Embodied: Why the Church Building Matters

Dear Matt (and other concerned individuals),

It has been many weeks since our discussion at Brickskeller, but I have not forgotten the challenge you presented against the traditional vision of "church." I have since hoped to respond in defense of the traditional vision, but now that so much time has passed I fear that a useful critique will be difficult. There are at least two reasons for this. First, it is not entirely clear to me what you believe on the question. You seemed to say many things with a wink, much was couched in sarcasm, and so I ought to recognize at the outset that perhaps I am presuming too much about what you believe. Maybe you were just being provocative and you don't really dismiss the traditional vision at all. Second, so much time has passed that much of what you said has faded in my memory.

I write this letter, therefore, with hesitation and hope. Hesitation because I know I may accidentally misrepresent what you believe. If I do, please correct me and forgive me. I don't intend to butcher your beliefs. Hope because at least this correspondence may facilitate a future conversation where we can all be clearer about our beliefs.

Speaking of being provocative, I thought it would be interesting if I defended "the church building" in this email. It seems to have become a truism that church has nothing to do with the building, and that one need not go to any building on Sunday to worship. Many Protestants who hold a very traditional view of church would probably agree that the building itself is not all that important, that worship can occur anywhere "two or more are gathered" in Christ's name.

I think these beliefs are misguided. Implicit in these ideas is a very unhealthy Gnostic strain. I would like to argue that the very building itself is integral to proper Christian worship. While it is true that Christ is present wherever two or more are gathered, it is also true that not all worship is created equal. It is not a matter of indifference whether the Christian worships in a great cathedral or whether he worships in a barn or a movie theater. This will be my argument, at least.

Before launching into a defense of the building as an indispensable (though not, strictly speaking, necessary) element of comprehensive Christian worship, I need to admit that I am starting my argument somewhere in the middle. Certain things will be assumed that good Protestants may not immediately accept. What I hope to show is that errors of modern philosophy have seeped into our thinking about seemingly benign subjects like church architecture, and that some of those same errors have lead us astray in our thinking about even more fundamental questions of ecclesiology. Ultimately my goal is to show that, far from being a restoration of proper biblical thinking about "church," movements like the "house church" or the "emerging church" are actually errors based heavily on modern mistakes and confusion.

Having spelled out my plan, let me see if I can now successfully make my case. The church building: Dispensable? Irrelevant? Outdated? Unbiblical? As I said above, it seems to be a truism today that the building itself is utterly meaningless to worship, that one can worship just as well anywhere else. The idea that our physical surroundings make no difference to our worship is fundamentally based on bad anthropology.

What is man? I think this is the first question that needs to be asked when exploring the correct Christian vision of church architecture. Because a full and extensive answer to that question is far beyond my capacity, I would like to merely note a few points to keep in mind as our discussion unfolds. Remember, O man, that you are dust and to dust you will return. There is that. But we also know that when God formed us from the dust he breathed life into our nostrils. We are in some sense material things. We are in some sense spiritual things. What is the relationship between these two aspects of human life?

Orthodox Christianity (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox) across the ages has taught that man is a unity of body and soul. This is an inseparable unity. We are not a soul that inhabits a body. We are not a body that has a soul. We are body/soul, one thing so intimately connected that it is inseparable. The Catechism of the Catholic Church articulates the orthodox teaching well: "The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in many, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature ." (CCC 365) Though this definition comes from a Catholic source I do not believe it is any different from what Orthodox and traditional Protestants teach. Indeed this is the common belief of Christians throughout history.

There are many very satisfying philosophical and biblical reasons for why this is true, but again, it is beyond my ability to get into that. The point I am trying to make is simply that good philosophical anthropology from a Christian perspective affirms (and has always affirmed) that man is not a spiritual thing trapped in a material body. We are not a soul waiting to be set free from our corporal existence. Rather, we are a profound union, an undividable union, between body and soul. This teaching, which can be defended by reason, is also proved by revelation. We see it in the creation account, as well as in the teaching of resurrection. At the resurrection we will not be liberated from bodily life, but we will be reunited with our physical bodies. The body/soul union is normative, it is part of our nature as human beings.

Therefore, it is true to say that God created man a material being and our nature as material is fundamental to what it means to be man. He created the world, and he created us from the dust of the earth, and he gave us an animating spirit. We are physical beings, and from the beginning it was good. Of course, at the Fall the whole man fell, and even the physical creation was cursed by sin. Men have to toil to produce fruit from the earth. Women suffer in child bearing. The whole creation groans. The material world was created good (including the bodily man), and through our free sin the whole creation has fallen.

