Vaudevillian Horizontalism

Scanned through one of these xeroxed articles passed on to me en masse, "Christian Worship in Consecrated Space and Time." It took me too long to realize that the relevant section of the article was a two-paragraph bit near the end. "Finally, we come to the architectural articulation of the place of solemn assembly."

"Since the Jesus Christ is the temple of God, there remains no particular geographic place or space that is essentially sacred or rendered sacred by particular rites or specially designated officers, for the people of God is consecrated in Christ. Consequently, it is possible to gather anywhere and use any kind of building for worship. . . it is not true that the design of worship space has been rendered secondary or unneccessary by Christ's coming. Rather such design should symbolically evoke the ordered world revealed through the lens of redemption and experienced in the life of the church."
Arie C. Leder - Calvin Theological Journal

I'm not in a hurry to discuss the necessities in church Architecture. This article describes the modern church building as "vaudevillian horizontalism," meaning, my dictionaries tell me, theaters for entertaining our neighbors with little expression of our vertical relationship between God and man of praise, worship, prayer, holiness, symbolism, revelation, and the sacred. I don't deny this threat, and as a deacon board member with a budget, I won't pretend to know the answer.
In the urban context, this is a reminder to look for the sacred streetcorners. To start, is the church in the town center? No? Is there a town center? No? Is there anywhere that cars have to slow down and recognize a moment in space and time? Only at stop lights and accidents and drive-thru's. Vaudevillian horizontalism seems about right.