, was burnt down. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, that just doesn't happen, right? Buildings don't disappear overnight.
Anyway, the first things I thought were: where will we go?
How is the minister dealing with this right now?
We just had the pews replaced with comfy chairs, it was minorly epic because of the possibility that the pews were heritage listed.
The building is heritage listed.
I was there just last night.
Those old plaques on the wall, the ones that commemorate the lives of past members of the church, the stained glass windows, all these testaments to lives lived for God, are gone.
It kind of feels as if someone has died.

I watched the early morning news shows, to see if they could shed any light on this. It's always frustrating watching the news for information about a particular thing. You have to sit through 'how to save money in the new budget' and reports on how the miners are alive, well, and above ground. Not that these are bad things, it is good to know about the miners and the budget. It's all the extra stuff that bugs me. The morning shows are worse than most. On channel 7 one of the major news stories was 'Dancing with the Stars', both shows were always advertising a musical act that was coming on later, there were reams of banter and alot of discussion of Tom Cruise. But there was a short segment on the fire, they showed footage of the church completely engulfed by flame.
It's kind of a shock, and it's very sad. But although the building was destroyed, the church itself is not dead. And God is still in control. I'm sure there'll be alot of work, organisation and rebuilding needed though. So could you be praying for this? If you are someone who prays, I think Barneys needs your prayers right now...

Comments

  1. Minerva10/5/06 13:53

    Oh my goodness, who in the world, was it an accident? A heater left on too long or something??
    Well, the closest next one to you is Annandale isn't it?

    Prayers for sure. Hope the congregation find somewhere to gather and the minister is handling it well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Catie10/5/06 16:22

    they don't know why it started yet, i think they're still investigating.
    and i think they're looking for somewhere to hold services temporarily. there are other anglican churches close to me, there's one in rozelle, but hopefully it'll get sorted out.
    thanks for your prayers, i know God is working through all this

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vivian10/5/06 17:33

    yeah, I know what you mean by it feeling like someone has died, especially seeing it there with flowers people have put on the fence...

    ReplyDelete

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