Down to the Chapel to Pray

Several weeks ago I was in the chapel for a time of prayer with the BVS Team. We try to take time every morning for prayer. We'll read a scripture and have five minutes of silence and conclude with a prayer. It was during one of these sessions that I found myself paying particular interest in the walls that create the chapel at the Church of the Brethren offices. It is an amazing design. One that I have never seen before. And it's probably one of my favorite places to worship that isn't outside.

You walk into an oblong room where the walls are made entirely out of varying kinds of stone. Sporadically placed throughout the wall are a dozen or more miniature stained glass windows. It is absolutely beautiful. The colors in the stained glass are so incredibly rich and bright and amazing. I could look at them for hours. Then in the front of the chapel, there is a hanging wooden cross underneath a skylight. It's a great space.

So this morning during prayer time I focused almost the entire time on the space I was in. And wondered how it came to be. I usually have a very short attention span. My mind tends to wander a great deal during those five minutes. Everything from work I need to do, to friends I'd like to be in touch with or what I'm planning on eating for lunch. Not exactly a prayerful time. But this morning I couldn't stop thinking about these walls, these stone, the glass. The time and energy and sweat that would have gone into putting each stone into place and slowly building the wall. They tell me that the men who constructed the walls learned their trade in Sicily, Italy. You know that many hands were used in the making of something as exquisite as this room.

I am incredibly thankful for those who worked so hard to create our chapel at the offices. For me it truly is a place of worship. When the room is filled with harmonizing voices during a Wednesday morning chapel service. Or when I need a few minutes alone to collect my thoughts it is a great place to go.

Many mornings I find myself not wanting to go pray, but then I get there and it's good. Great even. I often wonder why this is and I don't know the answer to that. But I am glad it's something that we do together as a team. In a place where we each work every day to minister to others, it's very important to take the time to minister to ourselves and support one another. Very important indeed.