Sacred spaces
Sister Helena Marie on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 10:09 AM --I wrote this short piece last year, for a CHS AweWakenings publication that unfortunately never made it to print. I'm posting it here because I thought you all might still enjoy it, late though it is.
May, 2009
We just returned from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where we attended a spectacular service in honor of Bishop E. Don Taylor, who is retiring as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of New York. It has been a long time since I attended a service at the cathedral, perhaps the five and a half years since I moved to Melrose, and I had forgotten what it was like. I was completely overwhelmed. Sitting in the choir of the cathedral, close to the high altar, I was surrounded by the pipes of the massive Aeolian-Skinner organ, and was seated perhaps fifteen feet from the St. Thomas Boys Choir. As the service began, I found myself lost in the complex and magnificent texture of sound emanating from the forest of organ pipes on either side of me, some as long as thirty-two feet, some as short as a few inches, with the occasional fanfare of the state trumpets at the other end of the world‘s largest Gothic cathedral. When the choir of boys and men began to sing a cappella music from centuries past and present, the sound-scape transformed into layers of the most exquisite and haunting harmonies piling on top of each other and hanging in the air, suspended in this voluminous sacred cave with its reverberation time of seven seconds.
Enveloped in these sounds, while light filtered dimly through the stained glass of the rose window and the smoke from incense left the air thick, I felt as if I had been transported to another dimension. I felt tears begin to well up, and tried to hold them back, but they wouldn’t; soon they were streaming freely. They flowed in response to the beauty, they flowed for Bishop Taylor as he prepares to leave us for his native Jamaica, for this city with its vast needs, for our Community as we have endured the losses of the past few years, for the suffering of a broken world.
When, finally, Bishop Taylor arrived at the high altar, turned to the congregation in his resplendent chasuble, and announced, “Alleluia, Christ is risen!” I felt as if my heart would burst. It was as if he stood in for the living Christ, radiant with hope, as if he was a symbol of the very ground of our being. It was a moment in which truth seemed very clear.
The whole service hit me like a ton of bricks. After it was over we had to leave right away, so I didn’t have a chance to personally greet the bishop and thank him. But I feel so grateful for his service to the diocese, for the greatness of our liturgy and its power to transform, for sacred spaces like the cathedral, in which one can be lifted in a moment from the baseness of human nature to the pinnacle of hope and realization.
Reader Comments (5)
Sounds like a magnificent service...the music, the cathedral, the stained glass windows, the spirit of God...wish I could have been there. Isn't God wonderful, that God speaks to us in the cathedral, and also in the little cement-block church with a sad little organ and a choir that sings out of tune, and also in the celestial cathedral of the night sky with the stars glittering above?
Hi, Naomi. Thanks for your comment. This is the first blog I've ever posted, and yours is the first comment I've ever received!! You are right, it is so amazing that God can speak to us in all these different ways. I particularly "hear" God's voice when I'm down in the soil with the worms and beetles and nematodes!
A "forest of organ pipes" is such a beautiful set of descriptive words!
I visited a cathedral for the first time last Sunday. I was overwhelmed by its beauty. I so loved reading your experience, it brought mine back to me so clearly!
Thank you, Sister, for capturing the moments in words. I will enjoy re-reading your post often. It places me in the moment.
It reminds me of why I worship at St Bart's on Park Avenue with marble and mosaics, a huge organ, alive aware clergy, and the excitement of Love surrounding us all. It is an extraordinary experience when Love is expressed in so many ways at once. It changes me each time.
Are you still jogging? Let us know!
Hi, Linnie. I just found your comment. I don't know if this will find you, but if it does, I wanted to answer you question. Yes, I'm still jogging. It's been about 30 years now, I think. I did have a bad fall in January while jogging and I broke my nose, but that didn't really slow me down. How are all of you?