Norman, Gothic, Large or Small, England's Got a Church for You … by Steve Silver

I've long considered myself fortunate to be a churchgoer in Boston. Each Sunday I get to pray at Old South, a great Victorian pile of a church. When I need a change of pace, I can go across the street and worship at Trinity, deemed to be one of America's ten most architecturally significant buildings. Both places have great preaching, wonderful music and lots of friendly people. But for real variety, one must take a trip "across the pond" to England. Among the many things our forebears have done over the last 1000 years is build a lot of churches. Here are one traveler's impressions of just a few.

Our journey starts in London at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Yes, indeed, this is the church of Neville Mariner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It seemed only appropriate to take in a concert at this church, built in 1726 to a design by James Gibbs. The acoustics of this wonderful Georgian church and the play of candlelight on the altar and pillars highlighted the sanctuary. This must be a great place to worship. Alas, I did not get to pray here but I did get to eat in the crypt. The church maintains a café in its basement crypt; one can get a reasonable meal for about £7. Of course, one must be comfortable eating with parishioners who, over the last 270 years, were gathered up to their maker.

Next stop on our journey is the City of London, the famous Square Mile. Within the bounds of the ancient city one can find more than 50 churches. Two that impressed were St. Bride's and the famous St. Paul's Cathedral, both designed by the immensely talented Christopher Wren. St. Bride's suffered the fate of much of the City during WWII, all but the famous "wedding cake" steeple being destroyed by German bombs. However, a parish that has been around for 1,500 years can be counted on to overcome with adversity. The church was rebuilt in 1957; fortunately, the congregation, with the support of neighbors, was able to rebuild Wren's magnificent structure. The sanctuary is light and airy, the ceiling lofty. For those who prefer more confined spaces, the crypt is accessible. Here one can see paving stones upon which trod Roman feet some 1800 years ago.

St. Paul's is massive and dirty. Perhaps this is an uncharitable way to describe the second largest church in Europe. However, the facade is in need of a good sandblasting; the £4 I paid to get into the sanctuary should contribute to this. This said, Christopher Wren outdid himself with this design. He had quite a task on his hand, having to design a successor church to the old St. Paul's which burned down during the Great Fire of 1666. Rather than design a Gothic cathedral to replace the old edifice, he chose to innovate. Unlike countless architects over the ages, he succeeded.

Two of the many impressive features of the cathedral are the tomb of Wellington and the memorial to Americans who fought in the Second World War. It is said that one should take the time to head up to the dome for a spectacular view of London; sadly a large tourist group arrived at the stairs before your correspondent. A trip to the crypt seemed simpler and less time consuming. There one can see the graves of many famous people _ and buy many souvenirs at the well-stocked gift shop.

Fortunately, I had time to make a day trip to Cambridge. There I had a chance to visit the Round Church. The church was originally built in the Norman style in 1130. While it has undergone renovations over the centuries, the original design is quite evident. The builders chose a round design since they wanted to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ; early Christian pilgrims used to circle the empty tomb of Jesus. Today, the building serves as the home of the Cambridge Christian Heritage Center; the congregation moved to larger quarters in 1994 in order to accommodate growing numbers. Incidentally, if one enjoys rubbings, this is the place to go.

A trip to Cambridge without a visit to the chapel of King's College, would have been unimaginable. Henry VI laid the cornerstone for this Gothic masterpiece in 1441. It would be more than a century before the chapel would be completed. Now, for those unfamiliar with King's, this is a "chapel" the way a Rolls Royce is a car. The ceiling soars, the masonry inspires and the organ, which I was lucky enough to hear, delights. Besides being an aesthetic masterpiece, King's is an engineering marvel.

My favorite church in Cambridge, however, was St. Bene't's (Benedict's). St. Bene't's was built in 1025 and is the oldest building in Cambridgeshire. The Saxon building, which is inviting and cozy, has been modified respectfully over the centuries. Arches in the nave date to 1300 and the chancel was rebuilt during the nineteenth century. The building is still home to a worshipping community and still enjoys close ties to the college of Corpus Christi. It is also across the street from the RAF pub where one can enjoy a most tasty lunch.

Having visited a number of English churches as a tourist, I very much wanted to worship in one. Thus, on a rainy Sunday morning, I headed off to Westminster Abbey for morning worship. The Abbey, purposely built more than a thousand years ago to be the coronation church for English monarchs is ecclesiastical grandeur incarnate. More of those soaring ceilings, grand carvings, delightful woodwork. Gothic splendor to satisfy the most demanding of people. Crypts and monuments to the famous abound _ Newton, Purcell, various prime ministers, Nelson. The service was Church of England from beginning to end. For those of us who prefer traditional language in our liturgy, Westminster did not disappoint. The order of worship, the hymns and anthems seemed tailor made not just for Lent, but for a soggy, leaden-skied day. The sermon, amusingly enough, took at its starting point the Millennium Dome, being built down in Greenwich at great cost, amid much controversy and many delays. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal of Westminster have made known their intentions of skipping the millennial festivities if the sponsors insist on proceeding with a new age treatment of religion. One can only wonder how many sermons on modern foibles have been preached in this ancient church.

Each of the churches I visited had three things in common. First, they all had crypts. Rather than placing the deceased in graveyards next to the church, many parishes buried their dead within the building in crypts. This saved land which was often at a premium in ancient cities. Second, they all had some form of gift shop. I was at first annoyed by all of the commercialism but not every church enjoys the kind of endowment that is a blessing to Old South. Also, these gift shops, while selling lots of tourist goods, often have fine selections of religious books and music. Third, and finally, each of the places mentioned above is home to a worshipping community of Christians (or, in the case of the Round Church, is affiliated with one). In some instances the parish is more than 1,000 or even 1,500 years old. The church in England, just like that in America, is facing tremendous challenges as the new millennium approaches. However, there are still men and women of faith who proclaim the Good News of Christ, the knowledge of which is the best memento one can bring home from a visit to just a few of England's churches. +