I like to think that I am a non traditionalist. I believe that God, Father Son and Spirit dwell with me 24/7. There is no need for a church building. A Believing Community can worship under a tree or in a front room. A special building is not required. But take me to a Gothic cathedral and maybe my story changes. It gives me 'chills' just to walk down the street beside the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula in Brussels. Fortunately it is near the station so I can often allow my feet to wander in that direction and often they take me inside just to stand for a second or two. People have worshipped on that site for 12 centuries and I am one little dot in that historical landscape.
Another of my special places is the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. We first went there to see a Michelangelo Madonna but I looked around me and saw a vibrant church reaching out to the tourist. A church built on the site of a Roman church living its faith today. This of course brings my mind to Canterbury but not firstly to the great and spectacular cathedral but to the simple church of St Martin's where St Augustine set up his mission 597 AD. And there is The Great Cathedral. I have not mentioned York Minster and my beloved St David's.
Each time I enter one of these places I count it as a privilege, a gift. For me they are embodiments of the Celtic concept of a 'thin place'. A place where Heaven and Earth, God and I, might seem just that little bit closer.
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