A Wise Old Priest

I went Denmark a few years back, good times, lots of music, lots of history and so many castles. Among all the old sites, the schools we played at, the food we ate and the castles we visited, there was a great guy we met. We stayed at his place, across the road from the very ancient church he was priest of.

Apparently this place was built about 1000 years ago, and we got a personal tour. It held a lot of stories and it must have played witness to so much history. We walked our way through this old building, with a commentary from the ‘wise old priest’ who had a way with words. He told us of the art that had been restored, how it had been painted over and then reclaimed, how certain things had taken centre stage at certain times with the ebs and flows of church life.

On reflection, the entrance was a story in and of it’s self. It was called the armoury, and when built it was designed to be the place where the faithful would leave there swords, daggers, shields and spears. As we stood in that space we could not help but to be drawn to the need for us to ‘disarm’ before we ‘enter in.’ This was a physical space with a physical application, but a space that now speaks to a need in our time.

A wies old priest with a lot of stories let us in on something that is really worth pondering. Do we need an armoury in our churches? Do we individually need a space that allows us to disarm before coming into the presence of God, so we may approach without our defences up? Worth a think!

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