Destruction and Hope

     When Rosie and I were in Coventry, England, we went to the elegant new cathedral in that city.  The old one had been bombed and burned in 1940 during the Battle of Britain when the German bombers tried to destroy the industrial might of England.  Coventry Cathedral was incidental to that, but the destruction was total.  A charred cross was found by the dean the next day and erected amid the destroyed nave where people could come and see the damage, as well as the hope of the cross in the middle of the horror.  I was deeply impressed by what we found in Coventry.

They built a new cathedral adjacent to the old ruin.  The architecture is outstanding.  Above the altar and the choir is a brilliant tapestry of the risen Christ who looks out over the congregation through etched glass depictions of all of the saints at the western wall onto the ruin of the old church.  The theology is breathtaking.    Here is the risen Jesus focusing the congregation through the lives of the saints onto the destruction of the world.  It chokes me up now to think of it.

Coventry Cathedral has been a lively organization since the new building was built.  They have created an organization called the “Community of the Cross of Nails” that works on reconciliation throughout the world.  They have worked with the German church to open discussion with them on how working together for the good of the world is something that can heal the destruction caused by the two nations at war with each other.  They have worked with many churches in the world to speak of the hope of healing relationships and have done excellent work.

The Sunday that we attended church in that place happened to be Trinity Sunday.  As it seems to me is common in the church, the dean had asked one of his assistants to preach that day.  I understand that.  I always hated to preach on Trinity Sunday.  After all, who can explain the Trinity?

The assistant did a  good job that day.  He talked about mission and the hope that the church offers to the world.  In that geographical place, his words spoke volumes to me about how we can help the people around us have a sense of mission when all that they see around them is destruction.

I thought of how the church works around the world to help those in need and bring hope where it seems to be abandoned.  In Coventry, it would have been easy for the church to look at the loss of their cathedral to the bombing and to give up.  But they didn’t.  They built a new church with a mission focused on what had happened to them and they are making a profound difference in this world.  They are certainly a wonderful lesson for me about possibility instead of hopelessness.  Thank God for their example.