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This issue, we thought we might reflect on the matter of
'places' of worship in general. Could the declining attendances in
churches across the world have anything to do with the fact that
churches themselves have become less attractive over the last century or
so?
Doesn't Saint Paul's cathedral in London,
for example, attract people from all over the world, even now, because
it is a place where man's sense of the divine is so much in evidence?
Whether those people share the religion of the regular attendees of the
cathedral is not as important as the fact that they share a sense of
wonderment at what mortal man can achieve when inspired by, and joined
in, a common purpose - the glorification of their deity.
The truly religious feel that they can
worship absolutely anywhere - in a hut, under a railway bridge or
halfway down a supermarket aisle - with equal ease. For the rest of us,
ugly surroundings make the presence of divinity harder to feel or even
to imagine.
That religion is often hi-jacked by the
unscrupulous for political or financial purposes is a sorry thing but
there still are religious people who genuinely care about the people
whose spiritual needs are their concern. Unfortunately, even they seem
to have become caught up in the fast-track, 'instant everything' pace of
the 21st century. New churches tend to be sparse and even downright ugly
and it is little wonder that people do not flock to them in their
droves.
It is strange that the great cathedrals
and other religious buildings were built in the days when the population
of the world was quite small but everyone participated in the life of
their communities. The name of Christopher Wren, who designed St. Paul's
cathedral is still known to people all over the world.
Now that there
are billions of us, providing sufficient manpower to build truly
spectacular and wonderful buildings, a tiny handful of people throw up
pre-fabricated eyesores - designed by people whose names are enquired
after by very few and are soon forgotten - whilst others, who could have
helped in the creation of something special, remain unemployed instead
of having the opportunity to be dignified by honest labour and to
participate in the work of the community.
Christians say that God created man in
His own image. If that is so, then man was once like God and presumably,
therefore, endowed with the gift and task of creation. The works that
man did, long ago, such as the building of St. Paul's cathedral or the
Sistine Chapel, do suggest that men were once intent on continuing the
glory of creation and united in the task of adding to the beauty around
them.
However did we get to the point where we
even have the inflatable church in our midst, the Christian equivalent
of a bouncy castle?!
Linnet Woods for MarineZine
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