Mirabile Visu

Rachel and I walked about 20 miles during our long weekend together in Washington D. C. Our final adventure, before my flight home, took us to the Washington National Cathedral (the Episcopal Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul).

The Space Window on the south aisle of the National Cathedral contains a piece of lunar rock that was presented to the Cathedral by the astronauts of Apollo XI

The Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA) currently threatens to rip itself apart over the issues of homosexuality and women's ordination. The 2003 confirmation of a non-celibate homosexual bishop brought feelings about the liberalizing influences within the denomination to a head.

The introduction of Liberal Protestantism ... complicated the nature of Anglican diversity, for Liberal Protestants did not value the historic instruments of Anglican unity. They did not believe many of the items in the historic creeds, did not consider the ecumenical councils binding, and held to an understanding of Scripture that was at odds with the way that Evangelicals, Anglo-Catholics, and even Broad Church Anglicans had affirmed its primacy. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it became commonplace for Liberal Anglicans to reject belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ (William Sanday), the deity of Christ (The Myth of God Incarnate), and even the existence of God (the Sea of Faith Movement). — William G. Witt

The current controversies within ECUSA are a clanging contrast to the sublime beauty of their National Cathedral:

Washington National Cathedral is the sixth largest cathedral in the world and the second largest in the United States. (St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the largest church in the world and Saint John’s in New York City is the largest cathedral in the United States.)...The exterior of the Cathedral is almost the length of two football fields....The principal building material of the cathedral is Indiana limestone, chosen because it is superior for both construction and carving....The Cathedral is a solid masonry structure, the limestone blocks are laid one on top of the other with mortar between them. The flying buttresses are also solid stone and they help hold up the walls by bracing them....The Cathedral weighs 150,000 tons. The average piece of stone weighs 300 pounds. The heaviest stone in the Cathedral is the 5.5-ton boss over the west balcony.

Begun in 1907 and completed in 1990, the National Cathedral was built to stand for a thousand years. Rachel and I entered at the crypt level and saw engraved inscriptions dedicating this amazing building to the glory of God. Yes, God prefers obedience to sacrifice (1Sa 15.22), and one could disdain this architectural wonder as a diversion of an immense amount of money that could have been "given to the poor" (cf. Mat 26.9). However, the Cathedral is a fait accompli, its builders intended it for God's glory, and I encourage everyone to visit it and let the God of beauty minister to you there.

Bethlehem Chapel, crypt level, National Cathedral, November 5, 2006.

When Rachel and I ascended to the Cathedral nave, the sky-rocketing space took my breath away.

• The Cathedral nave, from the marble floor to the vaulting, is ten stories high.
• The Cathedral’s center tower is as tall as a thirty-story building.
• The central tower is 676 feet above sea level, making its top the highest point in the District of Columbia.

Here's the main altar:

And here's one of the famous Rose Windows, the West Rose Window:

• There are 215 stained glass windows in the Cathedral.
• The north rose window is the Cathedral’s largest stained glass window at 26 feet in diameter.
• More than 10,500 pieces of stained glass make up the west rose window.

The phenomenon of beauty is one reason I believe in the existence of God. In spite of the ECUSA's troubles, and my disinclination to encourage big church buildings, the National Cathedral lifted my heart and mind to the heavens.