RUTTER: This Old Barn

Drive anywhere throughout America, and you’ll run across old red barns sitting on the side of the road.

Even as they collapse, they have a certain charm about them. For in them, you can sense the history they carry.

They’ve stowed machinery and hay bales and housed chickens, pigs, horses and milk cows.

Long before their roofs started leaking and they became storage places, old red barns were farmers’ assets.

Long before their foundations began sinking, old red barns were a testament to sustaining rural families.

Looking out at our barn this morning, I see its warped wooden frame, the paint on the slats bleached out.

Its foundation is askew and the steps to the loft unsafe. No longer useful, it merely houses an old wood cook stove, an assortment of odd tools and a pile of what we can only call “junk.”

Yet, with the history our old red barn holds, we can’t just tear it down. No, we are determined to rebuild it and put it to good use.

From a basketball court, carpentry shop, ceramic studio, bakery, café, to a retreat center, there’s room to house the God-given talents and aspirations our family members hold.

We could even add a goat or two in it!

Thinking about our old red barn, a sadness overcomes me when I hear of the old structures in our cities torn down to make way for sleeker and more modern buildings.

We are quick to erase history and the foundation on which we nurtured our families and communities.

Demolished are the stone and brick facades, the wooden beams supporting the edifices that spotlighted the values we held dear to how we lived.

So, it is seeing the empty churches on the market across our country and around the globe.

But there is good news. There is a reported resurgence in those seeking God in their lives!

According to Robert Neithart, “Between 2019 and 2025, the number of Gen Z men reporting a personal commitment to Jesus increased by 15 percent, while millennial men showed a 19 percent increase.” (wordonfire.com, 8/19/25)

The Barna Group attributes this generational rise to the emergence of “spiritual interest, rising faith activity, signs of revival — including ... commitments to Jesus” (barna.com, “State of the Church”).

God is at work. Just as He opened the hearts of the Apostles who “devoted themselves to the communal life” and “met and prayed together in the temple area,” He brings us together today. (Acts 2:42; 2:46)

His foundation is sturdy, unable to crumble despite neglect, indifference or attack.

God gives us this moment as a gift to open wide the doors of our churches. He calls us to strengthen our worship and prayer services, faith formation, hospitality venues, and friend-making.

Family, we are blessed to receive others into our spiritual home with loving and caring arms.

I think of bringing our old red barn back to life for the next generation, the effort it will take to start from scratch and know it’s worth it.

Our church buildings don’t need to be renovated or our ministries repurposed before we open wide their doors. They simply need you and me to reach out in joy and welcome all home to their beloved Father.

God will inspire and lead us with the rest.

And so I pray: Dear Lord, I bow my head to You in awe and thanksgiving seeing our church filled with worshipers of all ages. Guide us all to You!