Saturday, February 25, 2006
WORSHIPPING THE BIRD AND THE LIGHT GOD
It is often said by Masons that Freemasonry is not a religion, it is "A peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."
Symbols are a curious thing. We use them exclusively to illustrate God, since God is pure spirit and we cannot depict Him in any other way. One symbol can mean two completely different things to two different people, though; and so symbols are carefully chosen to mean more than one thing in any interreligious setting.
I had an occasion to visit the chapel at Akron General Medical Center yesterday. It's a new chapel. In fact everything at Akron General looks brand spanking new. The chapel is a work in wood and glass. To step through the doors off the main lobby is to step into a strange world. One enters it from the side, and upon opening up those doors, is greeted by a panoramic stained glass window of brightness that runs nearly the entire length of the chapel on the opposite side. The pastoral scene appears to be backlit, or may actually be an outside wall of the hospital, though I'm not quite sure which. The colors bring the outside in. One is transported to a tranquil hillside scene a lifetime away from the hospital setting. Right in the center of that scene is a white bird in flight. I thought "Holy Spirit" while looking around for what to do next.
There are rows of chairs for those who wish to sit. In front of them there are two kneelers. The chairs and kneelers don't face the stained glass window, however. Apparently that is not the image of the god who resides in this chapel. Rather, the chairs and kneelers face the front.
Up there in the front is a pulpit of sorts off to the side, and an alcove dead center with an altar-like wooden structure built into it, looking rather like a bay window, with plaster where the glass would be. Hanging above the platform in this bay window is a large, elaborate brass sanctuary light with a yellow glow. It seems that those who worship here worship the yellow light god, and that bird on the side wall--the one who reminded me of the Holy Spirit--must be a preliminary introduction to the main attraction. Standing there, just inside the doors, and thinking about the symbols the chapel presented to me, I could only conclude that the chapel was telling me that the Holy Spirit is supposed to lead me to something else, perhaps even something greater. But who exactly is this Something-Greater-God? The light god could not have been more indifferent. It lacked even an animal awareness. It was impersonal. It didn't beckon. It didn't know I existed. It was a symbol of hopelessness. Even its small yellow light was dimming toward darkness. It had me turning away in search of something I could relate to. The only other symbol I could find was located on the back wall. Three stained glass windows sported three different symbols--a cross, a star of David, and a third symbol I didn't recognize but guessed might be Moslem. My eyes went back to the bird, and a sense of creepiness started to overwhelm me, like walking through a cemetary on a dark night and wondering who or what else is sharing the air. I couldn't stay in this place. I certaily couldn't pray in this place. Neither, apparently, could anyone else. The chapel was empty.
I stepped backwards through the doors and closed them. That was when I noticed the sign that offered the times of worship. There were two ecumenical services listed and a Muslim service listed as well. Down at the bottom of the sign was an area covered by masking tape. One could read the letters through the tape. Once they had announced the Catholic Mass, but no longer. Whoever or whatever the light god is, it apparently had managed to evict Jesus.
Sitting in the waiting room a short while later, I watched the waiting room attendant bustling around picking up stuff and straightening up. She noticed me watching her and said "These Jehovah Witnesses keep leaving their pamphlets around. We can't have them in here. We can't have anything religious in here. I have to gather them up and throw them away. Then they come back and leave more."
Whatever else might be in those pamphlets, I'd be willing to bet the word "Jesus" was in them. Once again Jesus was being evicted. Just like He is being evicted from our culture. While the Muslim service, and thus the Muslim God, is still welcome.
Here is the point at which I should offer my profound conclusions about these observations. I don't have any. All I have is sadness as I remember when, 30 years ago, a hopsital chapel was the setting where I knelt and turned my life over to the Jesus who is no longer welcome in such a place.
