Perspective - an excerpt from a publication of Saint Paulus Lutheran Church,
San Francisco, California

By The Rev. Daniel Solberg

The San Francisco Chronicle announced in a news article on Sunday, May 26th, that"...St. Paulus", a "former church", would "leave a legacy by preserving affordable housing in the community." Included in that article is a picture of just what has been proposed by a group of students from Cal Berkeley to be constructed on the property of the "former church". The proposal was submitted as an entry to a contest sponsored by Bank America. It won the first place prize. Not surprisingly, given the information made available to the students, there is no "church" included, just a "138-unit, low-income development on the site of St. Paulus Lutheran Church". In fact, it is suggested throughout the article that Saint Paulus Lutheran Church no longer operates as a church, nor that it intends to. Comments like "the former site of St. Paulus...", "St, Paulus...was destroyed", "the church would use this site to leave a legacy..." lead any reader to figure that St. Paulus is a thing of the past. It is nice though, that our "legacy", that is. the name "St. Paulus" would be preserved. But instead of "Church", "Court" would be substituted - St. Paulus Court.

I generally do not react so sharply to newspaper material, especially when its contents are "speculative", like this article. In fact, I admire these students for the hard work and competence with which they "won" this competition. However, the proposal, which these students developed, was based upon information and sentiment received from those who have directed our "development" process over the last months. And what they project in this article is a picture of a church dying or dead, waiting for a "legacy" to be built on their behalf, that being, affordable housing. The problem here is not the final picture that they present; it is the witness that is given that reflects Saint Paulus Lutheran Church as empty of life, hope, and vision. I recoil at the thought that this congregation is waiting to die; I bristle at the notion that the only legacy that we can afford either by way of money or "energy levels" is affordable housing; I resent the idea that this church of Buehler, of missionary zeal, of grand spiritual and architectural presence over the last century and a half, can be so easily replaced by studio apartments and single bed-room apartments. The witness that this group of young people has been given of this congregation is not my witness, nor the witness of countless faithful servants of who have given of their blood, sweat, and tears to sustain the presence of Word and Sacrament on this site, nor the witness of those who have learned of Jesus Christ, have been fed with the bread and wine, have praised their Savior here in song and music, who have been touched by and have touched the transcendent glory of God; nor of the countless generations that will seek to learn and praise and worship God on this site in the years to come.