Fire and Smoke
TIME reports: Stepping inside Notre Dame today is like entering a mausoleum. In sharp contrast to the cathedral’s typically crowded nave, where tourists and worshippers jostle for space, the huge interior is eerily empty and silent, the only movement coming from remote-controlled construction vehicles; it is still deemed too risky to have humans disturb the fire-damaged space. The robot earthmovers, dwarfed by the towering vault, edge slowly in and out of the nave, extracting the fallen stonework and burnt wood, piece by piece — including bits of the shattered spire — that crashed through the roof during the fire and now sit in a pile of debris. Each piece is meticulously cataloged, then placed in a tent in Notre Dame’s front yard, in readiness for restoration.
Norte Dame cathedral is one of the most beautiful and creative buildings I have ever been privileged to enter. Literally hundreds of years of construction and millions of visitors over the years have not changed the reality that it is nothing more than a building, and one where little Truth is revealed. As Parisians, and indeed, the World argue over it’s reconstruction, it would be wise to remind ourself that it is not the Temple of God’s residence.
Rather it is those millions of people, many, if not most, of whom have never clearly heard the Gospel, who are unaware that God resides in His people. Those who are redeemed by the blood of The Lamb are the temples of God, who inhabits, by the life of His Holy Spirit, each one. (see 1 Corinthians 6:19)
That which has burned cannot ever be restored to its original beauty. What Artisans from centuries ago created is gone forever. Would it not be wise to consider the millions of people who could hear the Good News, be moved (at least for a time) from incredible poverty, find relief from disease, famine, homelessness. . .with the millions, maybe billions of dollars that are proposed to rebuild the structure. I agree it was unmatched in beauty, history, and lore, but all things temporal pass away. It is only the “Temples” of God that matter in the end.