When the Roof Collapses

Scripture: Matthew 28:2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Observation: This big event opened up many perspectives.

Application: Just this morning I learned that a high school auditorium roof collapsed in Hawaii. The event is personally significant because I have been in that particular high school auditorium for, of all things, worship. Yes, for the last 17+ years that auditorium has been the worshipping home for New Hope Church, led by Pastor Wayne Cordeiro. I spent a week there some years ago for as part of New Hope’s Leadership Practicum Event. I still have the t-shirt that event participants received and I just wore it sometime last week. So, yes, that place brings back memories.

Thankfully no one was in the auditorium when the roof collapsed. Had the event happened a few hours later, there would have been a few hundred students in there. Had the event happened 26 hours later, over 1000 worshippers would have been in there.

But here’s the thing…the pastor and people of New Hope will see this roof collapse as opportunity for a whole new future. It’s as if an angel of the Lord is sitting on one of the remaining rafters declaring that the presence and work of God has moved on from that place and is waiting for the rest of them to catch up. It’s as if that place where so much substantial ministry over the years had occured was starting to be a tomb-like limiting factor and needed to be opened up.

Of course, I could be reading too much into this event. There was a lot of rain in a short period of time and the drains just couldn’t keep up and the roof finally gave in. I get that. Nor am I theologically deterministic in my thinking and inclined to think that God deliberately caused the roof to collapse. Rather, I’m of the firm conviction that regardless of how sentimentally or matter-o-factly we view this event, there are connections a-plenty for a whole new world to open up for the people of New Hope and for all who walk by faith and not by sight.

Prayer: Lord, I give thanks that no one was hurt and for how this event does offer substantial opportunity for reflection and moves toward the future of your own calling. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Matthew 28 and 1 Thessalonians 1-3)