Ground Breaking

We're breaking ground for our new church on August 19th of 2007.

Here's the backstory. Our church, the Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ in Waukesha, Wisconsin, burned to the ground December 4th of 2005. A Sunday night it was. About 10:15 or so. Or at least that's when I got the call from a church member who said, "Our church is burning... I mean, it's really burning." I was not yet undressed for bed, so I rushed out the door. It was a bitter cold night and I was not altogether prepared for the cold. It was a horrible night and the cause of the fire would not be revealed for some weeks.

It was finally, a carelessness on our part. We left candles burning on the communion table after a funeral in the afternoon. It had been a long day. Worship for the second Sunday of Advent at 9 a.m. then a funeral for a dear woman at 4 in the afternoon. We had a marvelous meal with her family following the service and no one went up to check to see whether or not the candles on the table had been extinguished. They weren't.

Then the youth group met at 6 p.m. and we left at 7:45. The fire had been in its infancy at that point, but there were no hard-wired smoke alarms that would have warned the youth group that a fire was in the making. We all went home.

Then the call at 10:15 and the long night of running from one fire command post to another began.

But just now we are breaking ground.