Cleaning Out the Church Attic

My attic got out of hand two decades ago. With the arrival of cool fall weather, I decided the moment had come. It was daunting. 25 years of various stages in the lives of three people stored for a rainy day that might never come. I decided to give it an hour, first thing every morning.

A few months ago, I (and the rest of Redeemer) took on the task of cleaning out the home of a deceased pastor. The home was well-lived in and filled with books and papers, music and recordings.  It was easily ten times the amount of stuff in my attic. But the things were not mine. Although, I frequently came across things of interest it was not particularly painful to part with any of them. Still, I think the family of the pastor was glad that we were handling their family’s things with sensitivity.

But now I am sifting through things that were at one time cherished or valued by people that I am close to. Here’s what I learned.

• Ephemeral Value:
• A lot of things that seem important just don’t matter. A crate of “hamburger” toys. Out!
• Value in the forgotten. Last summer I wanted a pair of navy blue slacks. Navy blue is not currently “in.” I found three pairs that I had forgotten I owned. I also learned that I will always like navy blue whether or not it is trendy!
• Records. I carefully stored financial records in boxes. They mean nothing today. But I kept photos and things that might be helpful to my our son or step-grandchildren.
• Memories. Many things have value in memory only, but still they have value. I bagged lots of little boy shorts and hoodies for giveaway, but I set aside an infant’s snowsuit given to me at the birth of our son by a highschool girlfriend with whom I still talk every week or so. I also kept the last Christmas gift I had given my husband before he died.
• Some trends have value; others, not so much: I decided to toss the trendy toys — Power Rangers, etc. and keep the classics. Monopoly, Checkers, Picture Puzzles. There may be grandchildren some day!
• New purposes for old things. I have ten bankers boxes of children’s books. I pulled out the favorites long ago—the books about dogs. But what do I do with the rest? I saw a photo on the internet that sparked an idea. It will take some work. But I’ll hang on to them a bit longer.

One of the goals for cleaning the attic was to make room for the new—new uses for the space or new space for new, old stuff? I’m not quite sure. But knowing that the space is available is a big step.

What does this have to do with church?

A lot of churches are one big attic—one big box of bricks and mortar holding the past and memories of the past and perhaps the spark of a future. They need to be cleaned thoroughly every twenty years or so. It’s one way to reevaluate your history and plan your future.

• There are things and ideas that live within our boxes of bricks and mortar that will never be used again.
• There are things of value that we’ve forgotten about.
• History can be valuable but not everything is as important as we think it is at the time.
• There are things that are carefully cherished for no other reason than the memories attached to them. Some should be kept — just because. Some can be tossed.
• Churches go through trends and fads. You might find unused hymnals, kneelers, or altarware. These might point you to the thinking behind these items. Decide what’s worth keeping and what is taking up space.
• There are old things that we might think have no use but are waiting for the spark of creativity to bring them back to life.

It might be a good idea to periodically walk through your church and consider it your attic. What is no longer useful? What was never useful? What can be repurposed? What is classic and will always have potential value? Don’t limit yourself to physical things. Examine the ideas attached to the physical things. What is taking up room that new ideas could occupy? The last lesson I learned:

The longer you wait the more difficult the task.

photo credit: 55Laney69 via photopin cc