Church Windows

the oracle of one who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, but with his eyes uncovered:    Numbers 24:15c-16

For most of the history of Christianity church windows have offered an enhancement –if not a diversion for people at worship. Be it stained glad images depicting important stories from the Bible or transparent panes windows tell us about our surroundings beyond that which is simply nearby.

Recently I attended a funeral for a fellow pastor. Sitting at the end of a pew, my eyes naturally went looking outside. The sun was shining, leaves were blowing in the trees. The sadness of the event was tempered by the beauty outside.

There are literal windows and then there are windows in the abstract sense. Abstractly speaking, we use windows for how we perceive what is happening around us, as in our frame of reference. We use “windows” to take-in our world. These are lenses through which we see things.  Most of the time we pay little notice to our windows, but they influence how we see. For example, some see their workplace through the window of competition, a dog-eat-dog world.  Others might see that same setting through the window of collaboration, people working together toward a common cause.

We need windows.  Having no frame would be overwhelming for most people, windows give us a filter. But having too narrow a frame limits possibilities. If I see my world only through the window of dollars and cents, I’d miss out on a lot of experiences and opportunities.

So it is with church. We use windows to see things, to understand our congregation. Recently I came across a book* that talks about church windows and wanted to show you a graph based on its information.  This information speaks well to some of our assumptions about church windows. Below, you will see a given window with a corresponding Biblical worldview and an opposing worldview.

 

WINDOW	BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW	OPPOSING WORLDVIEW
The Window of Purpose	The main purpose of Christians is to make disciples.	The main purpose of Christians in the church is to provide a place of fellowship and share God’s love with each other
The Window of Comfort	God is more interested in your character than your comfort.	You want comfort at all costs.
The Window of Image	You are to go to the world.	You expect the world to come to you.
The Window of Stewardship	You give back from God’s blessings.	You give to the church budget.
The Window of Attitude	You know God can	You believe God can’t

As you can see, we often gravitate to an opposing worldview instead of the Biblical worldview.  Scripture challenges us to see the world beyond our own tendencies and assumptions! God refuses to leave us alone in our assumptions and wants to open up our windows.  It is comfortable to have a narrow, challenge-free view of our surroundings, but God’s scope is so much bigger than ours, and scripture conveys this. Christ is always expanding our view, making sure it encompasses him and his commitment to saving the lost.

How are your windows? Do they need expanding? A spring cleaning? Believing is seeing more than seeing is believing.  God’s windows are reason for gratitude.

Once blind but now I see,

Pastor Jason Talsness

 

*Discover Your Windows by Kent. R. Hunter