Consumption Cathedrals

Consumption Cathedrals



Malls we go to them for apparel, jewelry, shoes, and that over priced cookie. We seek out companionship in these "Cathedrals". On average we spend more time in these places of Vanity Worshiping Structures then we do in churches. It is no wonder that a lot of churches are looking more like malls. We even call our foyer "The Mall."


I sometimes wonder how as a society we have changed the way that we worship.
How will my COC upbringing affect how I feel about the future ?
I have to say that I have had two emotions, one being
"Well that just isn’t COC" (This one made me realize that I am what my Aunts and Mom taught me)
The other was, "Cool changes, let’s keep the society of today interested" I feel at times a bit schitzophrantic

My 60's upbringing calls for peace, love, and tolerance. My COC raised brain says "That is not what you’ve been told all these years, missy."


I have two very different perspectives partly because my parents had different perspectives on life. My father loved working with children he worked with the juvenile courts most of my life. He had a way of dealing with us, different than most. I don’t remember my father ever spanking me. (My brother and sister remember being spanked.) I’ve talked with him about this and he wasn’t sure he ever had to.


My mother spanked me, she spent more time with us, she also raised two other kids (Baby sat) Plus, she was the Kool Aid mom. You know the one who always had a band aid and food for the kids in the neighborhood. She was always ready to welcome my friends as I grew up.

My mother was raised in a church, a sit nice, look proper, do what they say, and believe what you are told COC. My father wasn’t, as far as I know, raised in church. He went once in a while and continues to go to the church that my mother lead him to.


So I was raise in a love um peace home with an interest in sociology, I was able to investigate every thing and had no curfew as a teen. However, I heard " COC beliefs"


I’ll most likely post about my parents another time.

Moving on.


Preacher of the past, love ,Hell Fire and Brim stone. I have actually heard a CC preacher say the reason the young people didn’t come to Sunday school is because they were out partying all night. Some of us came without our parents because God was what we wanted. Some of us didn’t make it to Sunday school because we worked all night and a few moments of sleep was a good thing, some because it wasn’t a learning experience. Honestly, yes, some of us were out partying the night before but there we were in church, not to be slammed, to be loved.
So who should bend and if we bent how so?


The Word is, was, and will always will be.
Here’s the tricky part: interpretation.

What you believe it says and what I believe it says.

Is it scriptural to have a coffee bar, a kitchen, a piano, or a cross in a church?


Folks have left churches for things like this.


Here’s my take, times have changed NOT THE WORD. Who made the determination that a cross in the church was wrong? (BTW COC ‘s are empty crosses) The people who draw lines in the sand are doing just that. Some out of fear and some out of control. I’m learning not to think that we should move quickly to be like the cool kids of the churches, we were at one time. I also learning to bend a bit. Everything I need to know is in the Book. I do have more Bibles than hammers and I use the Word far more.

I’ve asked a few men lately when they have several hammers why they are considered dumb when they are placed in a bag, they don’t know. If the bag broke due to placing too many in one bag that might be dumb. HMM. . . . . things I ponder at work.


It’s the more modern COC the excepting of sinners that I want. I also want my children to have structure and knowledge of the Word. I want them to know that sin is sin it’s going to be looked at as an ugly thing and that God will deal with it. I don’t think it all good and that every one is going to Heaven.


I also hated the way the tween and teen area looked and sounded when I first encountered it. I was trash urban with loud music. Several of the new kids didn’t care for it.
I said to a concerned parent when she told me how much her and her child disliked it, "Where will you be? It won’t change if you don’t get involved." The place is very different now that more parents have stepped in. My son has a great group of parents who have followed their children through the years, being involved is very important.


Where does a coffee house for teens come in?


Where are those kids? They are sitting around talking, being taught, and loving God. This I agree with.


Call some place in my church a Mall? I hate it. I spend far less time in the actual mall down the street from me then I do at church. I know because I keep some track of the volunteer hour that I put in. Work likes to know. Why do we need to imply it's a place to purchase makeup and tea with odd flavors?


I’ve been to the Mall of America. Honestly, do we need three floors of Old Navy?


We have sold a few items at church in the Mall like books, tapes, CDs etc. . . .


Nope, can’t tell you where to buy shoes or candy cigarettes.

I can tell you how to find a cup of coffee on Sunday morning and where the restrooms are.

I’d be happy to get a hug from you on my way through God’s Mall.