The Church with No Cross

I was in Austin recently to perform by niece's wedding. I was tickled to do it and Austin is always a cool place to visit. This was what some folks refer to as a venue wedding. I think that it's kind of like a destination wedding but not as far away as Costa Rica or Belize or Tahiti. So the wedding party from Dallas boogies down to Austin with friends and relatives arriving at the "venue" from points far and near.

 The venue was a cluster of old buildings at a ranch southwest of Austin arranged in the style of an old western town. If you are old enough think, 'Gunsmoke,' if you are young, think 'Cowboys and Aliens' as far as a town setting. The town's main street was rustic with an old barber shop, school house, feed store, saloon, which was, fittingly enough, the groom's quarters and of course, an old church. I felt like I'd walked onto the set for High Noon. I kept looking for Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper to come running around the corner trying to get away from Frank Miller.  The young people in the wedding party gave me a very quizzical look when I started singing "do not forsake me oh, my darling, on this our wedding day...." at the rehearsal. They were clueless as I would have been if they started singing something from Lady Googa.

I arrived at the appointed time for the rehearsal, which meant I was forty-five minutes ahead of everyone else. I wandered around and looked in the buildings and then settled in a chair at the back of the old church. It was air conditioned but other than that the owners of the ranch left things pretty well untouched from its original use as a worship center. The church was small and simple by today's standards. It could hold about 125 worshippers. I'm guessing it was 80 to 150 years old. It had oak plank floors that creaked a little in certain places when you walked. It had tongue-in-groove planking for the walls. It had a tiny foyer with a rope to pull the church bell above in the steeple. A vintage upright piano from Steinway and Sons, (London, New York and Boston) stood in the corner ready for gifted hands or five year olds looking for a release of energy. The pews were wooden, extremely upright and comfort was not a concept in their design. It had a platform that was about a foot high and was eight foot square. The alter was a rectangle block about four by five. Everything was simple, functional, purposeful in that old church. It gave a good feel. The vibe was quietium sub gravitas. But something was missing.

There was no cross. There was no pulpit. There was no communion table. There were no symbols of Christianity at all. Yes, it was simply a wedding chapel now. People could bring whatever symbols and decorations into the building now and make the building fit their belief system. I have no quarrel with that. This only makes sense for a retreat, wedding,  and party venue that would have clients from many faiths and many backgrounds. Yet as I sat in the back of that old church building I noticed a sense of sadness in my spirit, not so much for the way the little church is used now, as it still occasionally functions as a church and Jesus' name is honored there. My melancholy was for so many churches that are trying to function as a church today yet still have no cross except on the wall. A church without a cross is like an ocean without water, a mountain with no height, a farm with no dirt, or a home with no people. Jesus' words of "take up your cross and follow me'' are strange to hear now days. We preach self-awareness and self-fulfilment but not much do we hear of self-denial. We speak of our churches as  successful, inspiring, dynamic, happening, atttractional, friendly, and missional. We desire them to be relational and relative and real.  Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John used words like humble, crucified, fruitful, persevering, faithful, self-controlled, and loving. We have plenty of programs in our  "western" churches these days, lots of gadgets, a highly motivated and educated clergy, and much fear, disengagement, selfishness, and angst. The calm assurance, the peaceful mind, the stilled heart with the steeled resolve to love, serve, and sacrifice all the while longing for our eternal home are too often missing. Maybe the little church in the wedding venue in southwest Austin held the clue as to why and how: why this is true and how can it change. Jesus said, "anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27)  Paul's view was "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."  Galatians 6:14

When I came for the wedding the next day, the chapel had been beautifully decorated. My niece had hung a cross at the front.

Cos