The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Sam. 16:7
A couple of Sundays ago I preached a sermon I really enjoyed. Not sure how people received it, but I enjoyed giving it. In the sermon I suggested quantum mechanics and string theory might provide an image of God. I wasn’t trying to prove God or disprove science. I was merely suggesting, that God, at least the activity of God we confess, is mathematically possible.
Researching the sermon I came across a quote from Robert Anton Wilson, “We are looking at reality from the view point of our own reality.” I found this quote to be very revealing of our culture in many ways. Specifically, how it views the church. People will see what they want to see.
Look at this picture of the Cathedral of St. Paul. What do you see? Those who do not like the church may see money wasted on a grand building while the poor suffer. They might see clergy abuse, hypocrisy, and oppression. A person who does not like the Christian faith or Catholicism, most likely will see a hundred things in this image to support their hatred or dislike.
I’m fascinated by what you cannot see. I am standing on 7th Ave on an extremely cold night. On the right side of this picture, just past the bus stop, is the Catholic Charities Center of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It’s in a very nondescript building. A building as plain as the Cathedral is grand.
I have driven down this road many nights since moving to St. Paul. It typically is full of poorer people walking the street. But not this night, this night they have found shelter in the church. When we choose to see the church’s faults, of which there are many, we lose our ability to see its blessings. Serving those at risk and in need has always been the fabric of our mission in Christ - Catholic or Protestant.
Robert Anton Wilson was a free thinker who loved discord and hated the church. He was born in a Methodist hospital because it provided his mother affordable healthcare. He received a free education at a Catholic school. But he chose not to see that aspect of the church.
The Cathedral of St. Paul stands on the boundary between extreme wealth and extreme poverty. It serves both sides of that boundary in different ways. If it fails to minister to either side of that boundary, it fails in its mission. The structure dominates the St. Paul landscape. It faces the Minnesota State Capitol reminding me that the Church needs to be engaged in politics as well as sermon preparation. Most of all, it never escapes my view. The building reminds me that God is firmly planted in all things and in all people. God is working through me and the atheist, through the wealthy and the poor, through every living creature and thing.
What or who do you see at work in your life? And, how does it shape your heart?
