Holy Space - A Case for Church Buildings

Holy Space - A Case for Church Buildings

Caveat: I am not advocating the opening of church buildings, or suggesting that buildings are the most important element of ‘church’. Or that we can’t be ‘church’ without a building.  Nor is the fully thought out case but I share my thinking in the hope it helps articulate something else in the ‘building’ debate.  

For as long as I can remember I have preached that God is everywhere, accessible everywhere, and that to box God into a building is unhelpful and indeed wrong.  The Bible shows us that God is found in the burning bush, the cloud, the fiery pillar, the mountain, the tent, the garden and the temple to name but a few places.  My teenage years were in the Salvation Army and we worshipped outdoors at the pier, the beach, the street on a regular basis as well as in the hall that had no architectural beauty.  Previously, I was Church of Scotland in a quaint wee church in the village of Connel which has a very beautiful stain glass window.  Then I ended up back in the Church of Scotland, mostly in typical church structures in Edinburgh and Lanarkshire.  I have preached and taught that the building is a resource not a museum.  So hear me when I say I get it.  I do understand when we talk about not needing so many churches, about well-equipped spaces, about churches in the right places.  Lord, I would love a well-equipped space.  Churches are often the least welcoming structures on the planet. 

But I believe in church buildings.  There I have said it.  There is something incredibly significant about church buildings.  It isn’t the history.  Blantyre Old has had a church building on this site for 453 years, currently on our third building which is about 157 years old. And the most beautiful reason to celebrate this achievement is that 453 years the congregation heard the Word of God read in the common tongue for the first time as they gathered for worship.  The Church became a place for the people to gather in worship, to hear and to share together in Holy Communion, brought together for a common purpose.  For the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 

It isn’t the architecture or aesthetics.  A church is a church for me.  I judge a building by the state of its toilets! Mind you I will never forget the young man who sat in the back row of my first Christmas Eve Watchnight service in my first charge.  By now the majority of people had left and he was there still.  Speaking with him he said “Pink, why on earth did you paint it pink?” and I had to admit I had wondered that myself.  The Church used to blue before I arrived, and he was mourning it.  Suddenly he said “there is no way I am having my Dad’s funeral in a pink church.” And he left!   I have visited many cathedrals and churches in my time, and unlike, for many people, they don’t evoke a spiritual moment.  Yet for some they absolutely do, and I am amazed by the architecture and achievements of stonemasons and others and praise God for their gifts. 

So I always believed that I lived lightly with the idea of ‘church as building’, happily promoting that the church is the body of Christ, the people - and I still wholeheartedly believe that.  But all the conversations about church buildings is causing me some level of discomfort.  We think buildings are unimportant, merely a resource or a burden.  And prior to 2018 I think I would have readily joined in those conversations. Now I am on a different journey.

I have to come to the conclusion there is such a thing as holy space.  Yes, I know holy space is ‘everywhere’.  Two years ago a local ‘boy band’ filmed a cult video in the church, which included the simulated murder of a young lady on the chancel.  (The damage of that event is a story for another day and was filmed without permission.)  What that event did was challenge all my deeply held beliefs about sanctuary and holy space.  The building remains a building yet what the space represents is beyond definition.  As the minister I took the events incredibly personally and I had to work out why it affected me so badly.  Some of my reflections lead me to believe that we underestimate the value of the space within church buildings.  

Church allows us a different space to inhabit for a time.  A sanctuary away from the busyness of life, a place to be restored, to be refreshed, to be encouraged and to be empowered. Gathering allows us to celebrate God’s goodness, share our common story of faith and be sent out.  Someone commented on Twitter that we don’t need to open the churches for prayer because we can pray at home.  There are many things we don’t need buildings for - money we saved on gym fees could easily give us a home gym, we don’t need to eat out in restaurants or queue at McDonalds for a burger but we do.  Feedback I get on a regular basis from visitors and members to Blantyre Old is that it is a peaceful place.  The very atmosphere is tangible, calming even the most distressed.  I have had people so affected by it at funerals and weddings that even though they would never call themselves religious, they want to come back just to be in the space.

Church is a safe space (it should be).  A place where we come together without judgement or fear, knowing that we are all sinners, yet God welcomes us with open arms.  Church is, perhaps, the last gathering space where there are no criteria or waiting lists.  All are welcome, and yes that brings its own challenges.  When the young men filmed they made it impossible for the young lady to escape, and therefore showed the space as unsafe.  That was heartbreaking.  Therefore, church is a safe place in a world where there is often no safety. 

Church is about relationships, about people, about community.  We laugh, joke and moan about people and their seats.   Yet gazing around on a Sunday, we know who is missing.  And I don’t just mean the ones who are away on holidays, or a sports event, or unwell.  I mean the communion of saints.  I miss my saints too, seeing them especially when we sing their ‘favourite song’.  I see them and in that moment of worship we are connected with the cloud of witnesses. Gone but not forgotten.  The Jews believed that the Temple was where heaven and earth connected and when I see my saints on at worship, I know heaven is there. 

I am grateful for modern technology, and I am trying to be there online.  I am trying to be a minister to people in my parish and further afield.  I love the fact that I have been challenged to embrace it and in a way I’m sad it has taken the Church so long to embrace it. After all, the technology is not new and we have had individuals within the Church trying for years  to push us to reach out into cyberspace.  And I, for one, do want to know how to make cyberspace holy space, BUT not at the expense of losing holy space in the IRL (in real life).  

Let’s not do another reformation where we throw the baby out with the bath water.  Let us actually explore what holy space is before we destroy everything.  When I read reformation history I wept for the loss despite the gain.  Over time we have claimed back more and more, but we have also fallen back into bad habits of ‘clergy’ over ‘laity’.  I do pray for reformation and revival, and I will participate in the rationalisation of buildings.  However, I pray we don’t just see architecture and stones, burdens and bills.  I pray we see the presence of God and take our shoes off to stand on holy ground, and listen for Him first.  

God bless you! 

Love Sarah