© Ali Smith the world of air rights , politics , development , architecture , urban planning and more . The excitement of the Bricks and Mortals model , very much dictated by our own peculiar site in a great neighborhood in a great city , was this blend of sacred and secular partnership and thinking .
G . G .: Why do we need an organization like B + M in our world ?
D . S .: If I say because God delights in bricks and mortals , would that be considered too quip an answer ? I ’ ll start there and become less theological . If the purpose of life is to praise God and to love God forever , as my old friend Calvin thinks , then the way we build and live in buildings is a pleasure to God . Our skins and shells do delight God . We need delight and beauty in our world . That ’ s the first reason .
We also need to organize our delight into systems that self-care , self-govern , and increase what Thich Nhat Hahn calls SOVEREIGNTY . We need to manage ourselves much better than we do . Delaying maintenance is a kind of sin in that it offends the divine . Getting confused about what to do with our skins and shells has a long human history . We are the species that does defile its own nest . So , the organization is crucial . The intention is crucial . The planning and minutes of the board meetings are crucial .
“ Self-care ” has become a kind of clichè . So has “ My house is a mess .” These are not funny matters — that we don ’ t care for ourselves or don ’ t care for our houses . They are very serious consequences of a kind of time famine
which becomes a spiritual famine . We need time feasts , spiritual feasts , and beautiful buildings because these praise God .
G . G .: What can you tell us about the decline of congregational capacities to preserve their buildings ?
D . S .: I personally think the decline is directly related to a lost path in theology . We began to think that taking care of the building was antithetical to taking care of the poor or the homeless . When I went to seminary , my mentors all fought their boards to spend money on the mission budget not the building budget . Likely , there was a previous lost path when congregations overdid their buildings and under did their care of their communities . In fact , I also see that path as diversionary . But whatever happened , there was a kind of neglect of sustainable thought and action . I guess we thought a boiler was going to last forever . It never was going to do that , especially if you neglected annual maintenance . The binary , the split between the building types of trustees and the missional kinds of deacons , didn ’ t help things either . Why didn ’ t we develop a both / and rather than an either / or focus ? How did care of our spiritual homes become politicized ?
G . G .: You often speak of an " Easter Approach " what do you mean by this definition ?
20 SACRED PLACES • FALL / WINTER 2021 / 22