Travels, Cathedrals and History Evident In Our Journey through France

 

After my two weeks at L’Abri and Helen’s arrival, we began our journey to the Northumbria Community in Northern England.  The grant makes possible some time between communities to relax and explore.  The Northumbria Community was also not available until June 1 so we slowly made our way across Switzerland and through France toward Northumbria.  I planned to continue to notice the way Christian communities developed in history and how Christianity was expressed in church buildings (including Cathedrals.)

 

We stopped in Lausanne, Switzerland and found that the Cathedral originally built as a center for Roman Catholic worship had changed hands during the reformation.  The building was constructed in 1215.  By 1536, the reformation caused a change in denominational ownership.  The Evangelical Reformed Church of that region of Switzerland now is in charge of the cathedral.  Worship continues and the building is an impressive reminder of the effort Christians have put into praise and worship.   One of the unfortunate effects of the reformation was a destruction of some of the art, statues and images associated with the original cathedral.  The reformation was a turbulent time.

 

From there we went to the Burgundy region of France and stayed in fairly close proximity to Taize.  We were able to attend several more services there and Helen and I were able to experience worship with up to one thousand youth and adults on Pentecost Sunday.  I wanted to return to this region of France in part because of the historical significance of the monastic movement exemplified in places like Cluny.  Cluny is not far from Taize and is today more a ruins that bears witness to the extensive influence of this 1000 year old monastery.  This monastery began in 910 with a few Benedictine monks and grew to be the mother house for over a 1,000 monasteries throughout Europe.  I am fascinated with the history of monastic influence I was unaware of how for many years the monastic movement was the glue that kept society together and helped bring stability.  Cluny Abbey was central to the stability of the 11th Century.  My reading of what happened next was that as the power and influence grew,an an incredible edifice was built, this power and influence seems to have eroded its original mission and community structure.   Yet, this happened over centuries so that by the 16th Century the Wars of Religion caused a more rapid decline in the abbey’s influence and activities.  It had become a symbol of power and during the French revolution much of the original structure was dismantled in what seems to me a pretty clear metaphor -the desire to dismantle the forms of power formerly controlling people’s lives.  There is not a lot of the original abbey or cathedral left.  Though what is left suggest the enormity of the cathedral which once was once two football fields long.  The two large towers remaining are only one wing of the original building.  Two much larger towers were in the center and two more towers matching the ones now there would have flanked those towers opposite these remaining towers. 

 

We also visited a medieval church in Brancion, found incredible wood and metal sculptures in the church in Tournus, and were amazed at how a thousand years of history could be around the next corner.  After we explored the history and pastoral landscape of Burgundy for several days we went to Chartres.  I had often heard of the incredible cathedral there and wanted to visit.  As we arrived we found a mass in progress.  We discovered that the participants (who overflowed the cathedral onto the square in front of it) were folks that had done a three day pilgrimage from Notre Dame in Paris to Nortre Dome in Chartres. We felt privileged to experience the devotion we say that day. And, the cathedral is incredibly impressive as well.

 

We then headed north opposite the pilgrims had walked as we went to Paris.  There we did walk to Notre Dame in Paris.  We also went in another church in Paris that had Romanesque architecture.  Here we were able to be at an evening worship service lead by priests, monks, and nuns.  I did not understand the French but I could still appreciate the beautiful sung liturgy and the devotion noticeable in the congregation. I noticed the way faith is not bound by culture or language.  I also have begun to get a sense of the Christian community not only as an expression of a gathering of people in the present but also see a continuity that spans time as well. We left Paris and stopped in London at Micah’s.  We then headed north to Lindisfarne.

 

Lindisfarne, also called the Holy Island, really brought home the historic Christian community.  As we attended a Sunday evening service at St Mary’s an Anglican church on the island, we noticed a sign that said that prayers had been offered consistently in this church for 1,300 years.  That sense of history and connection to those long ago is something different for me.  Our church was established a bit over 130 years ago.  That difference in timeframes reminds be that I am not along in my faith, that not only do I have a church family that shares the faith, I am in a long stream of faithful people.  I find it fascinating that monks in the late 600’s choose this island (though you can drive a causeway twice a day to get on to and off of the island). The landscape is beautiful but the winters there must be rough.  Maybe that is when the monks of old produced early illuminated gospels.  The most famous is the Lindisfarne Gospel which is in the British Library in London. We found our stay on Lindisfarne engaged us with this ancient expression of Christian faith.  We now have just completed our stay at Northumbria just a bit south and a little inland from Lindisfarne.