Reflection 01: Inspiration

What inspires you?

That's a rather odd question. What inspires you? And besides that, To what are you inspired?

Yesterday, I took the bus into London. I wandered around a lot, got a little lost--I'll say more about that in another entry; but I spent almost three hours in St. Paul's Cathedral. It was incredible.

To take photographs inside the cathedral is not permitted. (The pictures I've attached are of postcards that I purchased.) In any case, pictures could not do justice to the beauty, the grandeur, the magnificence of that place.

Like most cathedrals, the floor plan is laid out in a cruciform shape with the quire and high altar at the head, toward the rising sun. The dome, itself weighing several thousand tons, with its top reaching two hundred feet above the church floor, rests on eight sets of composite double-pillars. You can climb 259 steps to the lowest rim of the dome, one hundred feet above the church floor, to a gallery where the merest whisper can be heard on the opposite side, over one hundred feet away. Around the dome are marble statues of eight doctors of the church: St. Gregory, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Gregory (NAZ), and St. Athanasius. The dome surface is painted with images from the life of St. Paul. At the base of the dome are eight frescos portraying the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the four major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel) diligently transcribing the the words of Holy Scripture received by the hands of angels. These frescos rim four alcoves on which are laid the words of Psalm 150:

Praise Him in His noble acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him in the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him upon the lyre and harp.
Praise Him in the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him upon the string and pipe.
Praise Him upon the well-tuned cymbal;
Praise Him upon the loud cymbal.

Images of Christ's nativity, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection also rim the central chamber. In the crypt are interred the remains of many of the honored dead and throughout the cathedral are countless memorials to, and statues depicting the consolation of, the faithful and righteous deceased.

I marvel, not only at the exquisite beauty but also at the depth of meaning and richness of substance that fill every corner of that place. Sir Christopher Wren (the designer) was inspired. Nothing else could motivate an undertaking of this kind, scale, and magnificence.

And it inspires me.

Inspiration is an awakening to the reality of God in this place. It involves stepping back from the situation, the circumstances, the place, the time, and the people and acknowledging that God is in this place and that this is of God. And that awakening is accompanied by a desire to respond. God's presence and moving and working have consistently been accompanied by the inspiration of people--men and women--to do some work for God, to be a better person, to follow God more closely, to serve more obediently, to act creatively... the list goes on: to write stories, paint pictures, play music, sing songs, run faster, hit harder, fly higher, dive deeper, share more, listen better, reflect, meditate, defend, commit.

What inspires you? To what are you inspired? Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? Are you pursuing that?

Do you realize that God is always present and always working, even when you don't "feel" it? What does that say for your ability to accomplish, through Him, that to which He has called you?