This place is a sanctuary and refuge

In St Mark’s I sit, alone.

It isn’t perfect silence. Perfect silence would be without the interruptions of traffic or someone shouting outside.  But it is in this quiet, lonely space that I pause to take in my surroundings. I drink in its charm and beauty. I wonder at the stained-glass windows and the beautiful architecture. Though my feet are warmed by modern underfloor heating, the renovation cannot drown out the past. Every one of the 200 years that make up its history still remains.

I meditate on that — two hundred years. Two hundred years of worship in this place; that really is something wonderful. Two hundred years of songs, prayers, and sermons, and not one syllable missed by God. Every word spoken has been heard by God; every lyric of praise and every heartfelt prayer — God has heard them all.

For years, the most significant moments in someone’s life were observed in this very building: births, marriages and deaths. A hub and a home, this place was the heartbeat of the community. I marvel in wonder at the many souls who came here to bring their praise to God, the rejoicing and jubilation echoing around these walls. God is worthy.

I wonder how many broken hearts have beaten in this room, how many eyes have wept, and how many people have sat exactly where I am sitting now, bringing a cry of lament. Even so, God is faithful.

This place is a sanctuary and refuge. Its tower, standing tall, calls out in the darkness: “Help is here.” Still today, desperate souls ring the doorbell and plea for mercy. Little do they know that it is not St Mark’s that can help, but God. We offer the best practical help we can and pray.

We pray that the next time they come seeking a light in the darkness, it is not an old church building they stumble across, but Jesus.

In the days before Jesus walked on the earth, God’s people gathered at the Temple. The Temple was more than just a meeting place; it was the very dwelling place of God. Yet, Solomon wisely recognised: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). We recognise that God never was, and never will be, bound by the limitations of walls. If the splendour and glory of Solomon’s Temple was not enough to contain God, how much less can this insignificant building, standing for only 200 years? Yet for those who know it, St Mark’s is temple-like: when it is seen, the faces that behold it are drawn upwards to God Himself.

Plunging deeper into my meditation, I remember something that has been reinforced to me over and over again: “The church is not the building, it’s the people.” It never really was about St Mark’s. We, not buildings, are God’s temple. We are now the very dwelling place of God:

“Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells among you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

I should be lost in awe at this thought, delighting in this truth, but at first I cannot. Instead, my head hangs in shame. I am not worthy. I fail to meet my own expectations of what a temple should be. I don't feel glorious, but broken.

But then I look around again.

I laugh quietly to myself as I take in my surroundings once more. I remember that this building, however God-glorifying it may be, falls short of my expectations of a temple too.

I sit at my desk each day alongside the people who know better than anyone the limitations of this building. There is always something to be fixed; something else has fallen apart. The renovation project is constant and ongoing.

I reflect on the empty years of St Mark’s, when it was left to fall into disrepair. The pigeons had made it their home. Yet, St Mark’s was not abandoned as a place of worship. It was chosen even  in its disrepair and made new again. There is life in the building once more. The pigeons have been evicted, and a fresh wave of Christ-followers have made it their home. St Mark’s continues to glorify God even in its brokenness.

We may not be 200 years old—though after a bad night’s sleep we may feel it—but there are still parts of our lives that have fallen into disrepair. Yet God’s grace is sufficient! Because of God's grace, we glorify God even in our brokenness. We are His renovation project. He is evicting the pigeons from our lives to make way for new life. St Mark’s stands merely as a prophetic testament of our reality.

We, the people, are His glorious temple!

Reminded anew of this marvellous truth, I stand and join the countless others who have stood in this exact spot before me. I lift my hands and praise God.