Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 October 2005 10:29:30
The Cathedral is a beautiful building, where you can truly experience the awe of God that people have had, expressed in architecture. It is a place with a story of history and hope, but of also of political / economical power and oppression over the years.
Yesterday I experienced both parts of the story when I went to a service there that Third Party's school had organised.
I started off walking in through the gates and was stopped by a lady in a blue jacket wondering if she could help me, (what she actually meant was why was I attempting to walk in without paying?). I informed her, quite politely considering, that I was going to the service and carried on. As I did I heard the people behind me, who were obviously not there for that specific reason being told by same woman, "you can't just come in, we do have an enterance charge you know."
Then I found out they had left the main part of the cathedral open for tourism and just cordoned off part of the cathedral for the service. As the space they had allowed was just about big enough for the school to squeeze into (with some of the pupils having to sit behind / to the side of where the people leading the service were, and so having an obscured view) the parents were excluded from seeing anything that was taking place in the service. We were squeezed in behind everything or sat on seats outside the actual area where the service was taking place. Which is a bit of a laugh considering how vast the main area - intended for worship is.
To me it all illustrated how the cathedral has now become informally deconsecrated, being primarily viewed by those incharge as a tourist attraction and the use of it as a civic church for the community is now obviously seen as an inconvienience getting in the way of the commercial activity.
This was totally at odds with what we were hearing in the service from a well sound Bishop (Graham Cray) who was focusing on a totally different view of the purpose of Christianity, (ie God using people who weren't outstanding by taking them outside their comfort zones to change the world, if they listened to and followed him - particularly in the contempory context he mentioned middle class Christians being pushed out into locations that were totally outside their experience).
The contradictions were summed up when a few tourists managed to find their way round the back and so, accidently, were in a postition where they would have clearly heard the sermon, whilst taking in the architecture, as such managing to do what the powers that be are so clearly trying to stop, but the bishop was so clearly advocating - allowing ordinary people access to the everday message of God within the cathedral.