Some of the world’s most famous churches have become mere museums. Westminster Abby in London, The Notre Dame in Paris, The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and St. Peter’s in Rome echo with the sounds of chatting tourists, not chanting. Not many could rightly be considered local parishes—churches serving a specific people or neighborhood. On one rainy winter Sunday, I had the privilege of sitting in one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world on the harbor of Stockholm, Sweden. The cathedral sat thousands yet gathered a few dozen souls on this Sabbath. A casual trip through Europe reveals that a glorious church building is not a predictor of faith or faithfulness. So, what is the concerned Christian layman to do with a church building here? We in Western Europe and North America live in a post-Christian age. While the cathedrals draw tourists, do they draw us closer to God? I think they still do. My friends, there is a real temptation to throw aside the buildings, the trappings, and the decorum that come with a grand church. Indeed, we frequently stress here at Mount Calvary that the church is not the building, it is the people! This is good Theology. Yet, on this 75th anniversary of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, the mother church of Maricopa County, it ought to be said that beautiful churches are worth building, and that Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, the people, and the building are worth celebrating.
The pressure to discard beautiful churches comes from all sides. As said above, some draw a causation between secularization and the great churches of Europe. Indeed, the most vibrant churches on that continent today are likely to be house churches and storefront gatherings. This correlation does not, of course, mean causation. In Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame the characters are stirred to faith by the bells, statues, and stained glass of France’s most famous church. I believe it remains so today. On this side of the Atlantic, beautiful churches face another enemy, and this enemy is American pragmatism. While more spiritual than our European contemporaries, Americans are a practical people, and Arizonians are no exception. Here, churches are measured according to their potential rental income, not their history and aesthetics. Many of our churches look like office parks, not churches. This is by design with the bottom line in mind. Finally, many generous and well-meaning Christians suggest that church buildings are a waste of money altogether. Could the money be better used elsewhere? On one occasion, some women bought expensive perfume and anointed Jesus. They did this as an act of worship. They also did this as an act of faith to show that they knew he would die soon for their sins. Judas, though, asked Jesus, “could not this perfume be sold and the proceeds given to the poor?” Sometimes, we find ourselves asking the same question. John says, “he [Judas] said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief.” Let worship be worship and charity be charity. God’s house should be something special.
The founders of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church did the difficult thing and built a grand church. No doubt they did this to the glory of God as an act of worship. In doing so, they left a legacy. A physical church, a beautiful church, is God pleasing in several ways. Churches connect people to a specific place, the ascetics of a church draw our attention to God, and beautiful churches continue the Biblical pattern of beautiful spaces.
God has made you to be you. You are a specific person. No person is an accident. Consequently, you live in a specific time and place. You were not born in another place on the other side of the world, and you were not born 1000 years ago. You are you, and you are made to be here. A Shaker hymn says, “it is a gift to be simple, it is a gift to be free, it is a gift to come down where we ought to be.” A physical building floods our God given senses and affirms, “yes this is where God wants me to be.” We love to say at Mount Calvary, “you belong here,” “you have a home here,” and we mean it. There is nothing like coming home after a long journey of many years.
The cathedrals of Europe continue to inspire because they were designed with eternity in mind. Unlike our pragmatic churches in America produced with profit in mind, churches can open our minds to the truths of scripture. Many people today have a hard time imagining an almighty, eternal, unchangeable God. Sometimes we find the courage to consider this Being in his natural handiwork of nature. However, a great church too can also connect us to the transcendent. When a church dominates a skyline for a millennium, it is a reflection of an all-powerful, unchanging God who loves us dearly. Our senses, created by God, are reoriented to him through the church building itself.
Finally, we would be remiss to not mention the detailed instructions God leaves in scripture for the building of houses of worship. During the Exodus, God gave his people plans for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was not the largest building in the world or even the most beautiful, but it was intentionally designed to worship God. The Ark of the Covenant was a special home for God’s presence. This Ark famously won battles and held God’s presence amongst the people. Later in scripture, God gave Solomon the plans for the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon prays, “Lord, that heaven would dwell on earth.” In each case, God chooses to live with us through intentional building plans. We ought to consider God's craft when considering his homes here below.
The Sunday school song goes, “a church is not the building, a church is not a steeple, the church is the people.” Indeed, this is true. God sanctified all his people to be His temples through the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell in each one of us. Nevertheless, we as His people, body and soul, are stirred to respond with praise when we see God’s house. Let the house be an intentional and beautiful home for the king of the universe. With the Psalmist, we say, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the LORD.”
In Jesus’ Service,
Pastor Kurt