With the completion of our new ministry building comes a new possibility for clarity in our worship life at Christ the King Lutheran Church. There has been a small but significant contradiction at the entrance to the nave. First, there is our tradition that we are silent in the nave prior to worship. We have sought to maintain the sacredness of the space in which we worship. God is holy (wholly other). The altar is the place of the sacramental encounter with the crucified and risen Lord. We treat that space reverently by not walking through it or, for that matter, very near to it. This is why the whole nave is for us a place set aside for the encounter with God who engages us in Word and Sacrament.
But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! (Habakkuk 2:20)
Second, we have cultivated a tradition that we are a hospitable congregation. We are relational even as we understand the triune God to be the essence of relationality. We accept the biblical imperative to welcome the "outsider" and to make him or her welcomed in our midst.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)
Quiet reverence and hospitality have been difficult to achieve under past conditions. When people enter the nave, they hear a choir rehearsing. There is the possibility of seeing a pastor or worship enablers walking through in order to prepare for the liturgy. Then there can be the voice of an usher welcoming worshipers. Our ushers have long labored under the contradiction of "Be silent, Be welcoming!"
Soon we will have the following amenities: First, the new music suite will allow the Church Choir and Chorus to rehearse outside of the nave. Second, pastors and worship enablers will have a new vesting sacristy in the basement. Third, the new narthex will allow ushers to greet worshipers as they enter the narthex. Worshipers may greet one another without disturbing persons already present in the nave. Members can explain aspects of our liturgy to visitors before they enter the nave. The nave will be secure as a place of prayer and preparation.
Dividing the nave from the new narthex are doors painted bright red. These doors demarcate the sacred space of the nave from the more sociable space of the new narthex. The tradition of the red doors is old even if it is vague. Three motifs are prominent. Red signifies the blood of Christ which further refers to the life he gave up so that we may live. In the medieval period red doors designated the nave as a place of sanctuary from evil and from violence. Soldiers or those seeking revenge were prohibited from pursuing their enemies in a church. Some Lutherans believe that the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg were red. It was on these doors that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses. Red doors, therefore, indicate that a congregation is a part of the church of the Reformation.
We can live quite well with all these motifs. It is the merit of Christ Jesus in whom we take refuge when we enter the nave. The nave is a place of peace brought about through the reconciling power of forgiveness. The nave is a sanctuary from all that would pursue us in this world. Maybe we do not worry about violent persecution now. We do need refuge within this world. We are a congregation in a church of the Reformation. It is in the nave that we hear the preaching, music, and liturgy of our tradition.
A new building does not eliminate the tension between hospitality and reverence. That tension is never completely resolved. Greeting a stranger or fellow member in the narthex is as much a part of reverence as exchanging the peace in the nave is a part of hospitality. Silence and mystery belong to cordiality and relationship. They cover the whole range of what is demanded of us and given to us in Christian worship. The new narthex simply helps us live creatively in the polarity of centeredness and participation.