Ever since ancient days, some Christians driven by ego or error have tried to build Temple epigones. I've seen the Vatican and many of the great cathedrals of Europe, but have been far more impressed by the people of a very poor, dilapidated church in inner city Philadelphia who used what little money they had to create a youth center in one abandoned crack house and a weightlifting room for ex-drug addicts in another.
Similarly, I've heard great organs and choirs with great lungs, but been more impressed with a Hispanic church in Southern California that relied on guitars, bongos and the sound of tissues emerging from pockets to dry tears. Last winter on a frigid day in Indiana, I spoke at a Covenanter youth conference and heard a cappella singing that warmed not only my heart but my toes.
Think of the Christian schools in our cities that are barely scraping by, or going under -- and think of how much money is spent so that affluent congregations will have a rich "worship experience" in cathedral buildings with lavish organs. Think of what's needed in our cities so that more non-Christians will see churches as blessings for entire communities.
Temple worship in Paul's time included gongs, cymbal, and choirs that sounded angelic, so maybe that's why he began perhaps his most famous chapter with these words: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."
How do we love our neighbors? We're not responsible for the poor schools and anti-Christian teaching that dominates our educational system, but if we sit by more concerned about our own worship comfort than these little ones being left to sin, do we have a great millstone around our necks, and are we ready to fall into the sea?
So here's a valentine for every church that meets in a plain building, contentedly sings hymns and spiritual songs, and invests in mercy and Christian education rather than burnt offerings that God no longer wishes to smell.