Recently Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed posted some thoughts that touched on the physical aspects of churches and how that affects our worship. While that conversation focused on whether the church’s sacred space hinders the diversity of the church, I had to reflect on just how important space really is for worship.
I understand that the space one enters into in a church can set the tone for worship. Very different messages are sent with a room full of stained glass and pews all oriented to a pulpit as compared to a room full of couches arranged in a circle. The latter focuses one on receiving blessing, instruction, and edification from those privileged to occupy the pulpit. There are benefits to such an arrangement as it can serve to draw one’s attention to grander things outside of oneself. The former arrangement of couches invites community and promotes equity in the worship experience which is welcomed by some but avoided as uncomfortable by others. But regardless of how the worship is approached, it remains worship in both settings.
So while worship might be different depending on the setting of where you worship, I am uncomfortable with the idea that any particular setting could create better or worse worship. Is God more present or more glorified in a cathedral in Rome of hand-hewn stone and stained glass to lift one’s eyes to the heavens or in a tin roofed cement block structure in Haiti where all the hymns are sung in French (not Creole) because all they could get are cast off hymnals from France? How about in a mega-church stadium that seats 10,000 with the only symbol present being an American flag or in a rented bar with neon signs and pin-up girl calenders on the wall? Sure the theologies may differ and each church might be far from the path of actually serving God, but if individuals in each church are seeking to worship God in their particular setting, I can’t see how a value judgement could be made as to whose worship is better.
These sort of discussions remind me a bit too much of the questions the woman at the well asked Jesus regarding whether one should worship on the mountain or in Jerusalem. Jesus of course replied, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23) So while aesthetics and setting and the message our worship space sends are all valid considerations, if discussions of such get in the way of our worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth, then we’ve run amok somewhere. And for that I am grateful because our worship space today was filled with tacky 1980’s Christmas decorations and revolving Christmas trees.
As a small church plant we rent space that is during the week a community center for mentally handicapped adults. It is a very functional space that retains a living room feel (couches and all that), but it is, um, a bit tacky. It has bright orange carpet and the decor generally consists of artwork done by the clients (generally of the crayon and gluestick variety). But then there are the holiday decorations. In mid-September we walked in one Sunday to discover Halloween gone wild. An entire pumpkin patch had planted itself in the foyer, plastic ghosts, skeletons, witches, and black cats graced the walls, and fake spider webs hung from every available space possible (complete with glow-in-the-dark spiders). We laughed about how we must be the first (pseudo)evangelical church ever to have a sanctuary decorated with witches and ghosts and just dealt with it. Well today the Christmas decor appeared – animatronic caroling dolls, fake snow, glitz and glitter, and revolving Christmas trees. The place looked like a department store circa 1985. But it’s still our worship space. And no matter how tacky the orange carpet, or plastic skeletons, or revolving trees may be, I can’t see how any of those things would make our worship any less pleasing to God. Sure there may be issues of whether such things prevent others from wanting to worship with us (which is an interesting discussion), but if our worship is done in spirit and truth no amount of plastic kitsch can diminish it’s validity or power.