By Dr. Steve Phifer

Now it is all gone.  Those lines on paper grew into a beautiful, functional, Sacred Space, a place of Truth and Beauty and now that stage and house of worship, Word, and witness are gone.  The how and why this has happened is not as important as the fact that this Sacred Space, blessed by the Lord to change countless lives, has been broken and spilled out. Like Mary’s Alabaster Jar, it has been crushed.  The ointment in that container was valuable, so Judas lodged a protest and received a stinging rebuke from the Lord. “Leave her alone!”

More importantly, Mary achieved an eloquent set of commendations.

• “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
• “She has done what she could.”
• “Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” ¹

I’ll take Mary’s case every time!

Let us choose gratitude over grief.

Our broken hearts will not be healed by blame and accusation.  Let us listen for the Lord’s approval of what we did as ministry to the Lord.  I believe the Lord has sweet and healing commendations for us. Do we sense His pleasure in our work and sacrifice for His Kingdom.  Listen in your heart for the Lord’s voice.

“You have done a beautiful thing to me! You did what you could. You lived and moved and had your being in my presence and in my will to tell my story, to come before my presence, to repent and change this city. I tell you this: The gospel you preached in this building is still yours to preach.  The world has been blessed by your touch. Don’t fold your hands away now. Find a new stage upon which to worship and from which to tell my story.”

So, an earthly building has fallen. It happened to Solomon’s Temple and all its replacements. It is the way of the earth, of things built here below. There are higher things, heavenly things, unapproachable by storms of time or acts of violence, resting firmly on higher, heavenly hills, on Christ Himself, the Solid Rock. Only there at those heights does our affection belong. In gratitude, let us reach for the spiritual thermostat and amplify our love for the Lord and His Kingdom.  Sacred Space here on earth is strong and joyful but temporary, serving only as a meeting place, a shadow of the heavenly, like the vision of Heaven Moses saw on the mountain.

“You are the building!”

The Apostle Paul was a great man, but what a strange thing to say! At this moment he speaks to us again.

1 Corinthians 3:8-10 NKJV

Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

Since the days of the Patriarchs when men built altars for the purpose of ministering to the Lord and through the years with the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, the True Worship of the Lord has been a portable reality. Even when a building is constructed for worship like Solomon’s Temple, it eventually falls to the powerful gravity of apostacy.  Today, True Worship is portable; it must be because the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is on the move as the Gospel is preached throughout the world.  One day we will enjoy a New Heaven and Earth and a permanent Sacred Space.  Until the Lord’s return, we will build Sacred Spaces in which we worship but each building is susceptible to the relentless pull of time that eventually will win the battle. Until then, we must move on as the Spirit leads.

We are the building!

New Testament makes it clear.  When the years of decline did their worst and the earthly structure fell into disuse and then destruction, believers whose lives were changed fled to other earthly buildings and are now in leadership all over this city.  Those who remained at “Winston-Salem First” went on to a different Sacred Space and are on the move again.  I had the privilege of worshiping with them just a few weeks back.  It felt so much like the days of sacrifice decades before. The new pastoral team has created another Sacred Space and the real church—the people!—have occupied and are touching this city again.  Thanks to Pastor Allen Griffin and his staff, lay leaders will meet you there as will the presence of the Lord for it is a Sacred Space. Go online here: www.wsfirst.com

Allow me one final testimony:

One morning all those years ago, I was leading worship on the stage of that sanctuary.  The wonderful choir and orchestra were in place behind and around me as the presence of the Lord settled into the sanctuary built for that purpose.  I finished the last song I had prepared and stepped back upstage to stand between the organ and the grand piano.  It was one of those times when the Lord kept moving when I was done leading—I loved that! It wasn’t about me! The next staff pastor went to the pulpit, but he let the worship continue.  The Lord was moving gently and powerfully among us.  As often happened, I felt the Lord impress a scripture on my heart.

Colossians 3:2 KJV

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

It felt like a warning of some kind. I began to take an inventory of my heart and its affections.  I loved God and I loved worshiping Him with music. I loved our choir and orchestra; we had worked hard to build the stage that now was our ministry platform. It was no longer lines on paper. We told the Jesus Story on that stage! We built it for that purpose.  I loved my pastor and was grateful for the many opportunities he had afforded me to fulfill the call of God on my life. I loved the pastoral and administrative leaders I was teamed with. I loved music and never ceased to be amazed at its power to soften hearts, tell stories, release thanksgiving, and express adoration. And I loved that room with 2000+ worshipers so focused on giving the Lord the glory due His name. By that time, I had taught hundreds of them in a Sunday school class about worship. They knew what I was doing and what they were doing. It was not hard to lead them in worship. My interior inventory revealed no selfish motives, no need for repentance. Still the Word from the Lord remained a focus in my heart.

“Set your affection on things above.”

