University Place Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

August 10, 2025

A lone guitarist played and no one noticed me, as people found places in the magnificent but apparently soon-to-be demolished sanctuary of UniPlace Christian Church. I had inadvertently shown up for one of the last few Sundays this place would host a gathering, after having served here on UI campus for nearly ninety years. Sadly, due to dwindling congregations, the loss of these beautiful, classic buildings is not unusual. Over a thousand people worshiped here and poured into its construction in the 1930s. About fifty were on hand today. Next month, they move to the YMCA.

A newly ordained young man, Isaac, welcomed us and shared a few announcements. After Wednesday afternoon's food pantry, there’s vespers and poetry in the evening. In keeping with the upcoming location change, Isaac read the poem A New Beginning by John O’Donahue.

Opening hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, led into a series of responsive reading, prayer, scripture reading, and the Lord’s prayer, beautifully interspersed with music by flute, guitar and piano, a group called Jubilee. Pastor Kris Light spoke about the tension between connectedness and uprootedness, about institutional failures that lead to feeling unsheltered, about grief sometimes being a gift that leads to spiritual movement. Congregants may feel the ground shifting, fear and hope, as they leave their long-time home building. But the Kingdom of God is ours to wake up to, not to manage. The scripture was Luke 12:32-40. We are called out to the world to be servants of God, whatever our situation.

 After singing Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees, all were invited to come and take communion, a piece of broken bread, a little glass cup. (From my Baptist childhood, I don’t remember ever singing the second verse of this African American spiritual: Let us drink wine together on our knees. 😊)

The service was over in less than an hour. In the parking lot, I enjoyed meeting a couple who’d been married in that building decades ago. He said in the nineteen fifties his call to the ministry had happened there as well. I pray that their light shines in new location as brightly as it has shone here.