“B” is for ‘build’ or block

In January of this year, a famous “block” will be 55 – the LEGO^® block. In January, 1958, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed the patent for the basic block design that is still at the heart of LEGO construction. 

As a child I had an Erector set and Lincoln logs to build and fuel my imagination – no LEGOs. But not too long after our first son, Rob and then Tim arrived in our home, so did LEGOs! It was always a challenge to take the LEGO kit home and build the plane or car or scene depicted on the box following the meticulous instructions.However, the real fun (and creativity) began when you took the recently built object apart (after the required two or three day admiration-show off period) and used the blocks to build your own object. Of course, as our boys acquired more and more LEGO sets, imaginations were really set loose to build and create ‘outside the box’.

Hours were spent with those LEGOs and we were often surprised that the ‘boys’ even returned in high school and, yes, college days to the big, blue rubberneck container that serves as the family LEGO treasure chest. One of the high/low points in our LEGO experience was during a family trip to Germany in the 1980’s.We traveled north to Bilund (“B” is for Bilund), Denmark, home of the LEGO factory and home of the original LEGOLAND. We were thrilled to see incredible structures made of LEGOs: Mt. Rushmore, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Venice (with waterways and gondolas), the Taj Mahal. However, the boys, who had saved their allowance money for several weeks, were disappointed to learn that the prices at the “factory store” were more expensive than home. Their dreams of finding a LEGOs bargain dissipated into the Danish air. They now offer a special three-day tour of the factory, with chances to meet with engineers and other personal –stay in the LEGOLAND hotel.  Modest cost – 13,000 Danish Crowns (that is a lot of LEGO sets!)

LEGOs have certainly fueled imaginations over the years. All kinds of things have been built with LEGOs. For the “church types”, there is a website –Brickbible.com that has scenes from the Bible depicted with LEGO figures.

Yet, times have changed and so have LEGOs. They have come a long way since our family trip. There are new ‘blocks’ – and many more LEGO kits and characters – yes, even Harry Potter appears on the LEGO stage.

Maybe there is a lesson for the church from LEGOs -- these blocks that can be unassembled and reassembled in wonderful ways reflecting budding imaginations and changing times.

The church has passed along different pictures of church. Some of these pictures/traditions were packaged, ready for the next generation to take ‘out of the box’ and use as pictured. However, times have changed, and the new times are calling us in the church to use our imaginations to take our resources, take our gifts, take our ‘building blocks’ and consider putting them together differently – building something new, creating a new picture of church.

As our boys learned, it is good to keep the old pictures and old instructions. They represent knowledge and give guidance for future building and builders. They also give security – a fallback picture when the new object doesn’t quite take off.

The 1958 blocks apparently still fit with the blocks (and other building pieces) of 2013 – but the things that are being built with LEGO blocks today show how much our world is changing.

The church faces the challenge: we carry some building blocks from 1958, how do we build and reassemble – even adding new blocks – in order to help others get a picture of God in our world today?  How can we invite new builders to join us in the creative tasking of building the church for the sake of the world?   Who will help us design the next church kit?