God himself, at the incarnation, took on human form. That means that God, the Creator of our material world, became himself a material being. He, just like every other man, was truly body and soul, an undivided unity. God became man, and in so doing he redeemed man in his unity. That means that he has redeemed us body and soul, he has saved us from the effects of sin and death completely. God incarnate did not come to save merely our souls, not merely our spiritual aspects, but our whole human selves, and even the whole world. We are saved, body and soul, in full union with Christ.

Christ's redemption is total. There is not one corner of Christ's Creation that was not redeemed by his work on the Cross. Again, it was not merely our souls that were saved, it was us. He has made all things new, restoring the full dignity to even our material selves. This point is so central that perhaps I am belaboring it. Let me just state it one last time: God created the physical universe and called it good. Humans are a total union of body and soul, they are part of that physical universe. God became human, which means he took on material flesh, literally becoming flesh. Through the incarnation Christ redeemed the whole world, including our bodily life, opening the way for the resurrection of the body.

Why meditate on theological anthropology? It is important to remember that the physical world is not evil. It was created good by God, and God became flesh himself. If flesh were evil, God could not have taken on physical form. However, in Christ that is exactly what he did, he became as human as you or I. He was, and still is, a body. This is critically important as we think about what is appropriate for worship. Human worship is not an attempt to shed off our bodily reality and become "spiritual." Not at all! We worship God as he created us: as humans, and humans are body and soul fully united. Human worship, therefore, is bodily and fleshy.

When we worship we should not try to be something we are not. We should worship in an appropriately human way, which is to say, in a bodily way. It was not incidental when Christ, in the Gospels, used the most basic physical elements to communicate his grace. He uses the water of baptism. He takes everyday bread and says, "This is my flesh." He takes common wine and says, "This is my blood." When he heals the blind man he puts mud on his eyes. James tells the presbyters of the Church to anoint the sick with oil. Christian prayer and worship is not about trying to pry your soul from your flesh because this would be an insult to God's good created order. It is not an disembodied experience. No, we worship God as humans, which means we worship with our whole selves, including our bodies. And God has decided to communicate his grace through physical things like water and wine and bread and oil.

What does all this have to do with church buildings? Perhaps my point is already clear. The physical place where we worship is not irrelevant because we are bodies. We have five senses, and each of those senses should be engaged in worship. What we see with our eyes makes a difference in worship. What we smell with our noses, what we hear with our ears. What we feel, and yes, even what we taste ("unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." John 6:53). No aspect of human living should be left aside, we worship as integrated human beings.

Our ideas take physical form. Walk into any church and you will see ideas taking form. Take a Catholic Cathedral. You will encounter great Christian saints in stain glass and statuary. The idea is that the Church is not bound by time, but that we worship along with the whole communion of saints, living and dead. You will see the altar in a prominent spot. The Eucharist is the central act of worship. The tabernacle is also in a central, visible place, with a candle lit next to it. The idea is that Christ is literally present in this place, and this idea takes form with golden boxes and flickering candles. In the design of the building and the art the individual is encouraged to lift their eyes toward heaven. Bells are rung, incense is used, and at the high point of worship, Christ's flesh is received as physical food. Everything is done for a reason, the whole human person is engaged.

What ideas take form in a typical Protestant church? There is great diversity here. Most often we see the lectern from which the pastor preaches prominently placed, sometimes in the center of the room. From this lectern the Bible is read and expounded. The preaching of the word is central to Protestant worship, and that idea takes form in design of the room. If you go into an Episcopal Church built one or two hundred years ago, you would see that at the front of the room certain Biblical passages are always written on the walls. There is the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. There is also the Apostles Creed. Here we see the Episcopal emphasis on Scripture and Tradition. These ideas have taken form. Often the walls are white and the widows are clear to let in lots of light. The idea is a focus on the Light of the World, Christ. In this room the Light of the World is made known through the reading of Scripture. There is purity in the white walls, it is heavenly. There is simplicity. All these ideas take form in the architecture and décor of the room.

Think about other churches. What ideas take form in a Quaker meeting house? There is no point of focus, the chairs are often built in a circle. There are no pastors in a Quaker meeting. The belief is that the Church is a society of friends that come together, and that the Holy Spirit will inspire different people to give a "word" from time to time. When the Holy Spirit does the person stands up and says whatever, then sits down. These ideas take form in the building itself. What ideas take form at National Community Church? What ideas take form at a typical mega church?

Finally, what ideas take form at a house church? Well, the architecture is that of a family dwelling place. In many living rooms today the central feature is a television set, sometimes it can be a fireplace, or maybe a piano. Furniture is comfortable, cozy. Most houses are beautifully decorated with paintings and "knick-knacks" (indeed, most houses are more beautifully decorated than our churches these days!). Most have pictures of the family hung prominently in many rooms (not unlike the paintings of saints in a cathedral, by the way). Modern houses are built for function, they are built for comfort.

