Friday, June 30, 2017

Churches and shopping malls

It used to be that churches were built with expensive materials--gold, brass, marble, stone, etc. Artists were hired to create original works of art. Houses of worship were designed to meet the spiritual needs of people. Now they are built economically for the comfort of the worshipers with decor selected from church catalogs. Other churches are in storefronts and converted buildings
Shopping malls are grand with light from clerestory windows. Shoppers enter thru large, sparkling class doors with brass handles to see floors and walls of stone and marble. There are abundant chapels of consumer worship along the aisles that lead to the main altar, the anchor store. There are domes and cupolas, and the art is often original. The baptismal font has morphed into a gurgling fountain for stray pennies.
And of course, which one of these spaces gets the most worshippers on Sunday?

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