Church at Starbucks?

November 22, 2004 · Filed Under theology

Thought-provoking posting from Rob over at Love and Blunder, entitled Why not have church at Starbucks?
I haven’t commented on it yet, mainly because the topic piqued my interest so quickly, particularly when Rob offered these questions for consideration:

Why modify the church to look more like secular culture when the culture does the best job of looking like itself? Why don’t we Christians get off our butts and into culture, and share the Gospel there?

Now, for me, these are two very important questions. Questions that go a long way towards answering the original question of “Why not have church at Starbucks?”.

Church is Church. It is held in a sacred space, for sacred reasons. Those reasons have nothing to do with the prevailing culture. The Divine Service transcends the prevailing culture, and gives us in the Church Militant a comforting glimpse of the Church Triumphant.

Let’s not fall into the currently en vogue trap of confusing “spirituality” with what happens in the Divine Service. I have no doubt that people can feel “spiritual” any/everywhere. The Divine Service, by comparison, is to be held somewhere in accord with the guidelines given in Scripture, as well as with the orthodox practices built up over the life of the church, beginning with the Apostolic Church. Tradition does not trump, or even equate to, Scripture when it comes to doctrine; it does, however, help guide us along the path to orthopraxis. It also helps us avoid the pitfalls awaiting us if we pay too much attention to the prevailing culture and what it deems as “relevant,” “reasonable,” and/or “necessary.”

We stand to lose far more by allowing the sacred to degenerate into something that half-assedly apes pop culture, than we could ever lose by hewing closely & faithfully to orthodox traditions & practices.

Why not have church at Starbucks?

Because a church is designed to conduct the Divine Service.

And a Starbucks is designed to sell you (overpriced) coffee.

-ghp
(who must admit that he *is* fond of a nice mocha latte w/a shot of caramel…)

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Tags: church, comfort, faith, liturgy, pop culture, spirituality