I looked up the word “set.”² It meant to “adjust” your affections, the way we adjust a thermostat. I guessed the Lord was calling on me to turn the heat up on my affections for “things above.”   Many years would pass before I realized the gift of grace the Lord had given me in that moment.

Decades later, infrequent updates on the decline of First Assembly in Winston-Salem were increasing. I finally heard that the building had been sold to Wake Forest University, just across the street from the church. I knew that Wake did not have a functional theatre for their productions, so I thought maybe they would use it that way.  I looked forward to the moment in the remodeling of the theatre when someone tore up the carpet and found scriptures written all over the concrete—one last witness for the Lord.  I soon learned the building had not been maintained and would be demolished.  The pain was deep, and tears were about to flow.

Then, I remembered that moment and that verse: “Set your affection on things above…”

As I mused on this, I realized that as wonderful as that building was, it was not “above.”  It was a Sacred Space to be sure, but that meant it brought things from “above” down here to us. As useful and beautiful as it was, it was still made of earth and thus bound for destruction, like Mary’s Alabaster Jar.  As costly as it was in terms of money, sacrifice, human effort, prayer focus, and the precious binding of hearts together through the Worship Arts, it was still composed of earthly and therefore decomposing things.  It was not located above and therefore was not the proper place to deposit my deepest affection.

My affection collection was still above, still deserving of my deepest affection.  With tears I consulted my soul-thermostat and set my affection higher and higher, to a secure setting where moth and rust cannot destroy and where thieves never break in and steal. I will store my heart’s  treasures in heaven. For where my treasure is, there my heart will be also.³ There are no spiritual implements of destruction that can reach the things my brothers and sisters, these “Called-Out Ones,” have built and continue to build to tell the Lord’s story, and sound His praise, and reflect His glory with their lives of integrity and truth. Because confessions of praise and worship are prayers, they have all been and will continue to be collected in shining, golden books before the Throne of God and of the Lamb.⁴

The Days of Destruction

By a strange set of events, I happened to be in Winston-Salem when the time for destruction came, stranded there with our daughter and husband because of a fall Freeda had and the subsequent surgery on a broken hip.  Why should I be a witness to this?  From lines on paper, to gradual construction, to glorious ministry, to successful leaders who came after me, why should I be there to witness that horrible brown fence with which they circled that structure? But I discovered that my highest affections were not seated anywhere close by, down here.  The pain is great, but it is bearable.

Gratitude

Gratitude is a form of thanksgiving and thanksgiving is the gateway to the Lord’s presence.⁵   So when we think of that building and of those years, let’s do so with gratitude in our hearts. It’s like giving Jesus a seat nearby so He can enjoy our memories with us. I suggest making a list of things for which we are grateful and writing them down as part of our daily prayers.

I’ll start. I am grateful for:

• The Celebration Chorus and Orchestra, a most amazing ensemble and a pleasure to plan and arrange and conduct. I am grateful for the songs the Lord gave me in Winston-Salem.
• Carolina Christians Arts—how wonderful to see the entire creative community in a church touch a city with truth and beauty through all the worship arts.
• “Behold Him!—The Jesus Story,” The Jesus Story Cycle concept: Part One at Christmas, “The Coming of the King,” Part Two at Easter, “Behold Him—The Carpenter’s Crown.” I have written 4 more complete cycles of Christmas/Easter musical plays on the form I first used here. Two Cycles are for larger churches and two using one-act plays for smaller teams.
• “Worship that Pleases God—The Passion and Reason of True Worship,” first as a 6-part Seminar, then a 13-week Sunday School Class, and finally my first book was researched and written in that building. I now have 7 books in print and others in waiting. I have written 2 complete years of daily devotions found at PathofLifeDevotions.com and I publish articles and essays on worship and other spiritual issues of life at www.StevePhifer.com.
• Friends for life. Ministering through the arts binds hearts together with deep, deep ties. So, people from those 9 years are truly like family to Freeda and me. Our daughters consider Winston-Salem their hometown, so we hope to visit and keep our precious friendships alive.  Nicole and Matt are on staff at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
• Our biblical but innovative Worship Arts Ministries became the structure of 10 years of Worship Arts pastoral leadership at two other churches, Suncoast Church in St. Petersburg, FL and Word of Life International Church in Springfield, VA.
• I guess I had better stop.

Your turn now.  Make your list.  How did the Lord bless you during the years described in this post? If we review these realities with gratitude, our thanksgiving will take us through gates to the Throne of God and of the Lamb where we will find the Healing Stream.  Enter in.

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Dr. Steve Phifer has been in full-time worship ministry serving in several churches across the U.S. since 1975. The driving force behind Steven Phifer Ministries (www.stevephifer.com) is to share the heart of worship, the very essence of being in God’s presence. © by Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved Used by Permission