A metaphor is “a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, esp. something abstract.” At the Red Brick Church, we like to use our building as a metaphor for how our lives are mortared together: “God makes Bricks with a Building in Mind.” 1 Peter 2:5 tells us that Christians are “living stones.” Strictly speaking, you don’t have to be in a local church to be a Christian. But if you are a Christian, then you are a brick. And God makes “bricks” with a building in mind. You can read more here.

We are going to keep the “bricks” metaphor. But we have a new metaphor to add to our story. This one is “a ramp for community access.”

This Fall our church added an accessibility ramp. For the first time in our 150 year history, our church is handicap accessible without being required to use a lift.This is how it started.

And this is what it looked like when we were finished.

As a metaphor, the new accessibility ramp represents many things:

1. We are committed to reaching out to people of all ages in our community. We have no interest in being an “in-grown” church. No hiding our light under a bushel.
2. We are not going to coast on the accomplishments of our predecessors. We are thankful for our building. But in recent years we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to update our parking lot, electrical system, and expand our space. Because God has provided, we now own 5 houses adjacent to our church . . . exciting possibilities for continuing to make a difference for Christ.
3. We are going to persevere.  Our church started working on the accessibility project long before most of us were around. Various proposals were rejected. Finally, after decades, it came to fruition.
4. We are going to do things with an excellence consistent with the gospel. Concrete, rebar, and lots of it. This ramp is more highly reinforced than the nuclear plant. And it looks nice too.