Excerpt from Psalm 84

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!  My soul longs, indeed it faints, for the courts of the Lord."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Recently my family has gotten to worship in lots of different church buildings.  As I've looked around each one, I've found myself wondering what the people who worship there regularly, especially the kids growing up there, love most about the building, and what it tells them about God.

I know, I know: the church isn't the building, we spend too much time fighting over and paying for our buildings, it's too easy for them to become ends instead of means.  I know.  But I'll tell you what: nothing in this world puts me in mind of the goodness of God faster or harder than the sight of the Jerusalem window two-thirds of the way back on the left hand side of the church where I was raised, or the bright red carpet below it.

It's hard to sit in the same room week after week after week, singing and praying and talking about ultimate things, without the features of that room imprinting themselves on one's consciousness.  It's hard not to have the color of a window, or the shape of the organ pipes, or the carving up in the corner become all wrapped up in your love for God.  So while we shouldn't love our buildings too much, I for one think it's just fine to love them a whole lot.

So back to my wonderings: what do you love about the place where you worship?  What's your favorite part of your sanctuary?  And what do you know about God because of it?  Tell us on Facebook!

Prayer

God, I know you don't live in my church, at least not more there than anywhere else.  But I sure do love it.  Grant that that love might not stop at bricks and mortar, glass and metal, but rather end where it should: with you.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell, a United Church of Christ minister, is the co-author, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ, published by The Pilgrim Press.

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