Symbolism, God, and the Church

Day 22: Leviticus 8 to 11

Over the past two years, I have come to appreciate symbolism, artwork, and beauty in places of worship.

I grew up in a church tradition (Church of Christ) that did not have such symbolism in its places of worship (even the Lord's Supper table was used for functional purposes). No artwork was hung on the walls. No candles were scattered around to set the tone for worship and thus there were no aromas to engage our sense of smell. Windows did not typically have stained glass. No banners, crosses, or tapestries could be seen. The building--the "auditorium" as we called it then--was bare. White walls. Flourescent lights. A podium up front. The building was purely functional; it wasn't at all symbolic.

And this was purposefully so. The people who founded our churches, for whatever reason, wanted simplicity and functionality above all else. Perhaps they didn't have the money to purchase such items. Or maybe they wanted the focus to be on God and not on the human artwork on the wall. Or maybe they didn't want to be like other denominations that they didn't agree with who used such items in their buildings. I'm not really sure.

This tradition was all I knew, so I didn't think too much about it at the time. When I went to college, though, I began visiting a great variety of churches--all in my religious tradition--and noticed that some of the churches had artwork on the walls. Some even had drama and drawings during the worship service. It felt a bit odd to me at the time because these practices were so different than I was accustomed to, but I still didn't consider these practices in a critical manner.

Over the past two years, though, I have thought much more about the place of symbolism, ritual, and ceremony in places of worship. In our church plant, for instance, the order of our Life Groups went like this: First, we met together for worship, prayer, Bible study, and discussion. We then moved on to communion where everyone participated. Finally, we ended our night with dinner.

This may seem pretty typical of a lot of house churches and small groups, but what made this especially important to us was the symbolism of the practice of communion. We broke bread together as a group in Life Group, and then we moved that communion bread and cup over to the dinner tables where we broke bread again through a meal. We loved this association between communion and sitting together with others around a table--just like Jesus did in the Bible.

That is just one example of the many ways in which Shane implemented symbolism into our worship. Through this experience with the church plant, I have come to see just how important it is to me as I worship. And what strikes me from the reading today is how much symbolism and ceremony goes into everything that God does in the Old Testament. When Aaron becomes the high priest of Israel, for instance, God gives explicit instructions about the ceremony and ritual that must go into his appointment. Over and over again God institutes ceremony, ritual, and symbolism. If God thinks ceremony, ritual, and symbolism are important, shouldn't we think so, too?

Reasons I Like Symbolism in Churches:
1. God is the ultimate creative one, and including artwork, symbols, crosses, color, and the like shows how God has passed this creativity on to human beings. We can praise God for the creativity he has bestowed on human artists.

2. It helps focus our minds on worship. When we look at the beauty adorning the walls or the royal colors draped over a cross hanging on the wall, we remember that we are in the presence of God.

3. It engages more of our senses than just aurality. It also engages the visual sense, a sense that today's society makes more and more use of when we process our environments.

4. Symbolism in our churches connects us to the rituals and ceremonies of God. You don't have to read through the Bible long to see how.

5. God is worthy of beautiful things. Even though our symbols may cost money--money that we might rather spend somewhere else--God is worthy of this money being spent on Him. Just think about Jesus and the woman who sat at Jesus' feet and poured expensive perfume on him. Jesus said that she had chosen what was better.

6. It is meaningful. Symbolism brings meaning to us by making connections between our lives, the life of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the life of the church. Symbols mean something to people. 

I hope you will consider where and how you can find symbolism in the place you worship and try to make it meaningful to you.