Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Thoughts on Church Design

Various spaces have been created throughout time in which crowds can sit and watch some spectacle on a stage, but there was only one space in which the presence of God resided. It is this story of God choosing to live among his chosen people and later, through Our Lord's sacrifice and the coming of the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us- this is what the space should be like. Too often modern churches elicit a sensation similar to having an acquaintance unknowingly demonstrate his inability to read. There is an unfortunate overemphasis on the human as actor, and little to no emphasis on God's actions.

While I have heard, in my life, much criticism on blindly following tradition, I haven't heard much about what must surely be a larger folly; blindly following the new. Even if one didn't know the reasons behind the traditions, one could still build something wonderful using the old forms. A good pattern has its own utility, even should the meaning of it be lost.

No comments: