Worshipping in a Roman Cathedral

Five summers ago, I was sitting in a summer camp auditorium. I'm sure I was thinking about what was for lunch or when my group got to go on the water slide, but I can still clearly remember one of the morning sermons. The speaker had two chairs. One chair represented God, and the other represented us. Our chair kept moving, getting pulled in new directions, and wriggling away from God. Every time our chair got away, God’s chair would follow. But, our chair was not facing God.

The analogy is that God is always following us. No matter how far gone we are, or how many oceans we move away from Him, God’s chair will be there. But, we have to choose to turn our chair around and see him.

Last night, God’s chair followed me to Germany. He reminded me that he is as sovereign in Deutschland as he was in Indiana. He reminded me that he is greater than languages, cultures, and my stupidity.

Now that I have got you hooked with my analogies and vague philosophical sentences, I will clue you into what I mean.

Last night I got to go to a worship event in the Speyer Cathedral. It was built as a part of the Roman Empire (Speyer is located along the Rhein River), and it is 915 years old (!!!!). Also, at the time it was built, it was the longest church in the world. Now, it is the longest Romanesque style church in existence. So, to say the least, it carries a lot of history.

Truthfully, I was not expecting a lot from the worship service, so it completely exceeded my expectations. Bright lights contrasted the cathedral's Romanesque architecture, and it was crazy beautiful. I do not believe that glitz and glam are necessary for worshipping God, but it definitely spikes teenage interest. Along with that, people young and old filled the cathedral, which was really cool.

Once the worship started, I was captivated. My soul went back to a place that I haven’t been in months, being in a crowd of people all glorifying the grace of God and lifting His name high. Despite most of the songs being in German, it was easy to sing along and understand. They played one song completely in English, Who You Say I Am by Hillsong Worship. Who You Say I Am happens to be my favorite worship song. I don't think that was a coincidence. I found my hands lifted high the entire night, and despite being cold and tired, I never wanted to stop.

There was something profound about worshipping God in a place built for him hundreds of years ago. To see hands lifted high and voices filling the church all these years later was surreal. I can’t speak for everyone there, but I felt God’s presence in the room. I think that God’s chair was sitting in that cathedral, and I got to turn my chair around to face him.

I typically don’t share much about my religious beliefs on the internet, but I believe that last night was special, and I wanted to document it. If this in any way sounded cool to you, I would be more than happy to help you find a service/youth group in your area or to talk to you about J-man. My Instagram DMs (@lucygoesgerman) are always open:)

Thanks for reading,