Cathedrals

One thing you cannot help but notice, looking toward the sky in any German city, is the vast number of steeples that vault heavenward.  Here nearly everyone went to church for centuries.  Now after War and division, Berlin is actually a very unchurched city.  I saw a statistic today in the DDR Museum that after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Democratic Republic, the number of Berlin citizens who professed to belong to a church was at only 18%.  It is a strange juxtaposition.  So many churches, so few church-goers.

Another interesting contrast is in the fact that the DDR Museum, which tells the story of the Communist control over East Berlin and East Germany, is that it is located immediately across the river from the Berlin Cathedral.  We toured both today and learned so much!

The Berlin Cathedral was built in the years 1894-1905 by Kaiser Wilhelm II.  It bears many resemblances to the St. Paul Cathedral in Minnesota – a place where we have often visited.  The Berlin Cathedral was nearly completely destroyed in 1944 and eventually began to be restored in 1975.  It wasn’t completed until 1993 and fully finished  in 2002. It is breathtaking!

In seminary I learned that when entering a Cathedral one should feel the presence of God. For sure that happens in the Berlin Cathedral. The guilded altar, impeccable frescoes and magnificent pipe organ (some 7,269 pipes!) overwhelm the senses. You definitely know that God is big and powerful!

Having passed by some homeless and having heard about the revolts of Easter Germans over poor standards of living, I found myself strangely conflicted as I sat and prayed in the Cathedral. I’m glad it is here for pilgrimages. I believe that the church does well as a purveyor of arts and culture. But I certainly also understand how revolutionary theologians balked at the excesses of the church. How does the church to balance beauty and charity? How is it even possible to balance art and servitude? All of the gold and artistry inside that magnificent structure was for a simple man, the Son of God, who gave everything.

We have to come to our conclusions before God and within our own heart. How much is enough?

Pastor Greg Bouvier