alexis in the city

i went to the gym this morning to go to a ballet class, then my yoga class.  when i got there, i realized they’d switched out the ballet class, with a class i didn’t want to go to - i didn’t feel like going home, then coming back for yoga, so i decided to wander around the area near my gym until the yoga class.   the gym is a few streets up Nob Hill from my apartment, and close to gorgeous and legendary Grace Cathedral.

i went and got some tea, then headed to the sanctuary of the cathedral.  i can’t remember the last time i was in a cathedral and the best word i can really think of to convey the feeling of granduer i got when i walked in is ” majestic.”  it was quiet for the most part, with a few people milling around, and a trio practicing an a capella liturgy - the sound carried through the marble foyer and expanded in the high ceilings.  it reminded me of the soundtrack of a movie. i sat down to let the experience reach me, and i felt something i haven’t felt in a church in a long time: awe.

i would definitely classify myself as a postmodern christian- someone who tends to shy away from the idea of organized religion, denominations, labels, structure, and the like.  this has led me to be part of more free-form churches: ones that met in schools, ones with a closer, more intimate setting, sitting on couches instead of pews, watching a dance performance as part of a service rather than repeating a liturgy.  i would say these things fulfilled my need for a communal feeling, in line with being a 20-something in a postmodern society.

but as i sat in grace cathedral i began to think of how maybe some things fell by the wayside in the journey to postmodernism  - not just the journey from modernism to today, but a decades, maybe even centuries long journey.  i’m sure this is already going on, and i’m probably coming to my personal realization a little after the fact, but i think the next step along the way (post-post modernism?) might be bringing the majesty back.

postmodernism has gone a long way toward taking some of the bullshit out of religion (although in some cases, there is still plenty to go around), simplifying it and bringing it back to a story of love, acceptance and redemption.  people are more free to express themselves in the ways that best suit them - in ways that were previously questioned by “big religion.”

i think there’s still some room for the awesome-ness of the older forms of religion.  the liturgies,  practices, cathedrals, and even sometimes the formalities of approaching something or someone that is so much bigger than we are.