It use to be that Christians took great pride in the arts. It showed up in everything they did, especially in their buildings - be they large or small.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the Christian church heavily influenced all the arts of the western world for nearly sixteen hundred years. That is quite a long time. These days, the church is barely in the arts at all - except perhaps for Evangelical music which has experienced a huge boost in popularity in the past century, especially the last thirty years.
However, other than with a few examples, most church structures have gone from being monuments of the creative-worshipful-spirit to ultra simple configurations.
Some churches today don't even own a building. They meet in warehouses, shopping malls, theaters, and gymnasiums. The idea is often expressed that this is a good thing because more money can be spent on evangelism, social work and missions, and other such things; but that argument sounds somehow hollow to my ears. I am not sure why, but it always makes me feel that the one saying such things has other agenda . . . like the disciples complaining about the woman who broke the alabaster box of ointment on Jesus. They complained that it was a waste of wealth, and that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus did not agree with them.
Yes, sometimes money can go to better things than to buildings. I get it. I know this sounds sensible and financially wise, but is it really the truth? Is it really wisdom? For sure, there can be excess with anything, and money can be spent on useless items, but is putting money into the arts for the sake of enriching spiritual experience unwise? Is it always wrong - is it ever wrong to spend money to enrich one's spiritual experience? How does one decide that?
The nagging questions in my mind are, "Who will remember the gymnasium-churches of today?" "Doesn't their very transience demonstrate an unwillingness to think and plan for the long-term?" "Does choosing the easy low-brow-architecture meeting-place of the gymnasium demonstrate a disdain for the notion of the permanence of the Kingdom of God, to say nothing of the need for enduring creative-arts?" "Is the Church to imitate the pop fad-culture of 'here today, gone tomorrow' - disposable-everything - including the place where the Almighty is said to be worshiped?"
One thing is for sure, the cathedrals of the past still stand as monuments to the historic Christian faith, and every stone of their structures proclaims a richness of faith that has endured through the centuries.
The argument that these structures were built on the backs of the poor does not hold water for several reasons. One is simply that cathedrals were also centers of culture and they belonged to the people. They provided respite from the poverty of a person's common life, instructed the mind, lifted the spirit, and provided comfort for those who used them; and almost everyone used them - from the rich to the most poverty stricken. Cathedrals provided many benefits, despite their obvious expense. In fact, it is their enormous expense that speaks so loudly about their value and their enduring contribution to culture.
I know that some will say that the cathedrals are dead and that no one worships there anymore, and this is true with some of them, but here is a picture of Wells Cathedral, where vibrant worship continues unbroken from the day it was begun until now . . . and so it is with many of these sacred places. Sacred places are important, and continuity with previous generations is vital for the Christian faith. When both are combined, it makes for a compelling story that ought to be respected.
My personal sense is that a false sense of piety has stripped the church, and world, of a very wonderful influence, i.e. magnificent, creative, enduring architecture, as seen in the things made by those who worshiped in previous generations with their whole mind, body and soul.It makes me ask the question, "When splendor in worship is no longer a sacred value in the church, how will the world then associate the brilliance of the Creator-of-the-universe with the people who claim to belong to Him?
How could this phenomenon of prejudice against great architectural structures of worship have happened, and what can be done about it? Does anything need to be done about it? Yes, it is true that one can worship anywhere. That is not my point here. My point is, when one CAN make something to glorify God, and chooses not to do so, what does it say about that choice?
Your thoughts on these questions are welcome here. Even if you think me completely wrong on every point. The purpose of the blog is to respectfully explore ideas together. I look forward to seeing your comments here, and to learning something new. :-)
5 comments:
I totally agree with your comments and let me tell you the story of how our church came to purchase our building and the many things GOD did to make it all happen.
Some say it was just chance but when you finish reading the whole story you tell me. I think GOD had a hand in the whole thing.
First we are the sister church of the Grace Brethern Church in New Troy. Many of the members of that church were from the Niles/Buchanan area and New Troy was a long way to go to church on Sunday morning, especially in the winter when the roads were bad. The pastor of the New Troy church was the foster son of a Grace Brethern pastor who had just retired (and to hear Pastor Hein say it he was about to put up a sign on his house in Washingto that said done movin).
Pastor McCrum asked him if he would be interested in starting the church in Niles. He said if I can sell my boat I will. The boat sold the day after he put it up for sale, for the price he was asking. He then said if I sell the motor home I will. The motor home sold in 3 days for the price he was asking. He then said if I sell the house I will come to Michigan. The house sold in less than a week.
