What does the building in which you worship look like?

Question

If you attend services in a building of some sort, what does it look like? Does the space or architecture aid in or detract from your worship experience?

Answer 1

my synagogue doubles as a church... so it looks odd.

Answer 2

The building I attend services in is a brown brick building. Inside, I think is fairly typical of most Christian churches in that the center is where we all gather to partake of the sacrament and hear the gospel. Surrounding that center room (which we call the chapel) are many other rooms where classes are held. The architecture inside the chapel normally doesn't attract or detract from the experience I have there. I say normally, because when I first started attending services there, it did draw my attention away from what was happening and what was being said. All chapels in the LDS church have this brown, scratchy, stuff that goes about 1/2 way up on the walls that has the look of very low pile carpet made from burlap and twine. I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, it's on all the walls in the chapel and in the halls. It's really odd looking, and I'm not sure of the purpose. Other than that, I've really never noticed the architecture of the chapel. There's no wild colors, or any modern art angles or anything, so it certainly doesn't detract from the experience. I guess if something doesn't detract from a worshipful experience, it aids in it. So I guess it aids in it.

Answer 3

I have services in several different places. My living room gets used often as a place of worship. There the act of worship counts for far more than the location. I also have attended worship outside near a shelter. There the lack of a building counts for as much as the ritual itself.

Answer 4

It is a very old church in the Northeast US. I have actually been attending since early childhood, over 40 years.

I draw comfort from the familiarity, and from knowing that generations have worshipped there for hundreds of years.

Most importantly, the people are like an extended family.

Great question!

Answer 5

Interior of the building that I worship does not have any human pictures, it does not have any pictures of nature either. It has nice calligraphies from the Scripture instead. And it has that feeling of peace and God conciousness. There is a section for men and there is a separate section for women, sometimes women just pray behind the men if the building is large. One in such worshipping place and situation does not feel any distraction, it helps you to concentrate in your prayer and get you closer to God.

Answer 6

It looks like a church. Oll and made of stone. I find the old architecture aids in worship. It gives me a feeling of peace and something else I don't know how to describe.

Answer 7

I am a bit of a Deist and as such I do not hold much with organized religion. That being said, I have had two direct experiences with The Ineffable Light. Yep, two Life-After-Life experiences. So, I do not just have belief, I have had direct experience. What I experienced did not need worship, as such. Did not need anything. It gave Love.

What I need, on the other hand, is serenity. I am not wise enough to pray for anything else. Serenity and acceptance. My pray is "Not my will be done, O Lord, but Thine. And Lord, if it be Thy will, grant me the serenity to accept Thy will." I have seen men pray for rain, only to be drowned in the ensueing flood. You know?

I find serenity most in the Co-masonic (women and men doing Freemasonry rituals) Lodges I attend. My heart and mind and body that all seem so confused and contentious just before Lodge seem so aligned and squared away by the ritual. Every piece of furniture, every part of the ritual in Co-Masonry is done with intent. When Annie Besant took Co-Masonry to heart, she infused it with lots of her esoteric intent.

In Co-Masonry, we strive to become fitting building blocks in the Temple of Solomon. That is a metaphor. Think of how difficult it is to shape stone. Then think how hard it is to change someone's heart. Yet that is what we are doing to ourselves in Lodge. The building, and every Lodge building inside, is meant to represent King Solomon's Temple.

Now, you tell me. Do you think that would aid or detract from the experience?

A Master Mason
American Co-Masonry

Hiram Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)
Amon Ra Lodge (Los Angeles, CA)
Sapientia Lodge of Research (Larkspur, CO)
Adamant Mark Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)

Answer 8

It's an old Avon Cosmetics building so it doesn't look like a church at all on the outside but that doesn't effect the worship experience.

Answer 9

well first of all the Bible says " thou shalt not forsake assembling thyselves together" meaning you should go to churck at least once a week if not every time the doors are opened. But that is your choice. to answer your question, the church I attend and am actively involved in is in an old Harley Davidson shop behind two hotels. the inside has been modified to fit our needs though we don't yet own the building.

Answer 10

The building I worship looks like that of a human body, with breasts curves, and big inquisitive mind that sometimes drives me the the brink of insanity. But then I hear the voice of god telling me that the voices only get lounder when I dont listen

Answer 11

I don't go to church so wherever I am I worship. I was in a church once for a funeral and the whole chapel was gabled and looked like a coffin. Thank God there was a gorgeous stained glass window (the entire wall) behind me. I ended up having to turn around and face it rather than eyes front (needless to say my Mother wasn't amused..it was my aunt's funeral) or I'd have had to leave. I like talking to God outside.