David Bahn – Reflections

Genesis 13:14-18

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

There are those who question opulent and excessive-to-their-tastes buildings and church furnishings. St. Peter’s Basilica, the Crystal Cathedral, as well as some of the medieval cathedrals are targets of such questioning. The old saw, “why wasn’t that money spent on the poor” or “on missions,” is trotted out. When you can build a church in a third-world country for $30,000,  (as is done by International Cooperative Ministries, for one example) it may be reason to question spending $30 million on a church building in the United States.

The issue, however, is seldom an either-or proposition. Too often those who cry foul about spending too much on a local building, would never spend as much on a mission project or social welfare relief efforts. Too often the question is much more about one’s willingness to give, period. While some may want to re-direct funds from buildings to missions, truth be told many have such a meager giving record, that the world mission or poverty project would not gain from redirecting their funds. 

We may wonder why some are willing to offer great sums for the sake of a church building – beyond our ability to match their gifts. But here is precedent for such undertakings in the opening chapters of Genesis. Abram builds an altar to the Lord after he settles near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron. It may not have been extravagant. It may have amounted to little more than a pile of stones. But it was noteworthy enough to be mentioned in the Bible. So it was significant on some level.

There is something about having a place to go, an altar at which to worship, a visible expression of our dedication to the God of our life and salvation. It may not need to be a $30 Million cathedral. It may not even need to be a $30,000 church building. But when those who build such structures do so, it would be appropriate to appreciate the fact that they are willing to provide a gathering place for God’s people to come together, hear the Word, and rejoice in his gifts, and from that place go into the world to seek God’s kingdom and share the gifts he has given. The building becomes, in that case, a reminder, a gathering place, and a sending place for God’s kingdom and mission.