Vestigial Organs

The past two days have been spent in doctors offices and the hospital because of Jessica's appendix. A lot of commotion over a vestigial organ...

It got me thinking. Vestigial organs are structures within an organism's body that have seemingly lost all or most of their original function. Our appendix could have originally been designed for more primitive diets and less sanitary living conditions, but in the developed world today it is quite useless.

So does the body of Christ have any vestigial organs? Are their any structures within the Church that at a time in our past served a purpose, but are less important today? Could these structures that are no longer necessary for our survival, sometimes harbor infections that endanger the Body as a whole?

I'm in no way saying things that are old are no good. Of course the truths and practices that are at the very heart of our faith are indeed very old. But have certain appendices been added on? Is it maybe time to remove them?

I'm talking about way more than just praise songs vs. hymns, seats vs. pews, jeans vs. suits. Why is it that worship is so often limited to three songs, an offering, and a sermon? Why is discipleship viewed as a weeknight meeting for an hour or two? Why is it that folks looking for "the church" go to buildings, mainly on one day of the week to find it? What deep structures define the way we "do church" and why are they there?