Business as Usual

Greetings at home and abroad! I have enjoyed hearing from many of you via email and snail mail recently. Thank you for the friendly notes; I will try to respond to all the mail I receive, but at the moment I'm still figuring out the postal system, so bear with me.

On a similar note, I feel I need to respond to some of the comments I've received on my last post about the cathedral in Köln. Apparently, my post came off as not valuing the beauty of the building itself or the ways in which the efforts of the builders and the dramatic results of those efforts could be/lead to worship.

It's not my intent to claim that the building isn't amazing and valuable for it's beauty and history alone, nor do I want to equate the building of magnificent buildings or works of art to building idols as the reformers sometimes did in their zeal to break with the catholic traditions. Quite the contrary, I have to agree with the comment that most American Christians have forgotten that worship extends beyond singing songs and that we likely need more visual and physical worship in our lives.

However, in reflecting, I still find the Dom in Köln more of a hindrance to true worship, than a help. The building is more of a monument to man than to God: all around the perimeter there are shrines to various notables from the city's history, the floor is tiled with the crests of noble families. When you add to this that it is a tourist attraction (and yes, the builders of this cathedral, which was built relatively recently as far as cathedrals go, would have known that their building was going to become an attraction for visitor to come to the city and admire the work) and thus even the art depicting Biblical ideas is valued for it's history and workmanship rather than it's message, I have to stand by my statement that the place is designed for the honor of the builders rather than in praise of God.

Possibly, with the tourism more controlled, there would be an atmosphere more of pilgrimage than of site-seeing; then perhaps the net effect would be to prompt people to worship God. Still, I am skeptical, I do not doubt that the place inspires awe, but inspiring misplaced awe is harmful rather than helpful. We can choose to worship God anywhere, and if we do, we'll find things that remind us of Him in all kinds of surroundings. But I think that worthwhile art, especially in the church, ought to provoke us to seek Christ, and I found little there that seemed designed with that aim. While it may be beautiful and awe-inspiring, all the beauty and awe in the world pale in comparison to Jesus, and are only truly beautiful in Him.

Ok, now that I've satisfied my need for theological correctness. I will lighten up a bit and admit that I've still got a lot to learn about true worship and that certainly if I missed out on an opportunity for deeper worship in my visit it's through no fault but my own. I do appreciate those who commented on the topic; to present the much needed balance to my perspective. :)

On a more mundane note, you'll notice that I'm not off traveling this weekend. While some of the other students are off in Prague this weekend, I'm taking a bit of a breather before July when we have trips scheduled for 3 weekends in a row (and 2 of those are 4 day weekends). I've enjoyed having a relatively uneventful week, just going to work, hanging out in the evenings, working on some of my ever-present projects.

I'm also giving thanks this week that I was able to finally decipher the schedules correctly and made it to church last Sunday as well as finding a college age Bible study meeting. While they're obviously all in German, it's still encouraging to receive reminders about what is really important and to encounter others who are also pursuing Christ.