False Fronts

When we were in Memphis, walking down Beale Street, I noticed these buildings, held up by steel supports. As I got closer (it was night when I first saw them), I could see that only the front of the buildings was still there. The rest was gone. Behind the false fronts, where the buildings used to be, was an area with tables and music.

I wondered why they hung on to just the fronts, to the extent that they had to build a steel structure in front of them, out onto the sidewalk, to maintain them. Why were they so important?

I wonder that about our churches, too. Why do we sometimes go to extreme measures to maintain the appearance of something, to keep up a tradition, even though the "meat" of it has long since disappeared? Do we ever do something in church, just because that's the way we've always done it?

Why not tear down the walls and let the table and the music shine forth?