Amazing Neighborhood Churches, Part I: St. John the Divine

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a thing for churches. I especially love big, beautiful ones with heaps of history. Luckily, our quaint borough here in Manhattan has an inordinate amount of exceptional churches and I'm making it my goal to visit every single one. Despite all the deep affection I feel for auditoriums and fellowship halls, I sometimes wonder how I've made it in the Churches of Christ all these years. Of course I realize God cannot be enshrined in buildings and material riches are of no real value for Him. However, it is difficult to walk into a sacred space in which generations of believers have toiled, lived and died for the glory of God and not feel in some way closer, more introspective, more worshipful.

Of course, no church is perfect. Ideally there would be a kitchen just beyond the nave with piping hot green bean casserole topped with fried onions and a side of incredible Christian hospitality found so abundantly in my Christian tradition. But there isn't. (Trust me, I've looked.) In the conversation of Christianity that is world-wide and history-deep, each church and each fellowship has something unique to add. These different voices remind us that in our zeal to emphasize one facet of Christian life, we sometimes neglect others. To witness and hear these different voices often calls us to appreciate God, and his people, in a bigger, fuller way. In the case of St. John the Divine reverence and awe are their part of the conversation and the church displays theses characteristics of God, and the human response to God, beautifully. Here are some pictures.