Dear Church Family,
The other day, several of us were working in the Long Room in the northwest corner of the church. As we pulled down the suspended ceiling, we uncovered old fiberglass insulation. Above that insulation, hidden for years, was an even older paneled ceiling. But what captured our attention most was what lay above those layers—a beautiful, hand-stenciled border painted long ago. I stood there in awe at the simplicity, precision, and beauty that had been hidden away under decades and layers of ceiling coverings.

To me, this moment served as a picture of the Restoration Movement, of which our congregation is a part. Just as that painted border had been covered over by layer after layer, so too can the simple, biblical truths of the Christian faith be obscured by traditions, trends, and the latest cultural fads. In our eagerness to be “relevant,” the danger is that we bury what is timeless and true under what is temporary and popular.

The heart of the Restoration plea has always been to “restore the ancient order of things” by returning to Scripture as the only rule of faith and practice. The prophet Jeremiah called God’s people to a similar path: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16, ESV).

The apostle Paul warned Timothy to “guard the good deposit entrusted to you” (2 Timothy 1:14, ESV), reminding us that the truth of the gospel is something to be preserved, not reinvented. As Augustine once said, “If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” Our calling is not to cover up Scripture with our preferences, but to let its original beauty shine.

The Restoration Movement is not about innovation for its own sake, but about uncovering what has always been there: the authority of Christ, the centrality of Scripture, the simplicity of the gospel, the unity of believers, and the hope of eternal life. Like that painted border hidden above layers of ceilings, the truths of God’s Word remain, waiting to be rediscovered and cherished anew.

As a church, may we always resist the temptation to trade the eternal for the trendy. Let us cling to God’s Authoritative Word, remembering Paul’s encouragement: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV). If we stay committed to uncovering and preserving what God has given, we will continue to be a people shaped by the enduring truth of Christ, not by the passing fashions of a cultural moment.

Loving you all, 
Michael