Piloting Faith: When cathedrals burn...

A Word for the Day...

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is irrevocably destroyed. It's hard to believe.

I remember my first time walking into the breath-taking nave. The sheer scale and size of the space leave you in awe. You try to take it in - the buttresses, spires, organ, artwork, bells and beautiful Rose stained-glass window. I stood for thirty minutes looking at the tympanum of the Last Judgment on the main door going into the sanctuary. I remember sitting in the chairs in the nave, whispering a prayer for peace. I felt the cold stone of the columns beneath my hands as I toured the stunning altars. Many of us have stories of this beautiful Cathedral and what it has meant to us as individuals and as global citizens. We now hold those memories particularly dear.
This happened during Holy Week. We are watching one of our great Christian symbols turn to ash before our eyes. It would be tempting to rush to resurrection by saying, "We will rebuild the Cathedral. All is not lost." We will. But let's not miss the pain of this loss by glossing over how devastating this is for Parisians, and for all of us around the world. Something beautiful and sacred is gone forever. Future generations will never know this Cathedral's beauty, built so long ago. The 8,000 pipe organ will never again play a mass. Relics protected for hundreds of years are now dust. It's a profound loss. This changes everything.

Resurrection is meaningful if we feel the pain of the crucifixion. We can't rush it. We must let it burn us, tear us down, open us up. Then, from those sacred ashes, we rise again to rebuild. Life, death, life again. Paris will rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral, this time in a globalized world that needs it's symbolism now more than ever. But I pray we remember this day...the pain...the tears...the disbelief. Our heartbreak and subsequent hope are the cornerstones of all that will come next.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Blessing for the Week

Blessed are you who turn with passion, with strength, and with hope, for you will be filled with the God who is coming to life in you.

- Jan Richardson, Sacred Journeys: A Woman's Book of Daily Prayer