A visit to York Minster

Of all the churches I’ve attended, it’s the one with the most spectacular view – you overlook the city, the Kessock Bridge, the Firth, the Black Isle, Ben Wyvis. On Easter Sunday morning I joined the relaxed, informal service at Christ Church Inverness which meets in Milton of Leys Primary School, high above the city.

The following Tuesday, my wife Lorna and I visited York for a few days. We took a tour of a very different church building, York Minster, an enormous sacred space where prayer has been made daily for centuries.

The Archbishop of York has just published a book, John Sentamu’s Faith Stories in which he introduces the personal stories of twenty Anglican Christians from the north of England whose faith has had a massive impact on their lives. And that’s the link between worship in informal churches like Christ Church Inverness and in formal settings such as the Minster. Church is primarily about people encountering God, regardless of the context.

While we were in York, I heard someone say of the Minster ‘Was it right to pour resources into building and maintaining this vast structure? Shouldn’t the Church have been caring for the poor instead?’

You can see their point, and who knows what role politics and pride played in the building of the Minster. But at its purest, the motivation behind it was a recognition that practical creative skills could be used to serve God, and a desire to build something memorable, God-honouring, reflecting God’s grandeur and glory.

To which the person I overheard might have responded ‘But how much better to serve God and reflect God’s character by making a difference in people’s lives!’

John Sentamu is grateful for the building, which he describes as ‘a glorious glimpse of heaven created within our city for the benefit of our nation.’ But he acknowledges that just as many hundreds of people were involved in building the Minster, so each of us has a small but significant part to play in building God’s invisible Kingdom as we make a difference in the lives of others.

Lorna and I watched the masons carving stones to repair the great eastern wall of the Minster, signing each piece of stonework with their unique mason’s mark. We saw the work of the glass conservators who painstakingly remove excess lead from the medieval windows and repair cracks in the glass invisibly so that the light can freely shine through. They too sign their work.

Similarly as Christians we all contribute to the building of God’s kingdom. Not just those of us who like those featuring in the Archbishop’s book can tell our faith stories with clarity and power, but also those of us who struggle and question and doubt.

We have, all of us, a role to play in the way we live, in our relationships, in our approach to our work or our joblessness, in our conversations and encouragement of others, in the ways in which we express our creativity. All of us can reflect something of the grandeur and grace of God, helping to build the better way of being following the Architect’s plan.

York Minster took 252 years to build. Those who began the work knew they wouldn’t live to see the Church completed, yet they played their part believing that the final result would be something glorious.

The Christian Church, God’s kingdom is founded on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s an on-going project. Christians across the centuries have played their part in building the community of God’s people believing that at the end of time all will see the glory of the final result.

The builders of York Minster followed the master plan, yet expressed in their work changing architectural styles. So Christians are called to follow the master plan – building a living community of God’s people, founded on Christ, constructed on the template of love, justice and freedom – while expressing all this in ways which are relevant to contemporary culture. I think, however, that the masons of York were more faithful to the grand design than we as Christians have been to God’s master plan.

The excess lead blocking light symbolises the attitudes, fears and behaviours which prevent the light of God’s illumination from penetrating to our hearts and prevents God’s love and compassion from shining out into the community.

For the role of the Church is not just to look up to God, but as Christ Church Inverness’s location so vividly reminds us to look out, and to go out into the world in all its beauty and pain. And Christ the stonemason, Christ the glass conservator shapes us for the role he has assigned us, and makes our hearts transparent. And his signature authenticates the work.

(Christian Viewpoint from the Highland News dated 11th April 2013)