The Plastic Church

It was the fall of 1954.

My father, Oby, loaded up my 7-year old sister Martha into his truck and headed for the hardware store in downtown Port Gibson. I’m sure the original purpose of the trip was to purchase highly practical farm-related supplies or tools. But as they walked around the store a random display featuring a little white plastic church caught their eye.

On a whim he bought the little church—for $5. They completed their shopping and headed for home. Once at the house he proudly revealed his spontaneous purchase.

Spontaneous purchases were not a common occurrence in our household— unheard of, in fact. Money was tight and not to be wasted on frivolous items; the little plastic church was the very definition of a frivolous item. My grandmother, who lived with us, expressed her firm disapproval.

Well, the deed was done, and the little church had found a home.

The little church was graced with a tall steeple and adorned with a cross. A small light bulb produced a warm glow from the tiny “stained glass windows.” Inside was a cylindrical music box with a wind-up knob protruding from the back of the church.

Firmly winding the music box produced a beautiful rendition of “Silent Night.” The crystal clear musical notes filled the entire room.

While in elementary school, both my sister and brother took the little church to school each year as the Christmas holidays approached. Their young classmates were mesmerized by its beauty, and the music it produced.

Every Christmas of my entire life, the little church is carefully pulled out of storage and proudly displayed. Each year we wind the music box again and again (and again and again)—and softly smile as “Silent Night” sweetly plays.

Age has given the church an obvious yellow tinge, the little cross on the top is missing, the stained glass windows are long gone, and the plastic steps are broken.

Still, the precious little church perseveres.

Following my parents’ move to an assisted living center in late 2009, my 4 siblings and I met at our family home to divide my parents’ many household possessions.

Throughout our adult lives our mother voiced an earnest—and oft repeated—plea: “Do not sit around this dining room table and argue over this ‘stuff’!” The “stuff” she referred to was the many antique family heirlooms all around us. This loving admonition hung warmly over us as we divided up the antique furniture, the antique cut glass, the antique china, and the antique silverware—without a single cross word—without the hint of conflict or distrust.

The following Monday, I reported this significant fact to my mom—she was deeply pleased.

Of the numerous heirlooms divided up that day, one seemingly insignificant item seemed to maneuver its way to the very pinnacle of our sentimental pyramid—the little plastic church. 

Which elicits a question: How is it possible that a little plastic church, bought on a whim for $5, fifty-five years prior and now yellowed, broken, and cracked from years and years of use, be worth anything? Anything at all?

The answer: a) the church was purchased by our beloved father a mere year before he died in an airplane accident in October 1955. He was only able to enjoy his little church for a single Christmas. b) We cherish the hundreds and hundreds of joyful memories that the church now evokes.

We love that little church.

Now I must ask a second question: What is it that gives me, my own sinful, worthless self, any worth, any worth at all? Moreover, what is it that gives you, your own sinful, worthless self, any worth, any worth at all?

The answer to this question also has two simple elements:

a) Our Heavenly Father made me, made each one of us, in His own image.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26-27

b) Because of this God loves us, He loves us dearly, despite our many faults.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:1-7

Miraculously, despite our great shortcomings each one of us is loved; in fact, we are each cherished, by our Heavenly Father.

With tearful eyes, yet with a joyful heart, our family’s love for this yellowed, cracked, and broken little church is to me a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Father’s great love for us.

I’m very thankful for this wonderful, real-world depiction, of this great spiritual Truth.