What Happened?

I went to a wedding this weekend. I stood in the foyer waiting to sign the guestbook when I realized I hadn't been in a church like this one for a long time. The walls (in the foyer and the sanctuary) were covered in long, dark wood strips reaching all the way to the high ceiling (probably about 80 feet at its highest point). Above the door were several stained glass windows. The sanctuary was long and tall and, at the front, had a big raised "skylight" of stained glass artwork. My husband who is a structural engineer made the observation that nobody would build anything like this anymore because of the cost. I agreed, pointing out as an example that our church is in the process of building a new facility that will be large and metal. But I kept thinking about this. It would be irresponsible, I reasoned, to spend twice as much money as necessary to build a church building just to make it ornate. But this thinking doesn't fit with what I read in the Bible...

Exodus 25:1-9
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. "This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams' skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. "Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. "According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it. "

For the construction of the tabernacle, God asked the people to contribute, not just general building materials but their finest possessions to adorn the place. The next few chapters go into the details of all of it and it is to be a place full of, essentially, artwork and fine craftsmanship.

2 Chronicles 3: 5 - 7
He overlaid the main room with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains. Further, he adorned the house with precious stones; and the gold was gold from Parvaim. He also overlaid the house with gold--the beams, the thresholds and its walls and its doors; and he carved cherubim on the walls.

This passage refers to Solomon building the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Again, a more-than-functional, highly adorned place.

I imagine (though I don't have anything to prove this) that that temple was the probably the most beautiful building in Jerusalem. So why do the most impressive new buildings in my city house retail stores and movie theatres? What happened? Certainly there are many churches throughout the world that have become icons of architecture because of the beauty of their design. But have any been built recently?

I find myself using the reasoning some of Jesus' followers used in Mark 14 when a woman poured very expensive perfume on Jesus' head. "Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor." Jesus, of course, defends the woman's actions and even promises that she will always be remembered for doing this.

So I'm left with these questions: Is it a waste to make a place of worship ornate for God's glory? If no, then is it wrong to spend as little as possible just to make it functional, freeing up the money that would have been spent on ornamentation to be used for other good purposes? What happened in the history of the church that has led us to value economy for God's glory over beauty for God's glory?