rustic church

perhaps it is because i am aging (the whole from dust to dust thing) or maybe because i'm basically a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl
maybe it's because i love LIGHT (always have) and open spaces

or maybe it's because my childhood roots grew down deep into the soil of a country riverbed
but i have always preferred worshipping God in the simple places

the calm organic & earthy vs the flashy crystal & marble

the kind of church where i think to myself "jesus would love this place"

image: flikr, learning junkie

which is why i loved attending a wedding last fall in a barn-turned church with the pulpit made of a big old oak tree stump {we raced by those benches because we were late}

and why i will always remember christmas eve 25 years ago in the temporary barn-like building (we sat on hay bales with candles providing the light) before the towering new structure was completed

and why i loved this church in gretna, nebraska with a man-made ravine running down the sides of the center aisle


isn't it stunning?


and i think, the more i get to know jesus, the more i realize christianity can be stunning in its simplicity


i mean, sure, there are some hard things...heady things


but the basics of our faith?  


love God, love others, jesus saves, encourage each other
live simply so others may simply live (i'm working on this one...thanks, mrs. dunbar)


is stop-me-in-my-tracks stunning in its simplicity


i'm thankful for barn churches and haybales and glass churches on the prairie


these places where i half expect to turn a corner and see jesus in the flesh


{google images}