Tea-kettles and cowboy boots

I have to admit, the diecut tea kettles, cowboy boots, and construction paper hearts that hung from the ceiling looked a little out of place as church decor out at Terrier Rouge last weekend. Sort of comical that they dressed it up with hundreds of these cut-outs strung across the ceiling. I get the fake flowers, still covered in their cellophane protecting them from the dust and elements, as Haitian churches (or buildings for that matter) don't have windows, but rather, typically use concrete cinder block with holes to create breezeways through the walls. but construction paper, exposed to wind, rain, and dust, is definitely not going to cut it.

this last Sunday, I noticed that the church here in Petite-Anse that we attend had really upped their decor too. Twine held up the large, maroon and gold curtains wrapped around the white columns that lined the aisle ways. They still had the metal grommets at the top, and probably fit around the column at least a good three full times. I guess it was meant to protect the white column from the elements, too. Although, I'm not from this nation, and I usually try to appreciate things of other cultures, all of this decor seemed so unnecessary, silly, and just out of place.

I wonder how often God looks at us in our churches and thinks the same thing.

Unnecessary. Silly. Out of place.

We spend so much money building buildings, perfecting stage lighting, replacing pews with cushiond chairs, doing sound checks. We pour our pledges into concrete, instead of people. We watch our money grow on the big, red thermometer on the wall, instead of seeing His Kingdom expand.

Will we ever be content with having everything we need in a two-thousand-year-old book? As David Platt put it in his book, Radical, "His Word is enough for millions of other believers who huddle in Africn jungles, South American rain forests, and Middle Eastern Cities. But is His Word enough for us?"

Yesterday, we sat around a coffee table at a guest home of another ministry in town. Our Bibles in hand, and a podcast playing over a computer, we listened and read through the book of Amos. In place of a/c, we opened both doors and let the breeze continue through the room. In place of our Sunday's best, we wore the same sweaty, dirty clothes we wore to church earlier that morning. In lieu of singing along to a praise band, we interceded over each others prayer request corporately. We didn't need a pastor, a fancy sanctuary, or stage presence. We had His presence. What more did we need?

I'm not saying American churches (or the church as a global body even) are a bad thing, at all. They serve a huge purpose in our communities, and are intended for good. I'm just challenging you to take a look at how you define your church home/family/body. I know that's a bold challenge, but I can't help but think of what God would have to say about how we define our standard of church. You can have the grandeur rooms, the pricey instruments, the entertainment value. But if you don't have the Word and His presence, those things are nothing more than temporal, construction paper tea-kettles and cowboy boots.


Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down." Luke 21:5-6