Tag Archives: Cathedral of Learning

House of Culture and Learning

09 Thursday Feb 2017

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As we left the Cathedral of Learning, we took one last view of this incredible building that houses culture and learning.

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There’s a ton in the building.  I couldn’t help by wonder – does it get a lot of visitors?  I hope so.

Do people actually appreciate the different cultures?  The different languages of those cultures?  The long histories of these nations and peoples?  I have no idea.

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Of course we can’t make people care.  Spending our time forcing people to care is a waste of time.  The only ones we have real influence over is ourselves.  And even then, sometimes I wonder.  Forcing people to appreciate culture only makes many people have a negative reaction.  But invitation usually has a better effect.

Lesson for church: I heard a preacher on the radio this past Sunday talk about change starting in people through their heads.  I think that’s bogus.  Want people to change – reach them at their heart level.  Look at the current environment in politics – all of the talking is directed at the head.  And the reaction – we have two sides that are farther apart now than they have been in awhile.  Let’s not be like politics.  We’re in the heart business church.  Touch the heart and it will impact the head.

A room with a view

08 Wednesday Feb 2017

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After the Welsh room, we headed up to the 36th floor of the Cathedral of Learning.  From there, we had the opportunity to get some incredible views of the Pittsburgh area, which we took advantage of.

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Considering I have a pretty severe fear of heights, I even amazed myself with being the one taking the pictures.  Maybe I was fine because the windows were not that big and I didn’t feel like I was going to be sucked out to my death.

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Regardless, I was thrilled to be able to enjoy the view.  Small steps my friends, small steps.

Lesson for church: Small steps. We can’t expect huge changes in the church. Change is not the norm in church. It’s an institution and institutions don’t change on their own or willingly.  The church has a culture and cultures don’t like to change either.  There has to be a good reason to change – you can’t just change for change’s sake.  There’s no purpose to that.  But we can and should change in order to better carry out the mission of God.  Any step in that direction is a step forward.

What’s the word for memory in Welsh?

07 Tuesday Feb 2017

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The next stop in the Cathedral of Learning was the Welsh room.

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I have to say, of all of the rooms in the Cathedral of Learning, this looked the most familiar.  Not because of the long benches where the student sit, but the overall room and the color.  It just reminds me of my own elementary schooling.  I’m not even sure if the rooms in my elementary school were yellow, but for some reason this room brought me back.

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The door and items in the window above were a nice touch and the items were very Welsh, from the limited knowledge of Welsh culture that I have.

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And I’m not sure what to make of the picture above. Reminds me of a courtroom where a judge would preside.  Or a pulpit where a preacher would give a sermon.  I’m not sure how I feel about it.  Regardless, this was an interesting room.

Lesson for church: recognize what is familiar for people and how it might impact them.  Of course that can next to impossible to do also.  At the very least minimize the negative associations and maximize the positives.  You can’t do this for everyone.  The point though is this – get to know the people in the church.  What has been their experience with church.  Have they been traumatized, had a great experience, what?  What symbols and material things trigger memories – both good and bad?  The church has a long tradition and it can be a help or a hindrance.  Knowing the difference is important.

That open feeling

06 Monday Feb 2017

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The next stop on the cultural tour through the Cathedral of Learning was the Korean Heritage Room.

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This is the only other room that has “Heritage” in its name.  Again, I’m not sure why.  Are the other rooms devoid of heritage?  Why the special designation?  I don’t know.

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I did like this room though – it felt very open and in a weird way, it felt connected to nature.  Maybe because of all the wood.  Or maybe the lighting.

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Lesson for church: Open and welcome.  Imagine if your church could be described that way.  I wonder how it would be different.  What would open mean?  What would have to change?  How would the people in the church have to change?  How would the culture have to change?  And most importantly, does Jesus call us to be open?  I think so.  Yeah, Jesus never used the word directly, but if you look at what he talks about it’s about being open – Open to others, open to God, open to change, open to serve.

Beauty in the eye of the beholder

03 Friday Feb 2017

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The next stop in the Cathedral of Learning was the Austrian room.

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As you might expect from Austria, everything in the room was gorgeous.  I’ve been to Salzburg, and let’s just say it’s one of my all time favorite cities.  It’s elegant, it’s confident, and yet you don’t feel judged either.

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Oh, and did I mention that Austrian culture is big on art too?  The artwork was all over this room – enhancing the beauty.

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Lesson for church:  Beauty is a good thing.  We don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  There is nothing wrong with using beautiful things in the service of worshiping God.  The idea is to do things excellently. That’s not the same as perfection.  Those are two different things.  Excellence in church isn’t about being perfect.  Excellence is about using the resources you have in the best way possible.  It’s about utilizing the talents of the people in the church in the best way possible.  It’s about even utilizing children in worship and in the larger life of the congregation as well in the best way possible.  Pursuing excellence in church isn’t about the best and the brightest only being highlighted.  It’s so much more than that.  It’s expressing the beauty that is in our midst.  And sometimes the most beautiful things in our churches are our children, as they squirm and make noise, our teens as they find their place in the world, our parents as they seek help with their families, our elderly as they seek healing, our visitors as they seek, our outcasts as they seek a place of welcome.

Let me tell you a story…

02 Thursday Feb 2017

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The next stop in the Cathedral of Learning was the Japanese room.

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It is very simple, yet eloquent at the same time.  It is very functional, yet not off putting either.

