Stand on the word...

I read a snippet of a story yesterday that quite surprised me.

As malls scramble to fill empty store fronts, former retail spaces are being taken over by various religious organizations. The trend dates back to the 1990s, when a Southern Baptist church bought an entire mall in Lakeland/Florida, now named Church at the Mall, and continued throughout the years. One of the more recent openings is the Christ Fellowship church in a former Dillard’s department store in Florida’s Boynton Beach Mall, with more expected soon….

Sadly here in Scotland more and more churches are being deconsecrated and closed. It will come as no small surprise that most of our seem to get tuned into pubs or music venues. Either that or converted into expensive apartments,

Some of them make a fantastic job of the restoration like Saint Luke’s in the East End of Glasgow who host gigs, sell delicious food and drink and is available for event hire including weddings, but it always makes me feel slightly sad.

Of course, people are right when they point out that it is better than the building falling into total disrepair but I can’t help but wonder what the baby Jesus thinks of it all…

Maybe he’s fine if the band are good and the beer is cold…

Queen Marie

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