‘Humpty,’ I said. ‘is it right to spend huge sums on church buildings?’ He put on his puzzled expression. He was expecting me to make the first move. So I did.
‘Yes it is,’ I said. ‘They are instruments of worship. They can actually shape it. G.K. Chesterton was on to it when he said the most important part of a picture is the frame. Or, as Marshall McLuhan said, ‘The medium is the message.’ Every building – a hospital, a theatre, a bank – makes a statement. Even when it is empty a church building proclaims (silently, of course) what it is for and how much people care about what it stands for.’ As the saying goes, what you are is shouting so loud that I can’t hear what you say.’
‘But I thought, said Humpty, ‘that God looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart. If that’s true, then the character of the worshipper is much more important than the roof over his head or the floor beneath his feet.’ Humpty was sounding quite belligerent. I gave him full marks for his combative approach – not to mention his familiarity with 1 Samuel 16.
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘We can all think of makeshift buildings used for worship. But at the same time it says something about the one who is worshipped and those who come together to worship him.’
I put it to Humpty that if we worship in a shed or a shack, we may well have the root of the matter in us. None the less, our creaturely instinct is to give God the best. So it is that Europe is full of church buildings that generation after generation have brought into being to glorify God.
‘And that,’ I said, ‘also means the best we can do in terms of music and liturgy. Only the best is good enough for God. We look at civilisations and rate them by the best buildings they left behind. We shall perhaps be rated by our football stadiums.’
‘But suppose the architecture and the music become an end in themselves?’ asked Humpty. Like a dog with a bone, he wouldn’t let it drop. And of course cathedral choirs and their cost are bringing this aspect of the matter to the forefront.
‘There’s no doubt it’s a problem,’ I replied. ‘The only long-term solution, I suppose, is to make sure that as much care goes into everything that takes place in the building as went into the construction of the building itself.’
We parted like good friends – friends who have more yet to say to each other. And I’m waiting for the time to be right for asking Humpty to contribute to the re-ordering of the parish church.
Blue plaque
The first woman of Indian origin to be honoured with a blue plaque in London is Noor Inayat Khan. She served with the SOE in France and was executed in Dachau at the age of 30. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross.
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