1.21 blog

Recently, my wife and I spent a few days in New York City. While walking about in Manhattan’s Upper West Side (en route to the coffee shop from Seinfeld [pictures forthcoming on Facebook]), we stopped in at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It still functions as an Episcopal parish (actually the diocesan seat for New York). The gothic building was rich with beautiful architecture and symbolism. For a few minutes before entering the cathedral, we stood outside its massive doors, trying to identify the various figures represented.

Some were obvious: the guy with the keys and the rooster, must be St. Peter. The fellow being stoned to death is probably St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr (whose life we’ll examine at 1.21 sometime in the next year). Others, however were harder to identify. It was a great experience, as I was both grateful and nostalgic. Nostalgic because I realized that in times past, these figures would be easily recognizable from the rules of iconography. Before the printing press, people learned Christianity through symbolic media like this, and through participating in the liturgy. We’ve lost a wealth of symbolic and aesthetic gandeur. But at the same time, I was grateful because with the printing press, we all have easy access to the Bible. As the very Word of God, its worth far excells the aesthetic beauty of ancient architecture (though if we can have both, that’s a good thing).

Anyway, before we entered, a tour group from a school came. The teacher/tour guide was instructing the children in how to recognize who’s who. At some point in the discussion, though, a child made mention of “the guy in the middle.” When I looked to see, I realized that he was talking about Jesus.

This tells us something, doesn’t it? I’m not writing this to bemoan our cultural ills, or complain that school children no longer recognize Jesus (not just that they don’t worship him, but that they can’t even identify him). However, I do think that it’s a pretty telling cultural indicator. While I strenuously object to the idea that the United States was ever a Christian Nation, this offhand comment by a child in the streets of New York does show us that we have experienced a definite cultural shift. The project of Christendom has failed. But Christendom was never Christ’s purpose. Will the church be faithful now that we no longer live in a time of general cultural consensus about Jesus? Will you?

Time will tell.

Posted by: Gene Schlesinger