Notre Dame

June 11, 2010

So, did I tell you I have a 13 hour layover in Paris before landing in Kenya? Yeah, the plan was that I would arrive in Paris at 7:35am and fly out of Paris at 8:25pm, giving me almost a whole 13 hours to explore the shining city on the Seine. I didn't actually request a
mini Paris vacation from my travel agent; it just kind of worked out this way.

Anyway, my 13 hour excursion has turned out to be significantly shorter than that. First of all, we sat at the terminal in Boston for almost an hour because one of the passengers checked his bags but never showed up for the flight. So, the crew had to unload all the luggage from the plane in order to search for and remove that guy's bags. Then just as they were finishing the long process, the missing passenger showed up for the flight. So, I can understand the
flight crew being a little upset about all of this, but they didn't have to publicly heckle the guy over the PA system. The whole plane actually booed him.

So, I ended up getting to Paris about 8:30am instead of 7:30am. And by the time got a locker for my big backpack and stood in a long line to buy a train ticket into downtown Paris, it was already close to 10:00am. And when I finally gazed up at Notre Dame Cathedral, my first stop, it was close to 10:30.

I'm not really sure what to think about about Notre Dame. First of all, there are a LOT of people milling around inside this huge cathedral. So, any kind of reverent atmosphere is just impossible to maintain. My first instinct was to be judgmental: "Didn't those bozos read the sign? NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY! And I hate to break it to you, but your wimpy little flash isn't to going illuminate the vaulted cathedral ceiling anyway, so just cut it out, okay?"

My second instinct was a lamentation: "I guess this is what it looks like when we put Jesus in a zoo. The mobs of people flock past with their cameras and take snapshots of Uncle Ralph next to the crucifix, while the kids say 'Ooo, ooo, only 2 euros for one of those little
candle thingys, can I light one, Mum?'"

My third instinct was to categorize: "Let's see...what types of people do we have here? There are the reverent ones who just want to sit quietly and try to enjoy the serenity of the place. There are the amateur photographers who want to snap a flash photo of every brick. There are the organizers, sitting around talking on their cell phones, using Notre Dame as a kind of central hub for coordinating their Paris vacation. There are the tourists who move along in little mobs past all the 'exhibits' one at a time and read all the writing..."

My fourth instinct was to analyze: "Well, okay, I guess it isn't really like putting Jesus in a zoo. This is just a church building after all. All of these people are really coming to see an ancient artifact of the institution of the church. It's more like a museum than a cathedral now, I guess. But shame on those wastrels so long ago who wasted God's money on this extravagant monstrosity when they should have been feeding the hungry!"

And then I wondered what God's reaction to Notre Dame would be. Surely he looks in love at every single visitor walking this floor. He knows all of their names and all of their stories, and He has a special fondness in His heart for each one. Wherever they have come from and wherever they are going, He knows that right now they have chosen, for whatever reason, to enter a house of worship. And He is going to cry out to them from the crucifix and whisper to them through the prayer candles. He is going to tug at their souls through the music and speak to their hearts through the artwork. And whatever motives may have lurked in the hearts of the builders of this house of worship long ago, whether prideful or sacred, He is going to redeem
their creation for His present purposes and sing to these visitors from its stones.

Because He is a God who shamelessly woos His children through every medium and at every moment. Hoping that with just the right combination of circumstances those walls around their hearts they have spent their lives building against Him might at last show some tiny fracture. And the instant that happens, He is always ready and waiting to rush into the brokenness with a Spirit of peace and healing.

Lord, speak in this place. And while You do that, I think I'm going to sit here a bit longer and work on learning to love these people like You do. Amen.