Territorial Bloggings

As per the norm, Rev. McCain has unleashed another stellar posting over at Cyberbrethren - Courting Reverence.

This fine posting investigates why courtrooms have been allowed to keep their formality and purposeful sense of reverence, while churches have not. More important, though, is the discussion of why this has been, and continues to be, a bad thing for churches and the sinners who enter them.

Personally, I much prefer the traditional architecture of a cross-shaped church — preferably one where the historic liturgy is being celebrated in a joyously reverent fashion (and, no, that is not a contradiction!).

I fear that what has happened in the past 25-50 years is that the medium has overwhelmed and subverted the message. We’ve become too focused on the environment in which the message is delivered and/or the “mindset” of those receiving the message, and lost sight of the blessed message that we all so desperately need. The purpose of the Divine Service is for God to deliver His gifts to us. It is not for us to feel good & comfortable about what we are offering up to God. Music, words, architecture, and actions all have a role in properly ensuring that both praxis and doctrine are orthodox & complementary.

-ghp