There was a time in my life when I attended quite a few meetings held at the place of the national setting of our denomination. I was one of a cohort of church educators who served as educational consultants to the church. At that time, I was also contributing to a couple of different educational curricula that were developed. I was working full-time as pastor of a church and the trips to the church’s national sewing often represented a bit of extra time and effort that helped keep the work of the church in my local setting and the work of the church in its national setting closely related.

I often followed the lead of others who served the church in its national setting and called the place where our church gathered for its national structure “church house.” When we referred to church house we were talking about the old Ohio Bell building, a 9-story office building that had a walk-through connection to a hotel that was also owned by the denomination. We would fly into Cleveland airport and depending on the time of day and a few other variables, would either take a taxi or ride the train from the airport to downtown Cleveland. I became familiar and comfortable with the trip.

In those days the United Church of Christ had a large rented warehouse, closer to the airport, from which resources were shipped to local churches. We would visit the warehouse and marvel at the giant shelves filled with books, curricula, identity clothing, and other items available for purchase.

Much has changed since those days. The national setting of our church is much smaller with many fewer employees than used to be the case. We noticed when the cut backs in staff began. Over time there were entire sections of church house that were vacant. The warehouse was closed and the remaining resources were moved into the basement of church house.
The various ministries of the church were moved around within church house and it seemed like each time I visited, I had to do a bit of learning about where the various people I knew worked.

One of the results of the many cutbacks that came from the decrease of budget in the church’s national work was the elimination of the educational consultants programs. With less money to spend there were fewer programs that delivered resources to local churches.

Towards the end of my career as a full-time pastor, I made fewer and fewer trips to Cleveland.

Being back in Cleveland is very different than my experience all of those years ago. Yesterday during a break in our work, I phoned home and tried to explain how things have changed to Susan. In the time when I was making a lot of trips to Cleveland, church house felt very much like one of the important places in my faith journey. I would go to church house and spend time meditating in the Amistad Chapel. I was even invited to preach and lead worship in that space on a few occasions. The building, though extensively remodeled to accommodate the switch from the corporate headquarters of a telecommunications business to the national setting of the church, always had a kind of well-worn and much-loved feel to it. There was old infrastructure in the building. There were places that would have benefitted from a bit of paint. It seemed a bit old and tired and familiar.

One thing that struck me about my visit to church house yesterday is how the place where our the leaders of our church in its national setting meet seems so very modern and high tech. The meeting room where we were doing our work has glass panels on the walls. At one point we were looking at a set of slides and there were five different displays showing the material. The presenter’s laptop computer was controlling the displays through a wireless connection. The tables around which we sat had panels that opened up to reveal plugins an USB ports for charging computers. The technology worked. When it was time for our lunch, we looked at a menu on a computer and placed our orders which arrived in about a half hour having been delivered by Door Dash to our meeting room. There is a large room for worship that is still called Amistad Chapel, but this chapel doesn’t have the wall of windows right on the street of downtown Cleveland. There are things that I recognize, but there is much that is new.

During a break I wandered around church house for a while, still familiarizing myself with the space. I found offices with doors closed and there didn’t seem to be too many people circulating around the building. Those not involved in our meetings were rarely seen. It just felt very different than the mood of the old building.

There is no point in becoming nostalgic for the way things used to be. The past is not going to come back. The way the church is working in these times is different than it used to be. The people who are doing the work is different. And the place is different. I know that there were a lot of things that didn’t work well in the old setting. I know that the realities of church finance mean that the way we were sharing ministry in the national setting was unsustainable. The good old days weren’t all that good. And no one is served by an old man who can say a lot about the way things used to be. There are new leaders and the church that is being served is much different than the way we used to be.

Still, I am glad that I can remember. I am glad that I was able to serve the church in that very different time. And I have the privilege of having a small part in some of the work that is now being done to prepare resources and support for congregations in this time and into the future.

It is another reminder of the reality of my mortality. The church continues to journey. New leaders emerge. Familiar voices become silent. Decisions take the church in new directions.

I don’t know when or if I ever will be back working in the church’s national setting. Over the next two years much of the work that we will be doing will be conducted remotely though there may be a few more opportunities to gather together at church house. I’ll probably learn to navigate the new building with its new elevators and new security protocols. I may even become a bit more home in the ultra-modern high-tech meeting rooms. Make no mistake, however, I am slowly fading along with the old ways. I belong to the past even as I invest in the future. New people will soon take my place.

The letter to the Corinthians declares that “faith, hope, and love abide.” Our investments of faith, hope and love will continue to be a part of the church long beyond the time when our lives have reached their conclusion. And someday someone will come to the church’s national setting and remember the work we did these days and see it as part of the history of the church. As the old song goes, “The church is not a building. The church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is a people.” May our people continue to live out the gospel in new ways and new places for years to come.