Pillars of faith

As the city of Glasgow celebrates its 850th anniversary, Dr Andrew G Ralston, an elder at Glasgow Cathedral, describes an innovative way of engaging with the tens of thousands of tourists who visit the city’s oldest building.

THE efforts of most churches are directed towards encouraging more people to come through their doors but Glasgow Cathedral finds itself faced with a very different situation.

On a typical Sunday more than half the congregation at the morning service will be made up of visitors and during the week, particularly in the summer months, there is no shortage of tourists. In a typical year something like 400,000 visitors from all over the world are welcomed to Glasgow’s oldest building by a team of volunteer guides.

These visitors explore the building enthusiastically, taking photos and selfies, following a guided tour or listening to the audio guide. They acquire some understanding of the history of the cathedral, but they may be less clear about what it has represented through the centuries and what it stands for today. Indeed, it is not uncommon for people to ask the guides: “Is this still a church?”

Some go beyond the tourist experience, recognising that the cathedral is more than a historic monument, seeing it as a place of refuge, peace and tranquillity, a place to reflect on life and death — a place, in short, which arouses in them “a hunger to be more serious” as the poet Philip Larkin put it.

But a hunger which is not satisfied is surely of limited value. Free ‘Lifewords’ leaflets containing seasonal messages, prayers and extracts from Scripture are available and these are very popular, requiring to be replenished each week – an indication that a significant number of visitors want to know something about our faith.

Even so, we are conscious that more could be done. Reflecting on this, the minister, the Rev Mark Johnstone, came up with the idea of reaching out to the everchanging flow of travellers with a new kind of publication. While there is no shortage of leaflets and guidebooks covering the history of the cathedral as a building, there is little material of a specifically devotional nature – surprisingly, as the cathedral has such a rich spiritual heritage stretching back to the days of St Mungo.

A new book, entitled Pillars of Stone, Pillars of Faith, attempts to remedy this omission. It is not a conventional historical guide. Nor is it a theological treatise. Rather, it takes the form of reflections and meditations on the Christian faith linked to aspects of the ancient building. Starting at the Great West entry door and moving through the nave, quire and lower church, descriptions and colour images of architectural features or fittings — stained glass windows, ceiling bosses or furnishings — are followed by a reflection on their spiritual significance, a relevant verse or passage of Scripture and a short prayer. “Linking the reflections to the building in this way should give the book a wider appeal to casual visitors who might otherwise not be interested in something more directly ‘religious’ such as a book of daily readings,” says Mark.

“Some go beyond the tourist experience, recognising that the cathedral is more than a historic monument, seeing it as a place of refuge, peace and tranquillity, a place to reflect on life and death…

The reflections come from a variety of sources old and new. Some are from the writings of those who formerly occupied the pulpit both in recent decades and previous centuries, such as key figures from Covenanting times like Zachary Boyd, Donald Cargill and James Durham who ministered in the building, which after the Reformation and until the early nineteenth century was divided up for the use of three separate congregations. These are complemented by other perspectives from current members of the congregation, for the cathedral is not just a relic from the past but “the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

Obviously, this approach relates to the unique situation in which the cathedral finds itself and would not necessarily work in a different setting. Today all congregations require to develop methods of outreach appropriate to their own situations, making connections with people wherever they happen to be – and in this case they happen to be visitors passing through. On hearing of the new volume, one retired Anglican cleric with a cathedral background said that he wished he had thought of the idea!

The contributors to Pillars of Stone, Pillars of Faith hope that visitors will leave Glasgow Cathedral not only impressed by its sacred architecture and history but with a deeper sense that, as St Augustine reminds us, “God does not so much raise up citadels of stone and marble for us as citadels of the Holy Spirit and of love which will for ever stand in glory when this world has been reduced to ashes.” ¤

Copies of ‘Pillars of Stone, Pillars of Faith: A Devotional Guide to Glasgow Cathedral’ edited by Andrew G. Ralston will shortly be on sale in the Cathedral and will also be available via the contact form at https://glasgowcathedral.org