There's Always a Remnant
There is always a remnant.
The world was struck with horror last year when the Notre Dame Cathedral fell victim to fire during one of the most holy weeks of the year in Christendom. One person said it was like watching the heart of France burn. On the news coverage, many just stared in stunned silence as the flames engulfed the iconic 850-year-old cathedral.
I was shocked at the number of people in my news feeds (social media) jostled by the Notre Dame fire. Individuals, who are far from religious, recalled their experiences sitting between the walls of the famed cathedral and encountering the presence and weight of something spiritual or other-worldly.
While it’s just a building, for centuries, Notre Dame absorbed the energy and veneration of becoming a sacred space.
Sacred Spaces
Sacred spaces have a special way of “rearranging the furniture” within all those who enter them.
Whether it’s a famed cathedral, a simple church sanctuary, a dock on the lake, a specific trail in the woods, or even a highway cutting through the country – sacred spaces transform us.
The transformed then carry with them a unique responsibility of keeping those spaces alive when they’re no longer physically present.
In a way, the transformed become the remnant.
There’s Always a Remnant
In 1 Kings, Elijah goes to battle with some prophets of Baal. Despite defeating them, he runs in fear and hides at Mount Horeb (a notably sacred space).
Elijah encounters God on the mountain and God asks him what he’s doing. Elijah says, “I’ve been crazy passionate for the LORD and made a lot of people mad and now they want to kill me. I’m the only one of yours left, so… I’m hiding.”
But God says to Elijah, “Man! What do you think you’re doing? There are still 7,000 people in Israel who haven’t bowed a knee to Baal!”
There’s always a remnant, even when we can’t see it.
Sacred Spaces and Ashes
On that day as Notre Dame was burning and no one yet knew what would happen, many people were speculating the fate of the cathedral. Like Elijah, they thought all was lost.
News anchors on every channel were announcing its doom and others were mourning the loss of religious artifacts contained inside.
But no one really knew.
A Remnant from the Ashes
Strangely enough, I love the pictures from inside the Notre Dame cathedral with ashes strewn across the floor., As we now know, Notre Dame wasn’t completely lost in the fire and they intend to rebuild. In fact, hundreds of millions of dollars were quickly raised for its reconstruction.
It’s almost as if this sacred space is saying with exasperated breath: There’s always a remnant. There’s always something left.
A Lesson for Us
Maybe you feel like something is destroyed, lost, or beyond hope in your own life. Perhaps your relationships are falling apart, your job is on the line, or something worse.
If I’ve learned anything from history and anything from the famed cathedral at Notre Dame, then it’s that there is always a remnant. There is always hope.
And more often than not, that hope is buried inside of us – the transformed.
Sometimes it’s hard to see and it’s hard to believe, but I promise you it’s there… rising from the ashes.
Matt Snyder is the communications director at First Baptist Church of Decatur. You can follow him on Twitter at @matthewlasnyder.