And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’” (Exodus 20:22-26, ESV)

I love old churches and cathedrals. The stained glass, the arches, the domes, the statues, and the timelessness of the building produce in me a sense of veneration and a sense of gratitude for the experience of being there.

But the question arises, “Who am I venerating?” 

There is a neighborhood in Philadelphia that has two Roman Catholic Churches within four blocks on the same street. Both are beautiful structures. 

The explanation as to why there are two churches of the same denomination so close together is that when they were built, the original occupants of each church spoke a different language from the other. According to Google Maps, one of the congregations still has services in Polish.

There is nothing wrong with worship that uses a language familiar to the worshippers. I would not be very encouraged by a service in Polish, and I’m sure native Polish speakers feel the same about English. 

Looking at the two buildings, one also gets a sense that there may have been some competition between the two groups to see who could build the more beautiful and grandiose church. Even now, when you read the reviews of these churches in Google Maps, the focus is on the buildings and how beautiful and ornate they are.

But we learn from the passage in Exodus quoted above that God never wanted the worship to be about the structure or equipment used in worship. The focus should be on the beauty of God, not on the beauty of the building.

The building is a tool to allow the gathering of worshippers, not an end in itself. The building should provide enough comfort to help us focus on worship, but not so ornate that we are distracted by what is around us.

The problem is that what one finds helpful, another may find distracting, so it is difficult to navigate what is best for a particular congregation. The important point is not the style of the worship, nor the style of the building used for worship, but whether the worship is God-focused and sincere.

In my own church, there are a few aspects of the worship service that I don’t find helpful (the smoke machine comes to mind), but I look past these to focus on the parts that prompt me toward genuine worship.

True worship is an exercise in humility. 

Broken people in need of grace come together in humility to worship a God who freely offers that grace.

That is the point of worship.