Today, when this is distributed, we will be on our way to the West Virginia mountains to enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation. On the way we intend to stop off at the Shenandoah Valley Museum in Winchester, VA to enjoy a whimsical outdoor art exhibit of Lego Constructions. According to their promotion we will see a large Monarch butterfly, a polar bear, a tiger, a hummingbird feeding on a flower, a zebra and a whooping crane among other designs.
I think of those years for our children when Legos were the focus of attention (except when trying to pick up all those little pieces from the floor). Imagination was engaged in tiny little building blocks that connected with one another. Not a bad image for building the kingdom of heaven on earth, step by step, action by action.
The Rev. Purd E. Dietz was raised in Zion Reformed Church in York, PA. He entered the ministry and served what are now UCC churches in Philadelphia and Dayton as well as serving in Eden Seminary. He composed the hymn “We Would Be Building” for a Youth Conference he was organizing.
1. We would be building; temples still undone
O’er crumbling walls their crosses scarcely lift;
Waiting till love can raise the broken stone,
And hearts creative bridge the human rift;
We would be building,
Master, let Thy plan
Reveal the life that God would give to man.
2. Teach us to build; upon the solid rock
We set the dream that hardens into deed,
Ribbed with the steel that time and change doth mock,
Th’un failing purpose of our noblest creed;
Teach us to build;
O Master, lend us slight
To see the towers gleaming in the light.
3. O keep us building, Master; may our hands
Ne’er falter when the dream is in our hearts,
When to our ears there come divine commands
And all the pride of sinful will departs;
We build with Thee,
O grant enduring worth
Until the heavenly Kingdom comes on earth.
Colorful block by colorful block – connecting to one another in a common goal – to build with God the place of justice and peace and hope for all people.
Rev. Clara
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