Notre Dame was, and will likely be again, a museum of inspiration regarding the human capacity to create and build and withstand the ravages of time and turmoil. No doubt we all need some of that.
Nevertheless, it is a static symbol when the true enduring need and hope is found in the face to face ministries of relational care that speak to the heart and soul of a person and tell them that their life matters. Within a religious context, the “mattering” is to God and one another.
Based on the comments I am seeing; Notre Dame’s awe-inspiring attraction does the opposite creating in visitors a sense of personal insignificance in the presence of this grand feat of human accomplishment. I get the artistic, architectural, and historical appeal of ND. I relish the opportunities to enjoy physical expressions of talent in the arts and architecture of monuments such as this one. I also respect the power of worship and eucharist to move people to a sense of the divine majesty and care.
However, forgive me if I don’t jump on into the funeral parade of emotive displays of sorrow. No one died. I am not French, nor Parisian. My sadness for the edifice and the craftsmanship and artistry that is lost is real but minimal in comparison to my daily sorrows around—
issues of hate and greed that murder people “not like us,” or cause unnecessary starvation as a war tactic, or pump guns into the nation allowing mass murders, or anything that diminishes the humanity (and thus the image of God) in anyone and thus imprison them in a cycle of violence….
The proclamation that Paris will rebuild the cathedral demonstrates this is a national landmark more than a center of spiritual formation. The cries for rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral show the moral decay of euro-American Christian religious identity as a relevant expression of divine love. When a building in which priests have labelled themselves as “actors” on their website garners international calls for rebuilding a museum of religious ritual and art, but the destruction of missionary outposts of social ministry in common, useful buildings are barely a blip in the news cycle, it is clear why the western Christian church is declining in relevance and membership.
I am disturbed by the white supremacy evident in the rush to embrace and rebuild a “tourist attraction” while failing to denounce and act with moral passion and ubiquity against religious- and race-based hate crimes in religious places serving their communities. Churches in Mississippi burned, mosques bombed in Minnesota, synagogue attacked in NY, desecration of a church building likely to frame local Muslims– all hate crimes here, of which these are minimally representative, are notably absent from the outrage, sorrow, and demands for action in the public discourses about the loss to all civilization when such are defaced or destroyed.
Where are the cries for money to rebuild communities where congregational faith serves sandwiches to unsheltered neighbors, tutors the children of immigrants, provides a long term presence when natural disaster strikes, visits prisoners on death-row, holds the hands of the dying, gives sanctuary to oppressed people who cope everyday with life-threatening injustice and prejudice, and the list goes on.
I am reminded this week of Christ’s admonition that the temple would be destroyed; but he would rebuild it in three days. Idolization of buildings and rituals is not the mission of our living God. Saving lives is, repairing the breach between peoples is, welcoming strangers as friends is, feeding the hungry is, visiting the prisoner is, freeing the captive is, the mission of the church. We are not called to create money pits for future generations to uphold to the detriment of these missions to our neighbors near and far. Let’s fund the rebuilding of our humanity, before we build monuments to glorify it.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. –1 Corinthians 3: 12-17
*On their website, ND states they are not a parish bur they have mass(es) everyday and hear confession, their priests are labeled “actors of the cathedral” indicating to me the performative nature of their services for the 13 million people who visit annually. http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/faq/
photo: Notre Dame Cathedral, Creative Commons; This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
bevfriedlander 