Look up!

Ceilings are often very ordinary affairs -- popcorn and acoustical tile.  We have little reason to look up and nothing to behold if and when we do.  But that was not the case with churches.  Once there was not only a reason but a blessing in looking up.  The mere fact that modern church ceilings are more often nothing to see only echoes the attention we give almost exclusively to ourselves.  Looking up means looking away from us, from the things of this life, and, in simple gesture, beholding the things of God.  I wish that we thought about this more and gave our people something to see.

Stenciling and stained glass both draw the eye away from the person and to the God of their salvation.  It might seem an extravagant expense but it is certainly cost worthy if our people have their attention lifted from the things that would consume to the God who gives us life.

The world is always looking down, into yourself, your feelings, your aspirations, your wants.  It points you down to the base desires as the things that are the most authentic you.  It insists upon the cover of honesty to bring you down with all that is brutal, hard, vulgar, and real in this life.  It has replaced the permanent with the temporary, the digital work of the imagination with the real work of hands, and truth with lies.  Stop looking down.  Look up.  Look to the steadfast and enduring love of God that made all things even when He knew that it would go bad, rescued and redeemed His fallen creation not with silver or gold but with the sufferings and death of His Son, the righteous for the unrighteous, and preserves us within the grace of forgiveness by the means of grace.  This Word and Sacraments urge us to look up with joy to the God of our salvation and hope amid despair, darkness, and even death.  

It is time that we paid attention to the ceilings or they will become merely a roof to keep things out instead of a means of drawing our attention through every barrier and to eternal life through Christ our Lord.