I recently finished the book "The Christian Story", by Justo Gonzalez. I've been thinking a lot since moved to Vegas and got involved with Grace Point about what church is supposed to be like. I grew up in a Baptist background and I often wondered why we dressed up to go to church, the pastor wore a suit, the choir wore robes, there even was a choir, why there was an organ, what's with the stained glass windows, etc.... I learned in the book that the "conversion" of Constantine changed everything. Christian worship before 306 A.D. was very simple, revolving around the Communion, singing, and reading of Scriptures from both the O.T. and of the N.T. books that they happened to have. After Constantine, everything started to change. The bishops, or simply the head of the local church, started dressing in clothes likened to the emperor's, the local body moved from homes to more and more ornate buildings, choirs were added to beef up the singing, etc. Now I know why Christianity (both Catholics and Protestants)does a lot of the things it does, not because it was so ordained in the Bible, but because an emperor wanted his religion to fit his tastes a little better. When I hear preachers say, "We dress up for church on Sunday because we need to bring our best before God," it burns me up. Didn't God say, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice," in Hosea 6:6? "A broken and contrite heart, Oh God, You do not despise." "Man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart." Not only does this hinder a Christ follower's appropriate focus, it keeps outsiders from feeling comfortable in a world that's nothing like their everyday life.
One small thing that I don't necessarily disagree with that the church after Constantine did was that the reason churches started doing stained glass, carvings, and statues depicting stories from the Bible and of the Saints was because the masses were largely illiterate, and coming to church and seeing the stories depicted in visual form were often the only way they would learn.
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Wasn't the temple in the Old Testament a very ornate place? Lots of gold and shiny stuff. Only the best?
Let it go. Some people like stained glass. Some people like hip-hop dancers. ;)
Yes, the temple in the OT was extremely ornate, but in Hebrews 8:5, the Hebrew writer was referring to the earthly sanctuary as a copy of the heavenly one: "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: 'See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.'"
This was how the Israelites were to worship under the Mosaic Covenant. However, we are under a New Covenant.
The actual structure and decoration of the physical building that the local church body gathers in is only as important as the manner in which it is used. In a cathedral, in a middle school, in a home, or under a bridge, it doesn't really matter as long as what happens in that place glorifies God. My point was that many Christians hold on to one way or another as intrinsically more spiritual than another, when in fact the way things have come about had a lot to do with Constantine's supposed conversion. I think, no matter what you prefer, that we as Christians should use our gathering place to draw the people in community to your local church as best as possible. Considering this, there are definitely structure and decoration choices that make sense and some that don't.
Yup. Just don't forget that there are still people who like stained glass and pipe organs. They will certainly become fewer and fewer but who knows? There could be a renaissance of those things. Whatever happens, we have to reach everyone.
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