The ideas of Christians who meet in houses take form. There is no central location for any one leader to stand (except, perhaps, in front of the TV). There is no focal point, no central feature. People sit around casually on couches and overstuffed chairs. They are probably sipping coffee or tea. I wouldn't be surprised if someone took off their shoes and put up their feet. Someone probably brings a guitar and strums a few songs as everyone else closes their eyes and sings. Like the Quakers, conversation is probably undirected and informal. It is relaxed and friendly. This is a group of friends who have come together to discuss their lives as Christians. If you zoom out you will see that—if there is any emphasized feature—it is the people themselves that are central. In Catholic worship the architecture places a central emphasis on Christ in the Eucharist. In Protestant churches the emphasis is on Scripture (the Word of God). For the house church, it seems to me, the design and structure and "architecture" places special emphasis is on the people themselves, and on the stories they tell, the complex lives they discuss.

I won't critique the ideas that have taken form in the house church, at least, not today. My point in all of this is to show how human beings are material beings, we live in a material world, and our ideas inevitably take form in the structures we construct. Our ideas about God and what it means to worship God take form in the buildings we use in worship. Even if we decide to worship in a field, ideas are taking form. Because we are material beings in a material world we cannot avoid it.

It is my belief that the old churches of Christian tradition show better ideas taking form than more recent churches. Remember the central truth: man is a body/soul. We are corporal. Therefore, all five senses are to be engaged. What we see, hear and smell makes a difference; our senses teach. The great cathedrals were known as Bible's in brick and glass. Men and women would walk in, most of whom could not read, most of whom toiled with a rake or a shovel all day, and their senses were filled with Beauty. Through the colored glass the learned about Jesus the Christ, their imaginations were captivated by the story told in bright color. The could walk around the church building and follow the stations of the cross, experiencing first hand the events of Christ's passion. They were confronted with statues of men and women long dead…and yet, men and women still alive in Christ. These saints are family members, brothers and sisters of the whole church, and they remind the individual of the timelessness of the Church, and that God, through his grace, has been creating saints for generations.

The focal point of the room is a crucifix, hanging on the wall, center front. Under this crucifix is a table with bread and wine. The lesson is taught: a man has died on a cross, he is the object of our worship. The bread and wine become the same flesh and blood, and through this meal we partake in Christ's saving work. We sacrifice ourselves with him. All of these truths (and many others) take form in the building itself. With time, anyone can "read" a church.

The true ideas that man is a material being, and through material things God communicates his grace to man, take form in traditional Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches. The buildings themselves are part of the worship, which is appropriate for humans. They are spaces marked off for God, and God is the animating focus of everything that happens in those spaces. They are refuges from daily trials, they are (literally!) heaven on earth. Understanding the truth about human anthropology, these churches engage the senses…all five. They utilize physical things to reveal spiritual truths. This is what Christ himself did, it is what the Hebrews did in pre-Christian worship, and it is what the Church Fathers did as well.

I believe the Gnostic error has slipped into many Protestant churches. I think many of them try to strip their church of "distractions" so that we can focus on God. The idea is that God is a spiritual being, and that we have souls trapped in our flesh. We need to not focus on our bodily life, but transcend it to worship God as disembodied spirits. Soon one gets the sense that many of these churches believe that the physical world is an impediment to spiritual life. Some even seem to believe that material things is somehow evil. This error has been around since the beginning of the Church, it is called gnosticism, and all of the early councils condemned this heresy in the strongest possible terms. From time to time the error creeps back in, and I think we see that today. This error is especially seen in many Eastern religions, and these religions have started to have an influence on Christianity.

Therefore, we need to be mindful of gnosticism and combat it wherever we see it. God created man material, God became flesh himself, and he has redeemed even the physical world. In building our churches the goal is to redeem the world…this physical world…by creating beautiful, God-centered structures.

Beauty is important. Many evangelicals have a clear understanding that God is Truth, and they always defend His Truth. They know that God is Good, and they defend Goodness (for example, outlawing abortion, preserving marriage, etc.). However, few remember that God is also Beauty, and that in areas like art, music, and architecture, we honor God by making something aesthetically beautiful. Evangelicals are strong when defending the fact that Truth is not subjective, that Goodness is not subjective, but when it comes to Beauty, it seems that anything goes. "Who's to say?" We need to recapture beauty as a Christian ideal. We need to paint beautiful paintings again, compose beautiful music, build beautiful buildings. We need to honor God by redeeming the physical world through participation in His aesthetic Beauty.

Traditional Christian churches did that. Modern Christian churches (including Catholic churches) have lost a sense of beauty, and they are no longer as meaning-filled as they used to be. We must redeem the situation, beautify the buildings to honor God, and once again take true spiritual ideas and give them physical form.

