Cynthia Ware's Question: For whom should a church building be designed? My response: I wonder if we are asking the best question. Is there a deeper issue?
One of the heated debates in Palestine at the time of Jesus concerned the “proper location” for worship. Mount Gerizim and Mount Zion were the two contenders. The worship in both locations was flawed. Mount Gerizim represented a form of worship that did not honor the truth, ie, the Samaritans worshiped what they did not know. In Jerusalem, it was only marginally better. By all accounts, they had a killer facility. And they had the truth, the Old Testament. But their response, particularly from leadership, was laced with hypocrisy. They did not worship from the inside out, but went through the routine while “their hearts are far from Me.”
This is what makes Jesus' remarks to the “woman at the well” so poignant: Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ...But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”(John 4:21-24).
I am not disparaging the importance of architectural and physical factors. Anything that gets in the way of true worship has got to go. But, Jesus is saying that “now worship” transcends the limitations of facilities and locations. Let’s be careful not to become pre-occupied with architecture.
Some years back, I attended a worship service in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. I have never experienced a worship service that was more moving, more vibrant, more ALIVE. Nothing about the facility was remarkable. By western standards, it was appallingly inadequate. But God was working, and the building didn’t matter. Let’s make our buildings work, but let’s be unceasing in our appeals for God to work - through the truth, in our hearts!
Re: The worship in both locations was flawed. Mount Gerizim represented a form of worship that did not honor the truth, ie, the Samaritans worshiped what they did not know.
Comments:First, the location of Gerizim as a worship place is well recorded in Genesis. But one needs to read and have an understanding of this. Even Joshua after entering into the land of Israel set up in Shechem/Gerizim. This is were kings were made. There is so much evidence of this holy place, Even the covenant between God and the Israelites was made there. Remember it said and they shall appear before me!
2. How can someone worship if they do not know? The Samaritan-Israelites worshipped the God of Avraham, and still do. Just because you read something somewhere dooes not make it true!
Posted by: Larry Rynearson | May 02, 2008 at 10:01 AM