"The old church buildings and services of our grandparents’ childhood may have appeared boring and irrelevant—designed as they were for prayer and silent reflection, weddings, baptisms, and funerals—but since our present churches have been optimized for entertainment and advertisement, we’re beginning to feel the loss." My twenty-something daughter is not interested in church right now, but she loves cathedrals. She will sit in silence and marvel at the stories told in stained glass and allow her eyes to be drawn upward by the soaring ceilings. The medium is indeed the message and there something in her that is still drawn to that message despite her self-proclaimed ambivalence about faith.
Thank you for these thoughts. May we learn to number our days and gain that promised heart of wisdom. Local, restful, and holy is a good place to start.
I can relate to every single sentiment in this essay. Your essay has given words to the fatigue in my heart as I have navigated church this last season. I do not attend a mega church. It once was a mega church now perhaps down to 800 between two services. But we are almost a satellite campus of a famous seminary and we are a commuter church and there are members who are experiencing everything you have said. I have not had the words or the emotional strength to write or say what I have felt but I am deeply thankful for your words. I do not know what the future will bring so for now I cling to God and use my time at church to serve the ones I love to the best of my ability.
Yeah it’s hard to explain to other baptists why I love the little Catholic Church down the street that’s open 24/7 where I can just sit in silence, smell the residual incense, & light a candle I just do
This overlaps so much with Henri Nouwen's chapter on celibacy in Clowning in Rome. He compares people set apart for God's purposes to sacred chapels within the bustling city of Rome, places of space, silence, and prayer. As our churches must be different from the world around us (consumeristic, busy, distracted), so must our lives be as followers of Jesus.
AMEN. Our hearts are the true sanctuaries of the Holy Spirit. I haven't read that work of Nouwen, but I was just speaking with a friend about him, so this seems well-timed.
This resonates deeply with some things we've been thinking about lately. I sometimes type or scribble frantic notes in my phone or notes in my journal about things like this and think I should just write an essay. Then I read something like this and realize that someone else has already done the work, just in a much wiser and more loving and better way all around than I could have.
This is a beautiful vision for the future of the church and I really long to be part of that some day. One of my prayers for our two daughters has been, since they were born, that they would grow to see the church be the church. Because for some reason, even though I appreciate the church I go to, it has always seemed to be not quite what He had in mind.
I've been thinking lately about the similarities between the structures and systems of churches and those of the family. It seems that even families who would be considered intact, as in, not broken, are almost broken by default in a society that demands so much time away from one another, away from the home, not to mention endless distractions.
And honestly just last week I was thinking, maybe communities need less church volunteers and more available dads and moms, aunts and uncles, grandparents; friends. Just people being available. Neighbors. I have sometimes wondered if it is even possible in this place, with all of our busyness, to actually love our neighbors, unless we all slow down, that is.
Anyways, yeah, this vision of the church is what we long for.
Gosh, now YOU have gone and articulated some of MY deep thoughts. Thank you for this. I feel very much the same, even beyond just church—with regard to family, job, and neighbors as well. Homeschooling has helped with some of this, but it’s also not perfect. I have the exact same prayer/hope for our kids. Like, “If this could come about in time for my grandkids…” Anyway, same page. Thank you for these wonderful words. I do think it’s possible. Let us not give up praying and working toward it.
Ah yes, wise words for sure. We think it's possible too! I was homeschooled the whole way through and we plan to homeschool our children as well. The older I get the more I realize how much of a gift it was!
Amen and amen! The lack of concern for reverence through beauty is a serious malaise of the non-denominational evangelical churches today. Hooray for steeples, stained glass, profound music, the ritual of the Apostles Creed, and silence. Cease and desist with the jumping around.
I agree. Though, I feel compelled to admit that many non-denom communities still do take beauty very seriously, even if their spaces are not marked by stained glass windows and Bach on the organ. My own (mega-church satellite campus) is in an old Presbyterian sanctuary, which is quite beautiful, thankfully.
This is all so true. Well-said. And it is a part of why I have left the evangelical church culture and have become Catholic. It’s not perfect there, but the medium is the message, and I am finding the medium there to be more congruent with the message I have loved all my life. Reading about gnostic heresies in the early church - within the lifetime of the apostles and their first generation successors - where groups were springing up preaching that faith was a matter of intellectual assent, that spiritual meant non-physical (and therefore it didn’t matter that much what you did with the physical including your own body), that individual interpretation of scripture was paramount, emphasizing free grace over transformation (as though you could have one without the other), I couldn’t help but recognize themes from the evangelical churches that I knew and loved. Our faith is meant to be embodied.
Thanks for this, Kate. As an evangelical, I must admit you're right on a lot of levels. And yes, our faith is indeed meant to be embodied. It's my hope/belief that we Prots can and will join you in this re-embodiment. Here's to a reunion of the people of God.