Oh boy, where am I now? I know I am talking around the point, and I fear I have not yet really hit the nail on the head. What I wanted to say in all of this is that Church buildings are not just where we worship, they are part of worship. As bodily beings, we are able to even worship along with the building! Buildings, created by human hands, convey messages that glorify God. When we step into them with the intention of worshiping, we conform ourselves to the message of the whole structure, conveying with our will the truths articulated by the building itself. Through human intention, the building itself becomes part of the Christian worship, it really is the Church on earth. As the website for the Byzantine Catholic Church in America said, "The church building manifests our Christian faith in graphic terms, and allows us to participate in that faith in a tangible way with all our senses, with our entire person."

I also do not want to ignore the fact that the building itself is holy ground. It is very unfortunate that we have lost a sense for the sacred in our culture, that we have become convinced that there is no difference between our church and our bathroom when it comes to God's presence. Obviously no one denies that God is omnipresent. There is no place where He is not. That is true. But God manifests his presence more fully in the Church, especially in the Eucharist. This is not an unusual concept. It is seen throughout the Old Testament. God manifested his presence in a physical place, the Temple. Though, I must not forget, St. Stephen tells us that God was always far bigger than a place created by human hands (Acts 7:48). It is true, no building can contain him. Still, sacred places are still set apart for worship, and God is present when we worship in this very special way. We set physical things and places aside as sacred not for God's sake, but for ours. Again, ideas take form.

I should probably let the Catholic Church describe this reality for me, since I understand it so poorly. The following I from the Catechism, and as I said before, it is a vision held by Catholics, Orthodox, and traditional Protestants (with some modifications):

1179 The worship "in Spirit and in truth" of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place. The whole earth is sacred and entrusted to the children of men. What matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the "living stones," gathered to be "built into a spiritual house." For the Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, "we are the temple of the living God."

1180 When the exercise of religious liberty is not thwarted, Christians construct buildings for divine worship. These visible churches are not simply gathering places but signify and make visible the Church living in this place, the dwelling of God with men reconciled and united in Christ.

1181 A church, "a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble, and where is worshipped the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful—this house ought to be in good taste and a worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial." 57 In this "house of God" the truth and the harmony of the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place.

1186 Finally, the church has an eschatological significance. To enter into the house of God, we must cross a threshold, which symbolizes passing from the world wounded by sin to the world of the new Life to which all men are called. The visible church is a symbol of the Father's house toward which the People of God is journeying and where the Father "will wipe every tear from their eyes." Also for this reason, the Church is the house of all God's children, open and welcoming.

Therefore, it is true that worship is not tied exclusively to a building. However, when there is freedom, Christian ideas take form in physical buildings. These buildings are more than just places to meet, they are the place where the community comes to encounter God, united in Christ. Church is not a social club. God is the focus of Christian worship, and the Church building should be oriented around that truth. In this sacred place God dwells amongst us in a more complete way than he does otherwise. For the Church Fathers, modern Catholics, Orthodox, and some Protestants, the pinnacle of this is Christ's real presence in the Eucharist.

So much can be said, and much of what I have said should be elaborated. Let me just say that it is true that the first Christians worshiped in homes. But look at Acts 2:44-46, "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes." Where did they meet together? In their homes, yes, but also in the temple area. They did not see themselves as a new religion, they saw themselves as a continuation of the Jewish religion, or rather, a fulfillment of the Jewish religion. The temple was still part of their worship in these early days.

What happened? Most likely they were kicked out of the temple eventually as Jewish officials started to crack down on the Christian sect. Persecution began, and obviously Christians could not then buy land and build churches. Over time, as the Church developed it started to set aside apartments specifically for worship (as early as the second century). Once the persecution ended, early Christians immediately started to build separate buildings to glorify God, buildings that were iconic of their faith, buildings that facilitated worship for bodily human beings.

There was never a time when worship in individual homes was considered normative. It is not even normative in the Bible. None of the early Christians (so far as I know) believed it was normative. It was always a "plan B" until God, in His Providence, provided an opportunity for something better.

I hoped my point would be simple, but after all these words I don't know. All I meant to say is that church buildings are normative and appropriate for Christian worship, which is God centered and sacramental. The Church building itself is a sacrament, a visible form of a spiritual reality. In this case it is the visible form of heaven itself; the heavenly temple where the High Priest, Jesus Christ, presides, offering to God Himself. In the Church building men and women meet, in union with all the angels and saints, and partake in divine worship. Though it is not necessary to have a building (even today it remains impossible for many Christians, either because of political oppression or financial constraints), the building should be desired for the glory of God. In a church building Christian worship is realized in its fullness.

I look forward to any responses.

Rick