Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.
2 It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones. (Psalm 127:1-2)
I know
nothing about Byzantine Architecture. I like to look at it,
but in fact I know little about architecture in general. But someone
suggested that I write about it and it is a good idea.
At least I suppose it is a good idea.
Sometimes you do really weird things to break yourself out of a rut.
And thinking about Byzantine Architecture is what I am doing right
now.
Byzantine architecture is strange, when
it comes down to it. The soaring ceilings and all make you feel
small. And I suppose that is what it was intended to do – make you
feel small in the presence of the Lord.
The only thing is you don't have to
feel small in the presence of the Lord. He is your God and he loves
you. It is one thing to stand in awe and reverence of God and another
to feel small in the presence of man-made architecture.
And to top it off, it was Jesus himself
who said that God doesn't live in temples made with hands (John 4). He lives
in the hearts and minds of men and women who love him and invite him
into them.
I remember once going into a cathedral
as a young man, a child. The woman who was taking us around told of
how the poor people of the town gave all they had to build this fancy
cathedral. They were dirt poor, but gave all. I asked her why people
would give money they needed to build a church building. I came from
a denomination that considered the church building just that: a
building. It didn't make sense to me.
She said that when it was built, all of
the people in the village could come there and know that, as poor as
they were, they had this fancy church building that was all theirs.
I was right in my observation. They
were wrong. God does not need a great, fancy cathedral. All he really
needs is a willing heart and a loving mind. He needs faith in him and
love for God and others. He needs commitment.
I love to look at the cathedrals and
went through a couple in Europe in the army. I would go through more
if possible, but there aren't that many here.
Not really that much of an article, but
thanks, David.
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