As we have been learning in Theology of Worship class, worship and art in worship is formative. Not just the songs we sing but also the art we experience visually. This visual art can be described and prescribed in many ways. Whether it is decorative art around a sanctuary, stained glass windows, lighting, iconography, all these art forms are shaping us. They shape what we think is important, what we think about the Church, and what we think about God. So, I will briefly explore three different church spaces and how they are formational in theology.
Space 1:
This is the small country church I have been serving at for the past year. The room is small to match its quaint context. With pretty plain and sterile walls, your focus goes to the front. At the front there’s a small platform, you can barely call it a stage. An area for the pulpit and an area for someone to stand to lead the songs. Behind the pulpit is a table for the candles and cloth. Behind that on the wall is a cross with a cloth draped over it. Something interesting is that on the sides of the cross are the American flag and the Christian flag. This just shows me the context in which this church exists, a small country church in the rural Midwest. The front is often decorated with flowers, although I am unsure if there is a meaning for which flowers and there throughout the year. This space can show that the church values traditional art; art that carries their traditions. The cloth has been passed down for years, the candle sticks are heirlooms, the flowers belong to the families of the church. But, it also highlights that their experience with art does not go far past their traditions. They keep it simple because that is how it has always been.
Space 2:
This is the church that I have been attending the past three years in college. This room I find beautiful. It feels warm and inviting in a unique way. Although the floors are concrete and cold, the room feels alive and holy. The big ceilings add a sense of grandeur and the warm lighting adds a sense of family community. The windows on the side are stained glass but are just colors. Not a story depicted, just there to offer color. And there is a giant cross at the center of it all. I think this space offers beauty in a way that forms people to feel safe but also to be in awe. I know that I have been struck but how light enters the room through the various colors, and how those colors dance and reflect on the people around me. In this space, they also decorate based on the season of the physical year. That feels like it highlights God in the world around us, but I wonder how it could become intentional for the church calendar or even the season that the church is in.
Space 3:
This is the church I grew up in. I have always been shocked by how grey this room is. Everything in it is grey, the chairs, the walls, the floor, the cross, the stage. It is all grey. The cross at the center, that has lighting behind it, is a good way to bring focus to Christ. And maybe the grey offers a blank, uninterrupted canvas for the art that will be offered. This church, during the sermon series, has people within the church creating visual art that reflects what they have been learning or what God has been showing them. At the end of the series the art gets displayed throughout the church. So the art gets greater influence because everything around it is grey. I don’t think this has to be the case, but it serves what they are trying to accomplish. This room makes space for constant new art that is offered by the people within the church. The only permanent art in the building is the cross at the center.
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