Pastor's Reflection for November, 2005: "A Faith That Soars... and Sustains"
One of the things that catches my eye frequently is the Salisbury Cathedral, in Wiltshire, in south central England. I have only been there once, nearly fifteen years ago, but it catches my eye because a print of John Constable's painting of the cathedral hangs on the wall across from my desk. The painting recalls for me a most pleasant week abroad, visiting our daughter who was studying in London at the time, but it also brings back some of the same stirrings I experienced during the several hours we walked in, through, and around the Salisbury Cathedral with its spire that is so high as to take your breath away when you approach the town from the surrounding plains.
There in the Constable rendering is this work of spiritual elegance, with some cows enjoying the shaded grass of the Bishop's Grounds and the cool water of a small pond, while a man and woman stand together by the gate looking at the tall steeple that rises gracefully into the blue, clouded sky. I recall two powerful feelings that came upon me in visiting this cathedral that is so massive and yet so elegant, and that still grasp me when I gaze up from my desk and see the painting.
The first feeling is what I will call the "sense of soaring" of a faith that could create such a work of beauty. The spire itself seems to soar into the heavens . . . reaching up and pointing to a glory beyond the mere earthbound. The cathedral seems to testify that all these stones (hundreds of thousands, I presume) are not just here as things of the earth, but as things of the earth that point to the Creator of earth and heaven and all who dwell within. Faith should "soar" -- it should lift us above the mundane to heights of glory now and then. Or, as the prophet said of those who wait for the Lord: "They shall mount up with wings, like eagles . . ." Not all the time; sometimes faith is very much earthbound, but faith also can lift us to see our life on earth from the perspective of eternity. Such faith, like the cathedral, is planted firmly on the earth (it is not escapist) -- but from there it climbs to the heights and points us toward the One who is "the Beyond in our midst."
The second aspect of faith this great structure suggests to me is the truth that faith is a sustaining gift over the long haul of life -- not a "quick fix" or an "instant solution." For the great cathedrals were not built overnight; in fact, it took not only years, not only decades, but centuries to complete most of them. Faith invites us to be "grounded" as well as to soar, and that grounding sustains over the long journey of life for us and for all who follow Jesus Christ in the company of faith. Most who built the cathedrals would not live to see the work completed but worked in the faith that what they were doing was part of a long-distance spiritual endeavor. Our faith needs to reflect that sense that, while it will not be completed or perfected in our lifetime, we are building "our part of the cathedral" that God will ultimately complete in God's timing. A faith that "holds" and sustains God's people over the long stretch of life.
I have seen faith that soars but too quickly crashes to earth; and . . . faith that plods along and gets "stuck" by its own weight. The Salisbury Cathedral seems to combine both great spiritual dynamics: ascent and stability.
Reinhold Niebuhr once wrote that "Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we are saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love . . ." Faith. . .hope. . .and love: gifts of God reflected in many places, including the great cathedral that graces the plains of Salisbury.
Faithfully,
Rev. Dr. Floyd W. Churn
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