Where we worship

I adore architecture.  

I am intrigued by different forms of building and love to experience new places.  

Churches, chapels and cathedrals are fascinating places for me visually, emotionally and spiritually.  

So are art galleries, museums, stadiums, libraries, palaces and anywhere that surprises me and makes me feel differently.

I am sure I'm not alone in this; so I ask:

Does the place where you worship affect how you worship?

Immediately the answer is yes; that's exactly why churches were first built.  The sense of awe, wonder and majesty in the building added to, and even started the same feelings in worship.  Going to a specific place to "meet" God was essential.

I think it's the effect of architecture.  The way a church is designed and set out to draw our attention to, usually, the alter and the cross.  As we explore the church we immediately know it's purpose, we sense the almighty and we settle into connecting with it.

But God is everywhere, we know that. So surely we can worship on a hillside as easily as a church.  I have my greatest God encounters in nature, so why do I gravitate towards church buildings when I'm looking for God?

Children know this.  I doubt there are many Sunday schools which get to worship in the main church building; yet children meet and connect with God just where they are.  When I'm leading Sunday school I meet with God powerfully in the church hall, in fact it can be strange to go back into church; I meet differently but equally valuably.

So yes, I think the place we worship definitely effects how we worship.  But sometimes this can be a constraint to our experience of God.  How about breaking out sometimes and worshipping in the park or in a cafe?  Or how about holding the main service in the church hall and Sunday school in church; I wonder how that would be.