“You are entering a conversation that began long before you were born and will
continue long after you are dead.”
There is a sign about the entrance of Winchester Cathedral that which reads, “You are entering a conversation
that began long before you were born and will continue long after you are dead.”
On May 2, we had our first worship service in the refurbished Mount Olivet Chapel, which was our former sanctuary.
It is the sanctuary that we recently acquired last fall on the 1700 block of West 50th Street.
Going back into that church is a reminder that
our faith is not just a contemporary experience. Our faith is part of salvation history which began long
ago, as revealed in the Old Testament and the New Testament, right up to today. Or as the Cathedral sign
reads, “we are part of a conversation that began long ago.”
Going back into our former sanctuary is a good opportunity for us, as Mount Olivet members, to remember with
thanksgiving and rededicate for the future.
First we remember those pastors, leaders and members who led
by faith and influenced each of us. We remember the generosity of sharing that made it possible for us
to have facilities and sanctuaries for us to worship in, have fellowship in, to grow spiritually in and to do ministry in
and from, as we, too, live by faith as witnesses of the good news of Jesus Christ.
In the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter, the author tells his audience about all the people who lived by faith as he
listed them from Abraham to David and beyond. He encourages his audiences to keep the faith in Christ by
being inspired by those who have lived and died by faith in Christ. He writes in chapter 12, verse 1, “Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely,
and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…”
Going back into the sanctuary reminds us that
we are surrounded by a great cloud of Mount Olivet witnesses who left us a great heritage of faith in Jesus Christ.
Let us be inspired
by those who kept the faith long before we were born and let us rededicate our lives in faith, looking to Jesus Christ as
our pioneer and Lord so that we can inspire those who have not yet been born.
