The Paper Church

plindberg photo courtesy Flickr

After Kobe was wracked by its terrible earthquake, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban built a church out of cardboard cement-molding tubes. The structure drew huge attention in the design community.

Not long after I learned about the paper church, a nurse told me about her Presbyterian congregation. She said they meet in people’s houses rather than paying to maintain a building and are able to contribute more to charity than any congregation in the country.

Recently, I joined a support group for friends, families, and patients who have been touched by a deadly disease. The tithe is a terrible one, but I discovered a group of people and a hospital chaplain who have been meeting and supporting each other for years. There’s no nonsense about Sunday hats or theology, just unvarnished decency, and I hope to maintain a long association with this tiny weekly gathering.