We gather here today in prayer, one year since fire ravaged St. John the Baptist Church and five months since the collapse of the west wall December 29th, that led to the demolition of St. John Church.
Many of us can recall that fateful day in May, standing here in the parking lot and elsewhere around the church, watching fire rage across the roof top, flames breaking through the steeple and the billowing black smoke overshadowing the church. Many of us were overwhelmed with emotions, disbelief and shock, fearing the unknown and the worse, lamenting our loss and reverencing our past with memories, memories of joyful celebrations - baptisms, first communion, confirmation and wedding days; memories of healing and peace - reconciliation, prayer services for healing and anointing of the sick; and memories of sorrow and loss - mourning loved ones and celebrating lives.
Over the next six months we watched and wondered, as precious items were recovered from the ashes and over 200 tons of debris were removed. Smaller items were retrieved first, candlesticks and chalices, vestments and the tabernacle, and then larger items including statues, windows, organ pipes and beautiful wood work. The church became dormant as snow began to fall, but that was shattered December 29th as strong winds brought down the west wall. Once again, our hearts turned to the heavens, this time to watch the rest of the steeple and the church brought down. Since then, the church has been razed and another 191 truck loads of bricks, stones and debris have been removed.
It has been a year of loss and letting go, reminiscing and reverencing, and now healing and hope. When Jesus appeared to the disciples after rising from the dead, he was glorious in appearance, yet still bearing the scars of death that had been transformed into sacred wounds. What seemed the end was now new life.
It has been a year of loss and letting go, reminiscing and reverencing, and now healing and hope. When Jesus appeared to the disciples after rising from the dead, he was glorious in appearance, yet still bearing the scars of death that had been transformed into sacred wounds. What seemed the end was now new life.
St. Paul tells the Ephesians and us that we are “no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a sacred temple in the lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
St. John the Baptist Church was more than bricks and mortar, it was a dwelling place of God built of living stones, our ancestors in faith and now us, the people of St. John Parish. Our wounds too are being transformed, becoming sacred wounds, and now signs of hope and promise for the future.
We pray that the process of designing and rebuilding St. John the Baptist Church may strengthen our faith and remind us that we are building more than brick and mortar, a sanctuary of love, hope and worship that is pleasing to God.
St. John the Baptist Church was more than bricks and mortar, it was a dwelling place of God built of living stones, our ancestors in faith and now us, the people of St. John Parish. Our wounds too are being transformed, becoming sacred wounds, and now signs of hope and promise for the future.
We pray that the process of designing and rebuilding St. John the Baptist Church may strengthen our faith and remind us that we are building more than brick and mortar, a sanctuary of love, hope and worship that is pleasing to God.
- Fr. Ken Schnipke, C.PP.S, Christ Our Light Family of Parishes
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