Trinity Methodist Church held its Topping-Out with the Cross ceremony for the redeveloped church building on July 31, 2004. Below are reflections on the ceremony by a church member. The church is scheduled to move back to its premises this month (November 2004).
IT WAS a damp, drizzly and gloomy morning as we made our way to 34 Serangoon Garden Way. We were directed into the premises by some workers, and tentatively made our way up uneven stairs and wall-less rooms to the third floor. About 30 of us gathered under umbrellas, and under the bemused eyes of the workers and contractors, for the short service to lace the Cross on to the bell tower.
The Rev Dr Isaac Lim, President of Trinity Annual Conference, reminded us that the Cross is central to the life of the disciple, for it is the way into the presence of a holy and righteous God. Therefore, the Cross means discipleship – that as Christians we are to be a holy and righteous people, set apart for God, His purposes and His Kingdom.
The empty Cross is our hope of a resurrected body and eternal life. The Cross is central to the life of the community, because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. The Cross is thus our reason for mission.
Bishop Dr Robert Solomon reminded us that in the Old Testament, fire and rain were symbols of the presence of a holy God among His people; and we chuckled, remembering the day that fire gutted the roof of the sanctuary.
That “disaster” meant that the sanctuary was now being rebuilt at minimum cost to ourselves; perhaps the inconvenience and mess of the rain this morning reminded us that God continues to smile down at us.
The next time most of us will be there, the building will be complete and the furniture and fittings in place. We will probably argue about the use of rooms, we will worship and pray in the sanctuary, the children will run along the new corridors and slam the doors. We will be a living, vibrant community.
We must remember the verses written on the foundations of the buildings, and the Cross on the bell tower. We are to be a people whose lives are built on the Word of God, and shaped and formed by the Cross.
Kwa Kiem Kiok, a member of Trinity Methodist Church, is on sabbatical at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, the United States. This article was first published in the October issue of Trinity Methodist Church’s newsletter Saltshaker.
POWER OF GOD
‘1 Corinthians 1:18 ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.’ 1 Corinthians 1:23-24: ‘but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.’