Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
I spent Saturday at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for my second quiet day on the run, last week being at Pennant Malangell.
Our day was split up into times of teaching and times of quite. Two of the quite times where meditative walks. The third walk was on my way from the Cathedral into Liverpool City Centre.
The first walk was a guided meditation round the Cathedral itself looking at some of the features and thinking how they may relate to God. There were hundreds of tourist in every nook and cranny of that large building but what struck me we the way in which all visitors are forbidden to get neat to the high altar. Now I know this is normal for most churches that are open to the public and I understand the reason why, but at that moment the image seemed to be a metaphor for much more – it was if we were saying to people “this is as far as you are coming to God and no further.”
The day was warm and sunny and yet in the Cathedral it was cool and dark. As I looked at the towering thick walls I couldn’t help but think that what we had created was a mausoleum for God – a place where he could dwell safe from the evils of the outside, being protected by the thick, fortress-like walls.
St James Gardens
My second walk could not have been a bigger contrast. This time I walked in St. James’ Garden, a one time burial ground for the rich and important of Liverpool. Here the sun shone, the birds sang and the wild-flowers bloomed. People were walking about or sitting enjoying the day and suddenly I realised that this place of death was in fact a place of life. It seemed here God was near in a way that he had been missing from the inside.
Church Street
The final walk was into town and on into the main shopping area. Recession of not people were scurrying here and there with shopping bags or sitting outside the multitude of bars that now grace our town. In the main pedestrian walk a solitary man stud with his placard inviting people to repent. In his hand was a bunch of tracts which nobody took. Where as God in this situation?
The truth is God was there in all of my walks, what changed was my perception of his presence. The question is: how how do we get others to perceive the presence of God in whatever path he may choose them to walk.
Tags: Church, ecology, History, Kingdom of God, lesson from life, Ministry, mission, Pilgrimage