A handful of years ago an acquaintance shared his experiences about "going to church" when he was a kid ... and how his life had been impacted and was still affected by those long-ago impressions.
He told me he was saddened to see more and more churches dispensing with "the things that were important and really mattered," adornments like steeples, pews and hymnals, the very things that made church feel like church.
To hear his heart-felt and sincere reminisces about the past it sounded as though today, Christ's body is sinking because churches no longer make steeples, multi-manual pipe organs, Dry Clean Only choir robes and stained glass windows a financial priority.
Funny, isn't it, how man-made faiths and denominations, stained glass windows, organ music and choir robes came to define church?
Wonder why we want church to be safe and comforting, there when we need it, traditional and just like we remember it ... when Christ commanded us to pick our crosses daily and follow him ... and to go forth and preach the gospel to all nations?
Who does church belong to, and who's at its center?