So he packed up his wife got a truck and moved to Michigan (now it was February and the warmest in history when he got to Michigan). His foster son had found a house for Pastor Hein to rent and they moved him into his new house in 60 degree weather. The next day we had a blizzard but Pastor was all moved in so all was good.
We started holding prayer meetings in the pastor's living room. In just a few months we outgrew his home and moved to the school gym. This worked for a little while but moving the sound system and song books and Bibles for those who did not have them was a real job.
Now it was getting on to the first Christmas and one of the ladies in the church was tired of having the sound system and song books in her home between Sundays. She needed room to put up her Christmas Tree. She told us all to pray very specifically for a permanate church building before Christmas.
Now some of the members laughed and said it was too close to Christmas we could never find a building by then. A couple of weeks before Christmas a couple from the church were going to K-Mart (just a mile from thier home in a straight line). They decided to go the long way around and look at the Christmas decorations. On the way to K-Mart (which they never made it to by the way) they passed a church building with a for sale sign on it. Immeadeately they went home and called Pasor Hein. Now they were so excited and such that Pastor could not understand a thing they were saying so they went to Pastors home and explained it all. Pastor immeadately went to the building got the phone number and called the pastor of the church that was selling the building. He met them at the church and they all walked thru it. The piano and oran stayed with the church along with Christmas decorations, song books and chior robes.
We signed a rent to own document right then and held our next church service, in the building we now currently own, the following morning.
Now you might think that is the end of the story but the grace of GOD was not finished yet.
For the next couple of years we continued to rent the building and our rent was to go up every year according to the contract we signed. Our church was growing but mostly new Christians and so our income was not. We then had to contacted the Pastor of the church we were renting from and they very graciously did not raise our rent.
Finialy we got to a point that we decided we needed to take that final leap of faith and buy the building. We asked the church we were renting from what the pay off would be. They told us the price and we went to the bank for a loan. The bank gave us the loan and when we went to pay for the building the Church we were renting from lowered the price $5000.00.
We made our payments to the bank for a few months and then one of the our home churches (in Washington State) came to us and said they would loan us the money to pay off the bank interest free, of course we jumped at that because we could then pay off the building that much faster. We made our payments to this church for about a year maybe a little more and they came to us and said that we did not need to pay the rest of the loan off(no way the grace of GOD is too great), they had disolved their church so the remaining balance was null and void.
We have a very beautiful building and all by taking a leap of faith. Our building is not as elaborate as the one in your picture but it does have a look about it and is not just a plain building. We did lose our steeple a few years back in a tornado but that is the only part of the building damaged in that tornado.
I am not saying that this will work for all churches but GOD does not need out money, he has a way of making sure that you have the money you need to run his church. The tigth we are to give to GOD is a way for us to show our love for him not a way for him to run his church. We have seen that happen in our church many many times when things were tight. And we always have the money for Missions. Our bills are always paid (sometimes we come pretty close to a 0 balance in our bank account) but GOD always provides for our needs.
Sorry I know that was long.
Anne
Thanks Anne. That is a wonderful and an encouraging story. Sounds like good things are happening for you all in Michigan. Glad you wrote.
The buildings are beautiful. They are a grand testimony of God's value and his creativity through people.
However, how offensive are the statues people erected to themselves! That sure is not like Christ, whom they purport to follow. When you read that Pope so-and-so made his sculpture and niche bigger and more costly than predecessors to show he was Grand Puba, that's a mockery of the humilty of servant leadership Jesus demands.
I love the art, I enjoy the craftsmanship, but I am thoroughly offended by the pride on display in various places.
We went to see Buckingham Palace last week. There was gold everywhere from ceiling to floor, gorgeous artwork on the walls, an altogether ostentatious wealth on display. That's not as offensive. Kings and queens of this world are expected to live in unrivaled splendor. When church leaders try to do the same, it IS a culture clash: the values of this world in conflict with the values of Christ.
Understood, good point. Well, I suppose that, in all of life, one must "eat the meat," as it were, and "spit out the bones." Pride is a given for human nature, unfortunately this is true in the church as well. If we waited till we were all _humble-enough_ to do anything, not much would get done.
The Apostle Paul said, Phil 1:15-18
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love... 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely... 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. -- NIV -- :-)
Intention is everything; God looks into our hearts and knows whether we honor Him or ourselves. Whether simple or elaborate, all that is created out of love for the Lord is divine.
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