Ever since George Bolton Lownes of Springfield built a Quaker style meeting house in 1832, it’s been both landmark and beacon. It’s a landmark because it is the oldest structure on a long stretch of Baltimore Pike, the southbound thoroughfare out of Philadelphia.
It’s a beacon because the deed of trust filed at Delaware County Court forever fixed the property’s purpose, namely to provide a location from which to proclaim the Gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s Son for sinners, according to the Scriptures.
But despite the noble intentions of its founder, the building fell into disuse and eventual disrepair, vacant for nearly a century. It wasn’t until a Bible study group in Swarthmore outgrew a living room that the humble meeting house began regularly to experience the warmth of Christian love and host the radiant light once envisioned for it.
The little house had become a home, and still is our home, but we can learn a great deal from that walk down memory lane. God’s people are the Church, wherever, whenever they meet or are not meeting. Though its buildings today are unoccupied, The Blue Church is alive and well.
Peter reminded some dislocated first century believers of how they themselves are God’s building: “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5
So when someone asks, “When is your church reopening?” a good answer might be, “Well, actually, our church never closed.”
“Father, we ask for a fresh vision of our church as Your spiritual family, and we thank you for the many ongoing expressions of our shared love, even while we are not sharing the same space. Amen.”