It’s no wonder to me that there are warnings to watch out for pickpockets at the Köln train station. Because the very moment you walk out of the station, the beautifully monstrous cathedral is there staring you down. I lost just about all sense of self and situational awareness upon seeing the cathedral because it was simply that stunning. Not only did we see this amazing stunning structure, but we also attended high mass there that Sunday.
One thing that this past year at Calvin has taught me is how to step out of my comfort zone and carefully consider the elements of my worship–what is right and good? What is appropriate and/or inappropriate for a worship setting? How do different peoples worship? What is commanded by and acceptable to God and what is simply man’s tradition?
One of our professors remarked on the sad fact that religion simply doesn’t hold the same place in many of our lives today as before. Considering the time and resources and devotion required to build such a remarkable cathedral, it’s a shame that devotion to God doesn’t always hold higher priority in our lives. Seeing the devotion and care with which the officiants and attendees carried out the service was moving, but it also reminded me of some important things.
Most notably different from a service back home was the heavy use of prescribed liturgy, chanting, and burning of incense in the service. And I can’t say that I understood all of it (as the service was, of course, carried out in German only), but it was interesting to watch as the people carried out the service with liturgy that has survived years that I don’t know how to number. But impressive as this was, I was constantly brought back to thoughts of the reformation. The sale of indulgences and corruption within the church caused the reformation years ago. And Luther’s theme “grace alone, through faith alone” carried the protestant reformation in the 16th century.
Even while the service was quite impressive, I was reminded of how easy it is, even in my own worship and own comfort zone back home, to become caught up in the traditions, the routines, and simply going through the motions. It’s easy to become confident in “how well” I may be doing as a Christian or how faithful we have been to our reformed tradition. But the thing about reformation is that it is an ongoing event. We must constantly be reforming our faith, checking it with God’s Word, and be reminded that our salvation is not merited by anything we do, but by grace alone, through faith alone in what Christ has accomplished for us in His perfect life, His death, and His resurrection.
When God instituted the burning of incense to be done by the high priest in the Old Testament, it was a symbol of cleansing and covering for the sins of the people; and symbols and offerings of these sorts had to be offered up over and over. When Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament, it was a sign of the complete cleansing, the full covering, that He accomplished for us. Whereas the catholic mass asserts that Christ’s body and blood is present and offered for us with every mass, reformed faith holds that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient once for all time. And this is good news. We don’t serve a God that requires us to cover our own sins by the way we live, the things we say or the rituals we perform, but rather looks upon all those who trust in Him with grace, only for the sake of the work of Christ.
It seemed a bit weird to be both a tourist looking in on a service being performed the first day in Köln as well as to be observed by other tourists while sitting in the service the second day. But no matter, I hope that those that visit the cathedral are able to see something of the Christian faith and hope. I hope that neither the cathedral nor the services held within it are the most impressive things seen by a tourist visiting Köln, but rather that the amazing grace of God in Christ would be impressed upon the hearts and minds of the 20,000+ visitors that visit the cathedral every day.