Yes. I grew up participating in contemplative Christian practices in Montana. Those practices were rich and orienting toward Gods beauty and goodness. At the time, I also attended a megachurch in Ohio. The rich encounters with Christ and the slow transformation that resulted far outweighed the form I was experiencing at church. I never gave up on pursuing the silence, solitude, and presence, but I did give up on church. It wasn’t until I experienced a mass that a “why” struck me. I saw how the same silence and solitude and presence I experienced on the mountaintop was there, in the simple act of orientation through the sacraments. It wasn’t “sexy” but the difference was so palpable. It drew me back to attending church because I saw purpose in it again- theosis, becoming, presence.
I think form is so important. And even though I know God is present in the megachurch, I think it can be so hard to be present to him through the noise, lights, and fog.
Man, this is powerful. And stings me a little. I know so many evangelicals that are finally discovering the power of silence, solitude, and presence off on their own, but have yet to participate in these realities in the same way at church. I didn't get into it in this article, but the sacraments are sort of what I'm getting at here with local, restful, and holy. Anyway, very well said.
Until I read this, I hadn’t realised “tired” was a good word to describe what I’ve felt about church. And it’s not at all because I dislike my church, have a hectic schedule or have been serving too much. It’s more existential.
I don’t think this is about contemporary vs traditional styles of church services or buildings. “Local, restful and holy” sounds like a solid and appealing trio to me and I’m genuinely curious about what different forms/expressions this could take.
Very well said. I’m sorry to hear about your tiredness, but I understand it. And I agree this isn’t about contemporary versus traditional. It’s deeper than “expression.” I’ve been talking with a number of pastors in our area from different backgrounds, and I think the essence of “local, restful, and holy” is pretty transferrable across a number of different traditions and forms. But also it probably will require some significant/uncomfotable shifts in every case.
oh, so you want me to lose my volunteer staff of 700 people for the sake of a few souls and a neighborhood ?
wiiiiiild
imagne actually doing what Jesus did. :)
"The old church buildings and services of our grandparents’ childhood may have appeared boring and irrelevant—designed as they were for prayer and silent reflection, weddings, baptisms, and funerals—but since our present churches have been optimized for entertainment and advertisement, we’re beginning to feel the loss." My twenty-something daughter is not interested in church right now, but she loves cathedrals. She will sit in silence and marvel at the stories told in stained glass and allow her eyes to be drawn upward by the soaring ceilings. The medium is indeed the message and there something in her that is still drawn to that message despite her self-proclaimed ambivalence about faith.
Beautifully put. May that beauty lead her again to the source of all beauty.
This speaks to the soul
Thanks brother
Thank you for these thoughts. May we learn to number our days and gain that promised heart of wisdom. Local, restful, and holy is a good place to start.
Thanks, Abigail. Agreed!
I can relate to every single sentiment in this essay. Your essay has given words to the fatigue in my heart as I have navigated church this last season. I do not attend a mega church. It once was a mega church now perhaps down to 800 between two services. But we are almost a satellite campus of a famous seminary and we are a commuter church and there are members who are experiencing everything you have said. I have not had the words or the emotional strength to write or say what I have felt but I am deeply thankful for your words. I do not know what the future will bring so for now I cling to God and use my time at church to serve the ones I love to the best of my ability.
I felt this on such a deep level. One of the best pieces I've ever read on this topic. Ross, thank you so much! Many things to think on here.
Thank you, Sandrina. So glad it resonated.
Hearing echoes of Eugene Peterson, refreshing read!
Thank you, Caleb. That’s a high compliment.
Yeah it’s hard to explain to other baptists why I love the little Catholic Church down the street that’s open 24/7 where I can just sit in silence, smell the residual incense, & light a candle I just do
Exactly. Make churches unlocked again.
This overlaps so much with Henri Nouwen's chapter on celibacy in Clowning in Rome. He compares people set apart for God's purposes to sacred chapels within the bustling city of Rome, places of space, silence, and prayer. As our churches must be different from the world around us (consumeristic, busy, distracted), so must our lives be as followers of Jesus.
AMEN. Our hearts are the true sanctuaries of the Holy Spirit. I haven't read that work of Nouwen, but I was just speaking with a friend about him, so this seems well-timed.
This resonates deeply with some things we've been thinking about lately. I sometimes type or scribble frantic notes in my phone or notes in my journal about things like this and think I should just write an essay. Then I read something like this and realize that someone else has already done the work, just in a much wiser and more loving and better way all around than I could have.
This is a beautiful vision for the future of the church and I really long to be part of that some day. One of my prayers for our two daughters has been, since they were born, that they would grow to see the church be the church. Because for some reason, even though I appreciate the church I go to, it has always seemed to be not quite what He had in mind.
