Traveler’s Tales: Westminster Abbey

Every time I’m in London, I visit Westminster Abbey.

A lovely Anglican cathedral across the street from London’s golden Parliament buildings, it’s been there for nearly a thousand years.

The original Roman Catholic abbey was built outside the walls of London, but it’s now in the center of town.

Winston Churchill’s World War II Cabinet rooms are just down the street. Big Ben tolls around the corner. Bright red double decker buses pass continually.

And yet, there’s something restful about the grounds despite the hordes of tourists roaming the aisles.

It’s part mausoleum, part museum, part history lesson.

Soaring ceilings, glorious stained glass windows, a powerful pipe organ, and busts, statutes and memorial slabs to a who’s who of British history.

You can spend hours there, milling around with others listening to tours on headsets or examining  tour books.

Rick Steves does an excellent job explaining all.

Spiritual Life?

When I enter a cathedral, I admire the fortitude and skills it took to build,  but I also try to catch a glimpse of the spiritual life.

I like to sit in the pews and imagine worshiping God in such a building. I wonder about parishioners who have gone before and try to imagine a service. Click to Tweet

One summer I sat in a chair and listened to the choirmaster describe the organ and choir school.

I heard music played on that organ and samples of the boy’s choir. Terrific.

But what does it mean to be a member of the congregation?

This opulent structure has overseen the crowning of kings, marriage of royalty, and the burial of many.

I can appreciate the irony of Elizabeth I buried with her sister, bloody Queen Mary. But what does that have to do with worshiping God?

It’s a church, first of all.

Westminster Abbey tells you up front it’s a church and asks visitors to respect that fact.

It also lists services, holds Evensong, and provides opportunities to join the church life of the congregation.

I saw magenta-robed clergy moving throughout the abbey and as part of the tour, peeked into a back corner where many of the clergy and their family lived.

Unlike other cathedrals I’ve visited, Westminster Abbey felt like a living and breathing congregation where Jesus can be worshiped.

I suspect church life goes on in smaller chapels and corners of the enormous building; you can find it if you hunt.

Of course God’s fingerprints are on Westminster Abbey–Christians have worshiped God there for nearly a millennium–even when they had to look around the pillars and can’t see the altar.

The best news is, Jesus can be worshiped wherever you are–you don’t need an old building full of relics and monuments.

Thanks be to God.

Tweetables

Of course God’s fingerprints are on Westminster Abbey. Click to Tweet

Westminster Abbey: a living and breathing congregation where Jesus is worshiped. Click to Tweet