Did our forefathers really believe the Church was only a building?  Then why did they build schools, orphanages, hospitals, villages, cities, states, kingdoms and nations?  Why did they move to the jungle and live in huts, or the dessert and live in caves.  Why were there always priests and chaplains on ships, in battle and in prisons?  Why did they express their faith in the rich images of literary, painted, sculpted, symphonic and performed metaphor?  Not to mention protecting the institution of the family as sacred.

The reality is that to congregate, hear preaching, sing songs and pray, you need a location.  We aren’t disembodied souls.  The early church met in Mark’s mother’s house, probably because she was well-off and it was large enough to fit them.  Later Christians advanced the art of architecture, making buildings larger and more beautiful.  And why wouldn’t they?  Do we hold this against them?  These communities poured their blood and sweat into cathedrals, monuments to their faith which stand to this day.  Those rock are crying out.  It’s strange that what we hear are dissonant tones, especially considering the amazing acoustics.  There seems to be a growing dislike for excellence in anything, except the function of our devices.  When they go wrong we lose it.  But everything else is no longer a pursuit of excellence, what is it a pursuit of?

Why is attempting to build a church building by the best theology you can find somehow suspect?  Is it more appropriate for the government, hopelessly lost in their humanism, not knowing what a male or a female is, to build buildings and we simply rent them?  The fact is we paid for them.  The state doesn’t have any money they must first get it from us.  Why do we let them have the power over our money?  Isn’t it all about power?  The church isn’t allowed to exert power, to pursue excellence, that’s intimidation.  But the state can be all powerful?

Why do we shoehorn the reach of our faith out of every aspect of life?  Why do we consider this more Christian? Why are we hiding our light?  Our faith is limited to a small corner of our heart, expressed only, just a bit, when we, *shh* meet together.  Oh my that was hard to say, to admit.

We are to take every thought captive.  Jesus is King.  That’s a fact, he is reigning on high. That’s the Gospel. He earned this exalted position by laying down his life as the perfect sacrifice.  We are to go into the whole earth baptizing everyone.  It’s a geographical mission, we should claim territory.  There was a territorial aspect to the ruling effect Satan and his demons offered to Jesus in the wilderness.  We shouldn’t be afraid to boldly build buildings.  Everyone else builds buildings which expound their religion.  That’s why we have so many dark, confused, sharp, ugly buildings.  Cathedrals were engineered and crafted over generations to fit in more windows, to bring in more light, we are the light of the world.  We have the word of God, we are at peace with him.  Everything we do should reflect this.  We don’t have to fit the gospel into architecture, like Rosie O cramming into her jeans.  It’s there already, men at peace with God, free of sin are able to build and create and reflect the glory of God in everything they do.  What do you spend your money on that’s so much better than a beautiful building?