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In the back of the room (shown above) you see some Japanese writings.  Here’s a close up of the one on the left.

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I’m told that often these images and the words that go with them are telling a story.  It’s my understanding that Japanese culture is conveyed through story very often and that the Japanese are master story tellers.

Lesson for church: we have a story to tell.  The culture won’t tell the story for us anymore, which I think is a positive thing.  The Rev. Dr. David Lose once said that the church in the US has gotten lazy with telling its story.  I agree.  It’s time to relearn the story of faith and proclaim it.  This isn’t a story about facts and figures – it’s a story about relationship:  God with creation, including humanity.  Tell that story, and see what happens.

A long time ago in Armenia…

01 Wednesday Feb 2017

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The next stop in the tour of the world through the Cathedral of Learning was the Armenian room.

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Not only do you feel like you’ve just stepped into a different culture with this room, but you also feel like you have stepped back in time too. And with good reason.  Armenia is an old civilization.  It boasts of having one of the earliest Christian civilizations – which means there was already a well established civilization chugging along before that.

To give some perspective on age, here’s a picture of the Armenian alphabet from the 5th century.

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And here’s a brief history of the country by way of important Armenian figures from history.

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Lesson for the church.  Ok, so maybe this is more a lesson for North American Christianity.  Or to be more specific – American Christianity.  Christianity existed before our nation did and will still exist afterwards.  That means we should live in humility.  History didn’t start when we were born and it won’t end when we die.  The Church has thrived in many locations and under many circumstances – many of which were unfavorable to the church.  And we sit around and whine about a few less people sitting in the pews.  Let’s get serious for a moment shall we – what’s really important about our faith?  That’s what will carry on to the next generation.

It’s amazing what you can do with Swiss Army knife

31 Tuesday Jan 2017

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The next stop on the tour of the Cathedral of Learning was the Swiss room.

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I wonder if these carvings were done with a Swiss Army knife, while eating some wonderful Swiss chocolate?  Beautiful aren’t they?

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One of the neat things about this room are the city crests that are on the backs of all the chairs.

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And what Swiss room wouldn’t be complete without a tribute to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

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He’s the man who could arguably get credit for much modern ways of thinking in the West.  He was a philosopher, writer, and composer.  Love him or hate him, as many of his contemporaries did (both loved and hated his ideas), he was not afraid to share his thoughts and ideas.  He painted pictures of the ideal world through his words – many still having an effect on our world today.

Lesson for the church: We can learn from Rousseau – paint a picture of the ideal.  And we don’t even have to create it either – we’ve been given it in the image of the kingdom of God.  We should be bold in proclaiming it, regardless of the criticism.  Complaint and opposition have their place and are important.  Yet, they shouldn’t be the only words that we speak.  Ultimately, Christianity isn’t a protest movement – it is something much more.  It’s a reordering of the world.  Let’s proclaim that and let the chips fall where they will.

It’s hip to be square (as a room anyway)

30 Monday Jan 2017

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The next stop in our tour of the Cathedral of Learning was the Indian room.

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I really liked this room.  It has a unique feel to it that I can’t quite pinpoint.  Maybe it’s the fact that everything is symmetrical.  Or maybe it’s the arrangement of the seating, or maybe the brick.  I don’t know.

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The art in the room (shown above) is a tribute to learning.  That’s cool.  And it seems as though it’s not just learning for some either.

Also in this room is a nod to the importance of religion in Indian culture.  In the US, we seem to be afraid of any acknowledgement of faith in regards to learning.  Yet, this is something relatively new in history.  So many discoveries have been made by religious people in the world of science.  The university system came into being because of religious people.  Yet, today, you’d think there was always some kind of separation, or that there was a war between religion and science or religion and learning.

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But history shows this is not the case.

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Lesson for the church: there does not have to be a war between religion and science or learning.  Religion has much to learn from science and education, and vice versa.  We should remember our past.  Tradition plays an important role in the life of the church and in culture.  However, tradition shouldn’t be made into an idol either.  Instead, I’ll quote my supervisor from my internship – “We should honor our traditions, and create new ones.”  Very wise words.

The other “Heritage” room

27 Friday Jan 2017

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Our next stop in the Cathedral of Learning was the African Heritage Room.

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Am I the only one that thinks it’s a little odd to have one room dedicated to African heritage?  This room is set in a Kenyan style.

But seriously, it seems like a typical American way of looking at the world.  Africa is this big continent, yet we seem to think that all Africans are the same.  Hello?!?  It’s a whole continent, you know like North America.  And I think we Americans know that there are significant differences across the continent, even just within the US.  That’s not even considering Canada or Mexico.  But hey, what do I know?

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I found the African Heritage Room to be pretty neat.  The seating was not comfortable, but it serves its purpose.

I did like the artwork around the room though.

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You can almost hear the stories that the images tell.

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Lesson for church – Making assumptions can cause problems.  When we assume things about people or places, we are bound to make mistakes and miss important things.  We we assume things about sin and people, we’re bound to bring shame into the picture.  Church has an opportunity to share a different message – one of hope, reconciliation, and forgiveness.  But these require listening and being open.  They require going well past the assumptions that we have to consider things we may not even know exist.  It means acknowledging that we are not in control.  That’s a scary spot for people.  Yet, if we can’t be the ones who are not in control in church, then where are we going to experience that reality?