Kansas??

I am a church secretary. A church is a place that usually houses a sanctuary, a place for fellowship, and often times a smaller sanctuary called a chapel. I used to work in a place that met all of that but over the last few days, when I've entered the building, it just hasn't felt like Kansas anymore.

Midweek of last, I was booking down the hall to visit the Business Administrator's office and as I rounded the corner, I glanced into the Chapel,but the baby cute Chapel was gone. My gasp echoed back to me, bounced off of the vacant walls and floor. The room was empty. Aliens had clearly abducted the pews. The sacred room was pewless. On that day, in that moment, I assumed I was hallucinating. I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the change, but it didn't appear so, so I cautiously entered the foreign space. I stood in the middle of the room and closed my eyes. The spirits of days gone by were clearly present. Memories of weddings and baptisms whispered past me. In a matter of seconds I was surrounded, encased by years and years of the essence of history. The room was full. When I opened my eyes, the sense of all that evaporated. The chapel was a different space.

Friday, I thought I had lost more of my mind, (there is not much left to spare) and so I retraced my steps to the car, keeping my eyes glued to the pavement in search of mind. None found. I headed for the kitchen, and cut through the Fellowship Hall to get there. I crawled over soundboards and flat screens; scooted between black boxes and tripped over cords snaking about the area. Where did the Fellowship Hall go? What happened to tables and chairs? What??


Today, I wondered if we were going to be on an upcoming episode of "Flip This or That House". I entered the building and ran slam into long, slender open casket-like boxes,stacked 6 feet high in the Lobby. The sanctuary doors were open, and the carpet was gone. So were half the pews- some sat disassembled , others waiting their turn. The organ had been silenced by an ongoing tonsillectomy in full swing. There were strangers at work. The figures in the stained glass look worried. Would they be next?

I used to work in a church. Right now, I work in a place that is called a church, except it has no sanctuary, no chapel and no fellowship hall. We're not in Kansas anymore.