I've been thinking lately about the similarities between the structures and systems of churches and those of the family. It seems that even families who would be considered intact, as in, not broken, are almost broken by default in a society that demands so much time away from one another, away from the home, not to mention endless distractions.
And honestly just last week I was thinking, maybe communities need less church volunteers and more available dads and moms, aunts and uncles, grandparents; friends. Just people being available. Neighbors. I have sometimes wondered if it is even possible in this place, with all of our busyness, to actually love our neighbors, unless we all slow down, that is.
Anyways, yeah, this vision of the church is what we long for.
Thank you for this wonderful piece!
Gosh, now YOU have gone and articulated some of MY deep thoughts. Thank you for this. I feel very much the same, even beyond just church—with regard to family, job, and neighbors as well. Homeschooling has helped with some of this, but it’s also not perfect. I have the exact same prayer/hope for our kids. Like, “If this could come about in time for my grandkids…” Anyway, same page. Thank you for these wonderful words. I do think it’s possible. Let us not give up praying and working toward it.
Ah yes, wise words for sure. We think it's possible too! I was homeschooled the whole way through and we plan to homeschool our children as well. The older I get the more I realize how much of a gift it was!
Amen and amen! The lack of concern for reverence through beauty is a serious malaise of the non-denominational evangelical churches today. Hooray for steeples, stained glass, profound music, the ritual of the Apostles Creed, and silence. Cease and desist with the jumping around.
I agree. Though, I feel compelled to admit that many non-denom communities still do take beauty very seriously, even if their spaces are not marked by stained glass windows and Bach on the organ. My own (mega-church satellite campus) is in an old Presbyterian sanctuary, which is quite beautiful, thankfully.
This is all so true. Well-said. And it is a part of why I have left the evangelical church culture and have become Catholic. It’s not perfect there, but the medium is the message, and I am finding the medium there to be more congruent with the message I have loved all my life. Reading about gnostic heresies in the early church - within the lifetime of the apostles and their first generation successors - where groups were springing up preaching that faith was a matter of intellectual assent, that spiritual meant non-physical (and therefore it didn’t matter that much what you did with the physical including your own body), that individual interpretation of scripture was paramount, emphasizing free grace over transformation (as though you could have one without the other), I couldn’t help but recognize themes from the evangelical churches that I knew and loved. Our faith is meant to be embodied.
Thanks for this, Kate. As an evangelical, I must admit you're right on a lot of levels. And yes, our faith is indeed meant to be embodied. It's my hope/belief that we Prots can and will join you in this re-embodiment. Here's to a reunion of the people of God.
Amen to that!
Yes. I grew up participating in contemplative Christian practices in Montana. Those practices were rich and orienting toward Gods beauty and goodness. At the time, I also attended a megachurch in Ohio. The rich encounters with Christ and the slow transformation that resulted far outweighed the form I was experiencing at church. I never gave up on pursuing the silence, solitude, and presence, but I did give up on church. It wasn’t until I experienced a mass that a “why” struck me. I saw how the same silence and solitude and presence I experienced on the mountaintop was there, in the simple act of orientation through the sacraments. It wasn’t “sexy” but the difference was so palpable. It drew me back to attending church because I saw purpose in it again- theosis, becoming, presence.
I think form is so important. And even though I know God is present in the megachurch, I think it can be so hard to be present to him through the noise, lights, and fog.
Man, this is powerful. And stings me a little. I know so many evangelicals that are finally discovering the power of silence, solitude, and presence off on their own, but have yet to participate in these realities in the same way at church. I didn't get into it in this article, but the sacraments are sort of what I'm getting at here with local, restful, and holy. Anyway, very well said.
Until I read this, I hadn’t realised “tired” was a good word to describe what I’ve felt about church. And it’s not at all because I dislike my church, have a hectic schedule or have been serving too much. It’s more existential.
I don’t think this is about contemporary vs traditional styles of church services or buildings. “Local, restful and holy” sounds like a solid and appealing trio to me and I’m genuinely curious about what different forms/expressions this could take.
Very well said. I’m sorry to hear about your tiredness, but I understand it. And I agree this isn’t about contemporary versus traditional. It’s deeper than “expression.” I’ve been talking with a number of pastors in our area from different backgrounds, and I think the essence of “local, restful, and holy” is pretty transferrable across a number of different traditions and forms. But also it probably will require some significant/uncomfotable shifts in every case.
Interested to see how your thinking and discussions on this develop, Ross :)
Another good one. Thanks, Ross.
This is so relatable and relevant. I am so thankful to have read it. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, MJ. In a sense, I'm sorry if it's relatable! But also glad it was helpful.