More on the
Washington National Cathedral:
Music and Meditation at the Labyrinth,
Sermons,
Centering Prayer Programs-more
Centering Prayer info,
"Save the Earth"-Double Feature,
Sacred Circles (and I see Carol Lee Flinders is presenting soon).
You gotta see where
Darth Vader is placed in the Cathedral! Whoa!
(Be careful--"Don't go over to the dark side" after viewing!) All the
Star Wars fans must love this and make pilgrimages to the church (?). Cathedral-
Self-guided tour- "
Wacky Western Gargoyles".
Virtual Tour.
To find Darth Vader you have to leave the building through the ramp entrance. This is located at the northwest corner of the nave, through the double wooden doors of Lincoln Bay. Go down the ramp, and step into the parking lot. Then, turn around and look back up at the tower closest to you. He is almost impossible to see without the assistance of binoculars.
I sure would hate to see the image of an
Ipod or image of
Amercian Idol-Taylor Hicks in the stained glass window or on a column!
This reminds me of the time we were visiting colleges with our college bound student. We visited the campus of
"The University of the South"-Swanee in TN. When we arrived we were impressed with the outside architecture of the (Episcopal sponsored private college) chapel on campus. It is
Gothic looking and we thought that it was pretty until we took the inside tour of the building and property.
Our guide directed us to look up at the newly renovated stained glass windows
- "You can see the image of a VW"! What? Excuse me? See what? "Yes, the artist placed the image of a Volkswagen Beetle in the stained glass." Needless to say, I was the only person in the touring/visiting group of parents and possible students, that did not see the actual image. My husband did tho. My child does not attend this college even though they offered a full 4 yr. scholarship. Horrible. Need I say more?
So, this is where we got the labyrinths, centering prayer and
columbariums!? Oops, I mean this is where the 'ideas' came from -Episcopals? Be on the look out in your local Catholic diocese for the following...labyrinths, centering prayer groups/retreats, secular items displayed in windows or architecture, and of course columbariums! See -
centering prayer-yoga (
more here) and the see-the
columbarium- "for burial of ashes". So now we
encourage cremation? Building an area for ashes adjacent or inside a Catholic Church (btw this is NOT near a cemetery)? What does
the church say about this? Isn't this encouraging cremation by building this structure? They do charge for the space and there's plenty of room in the area cemetery for this structure. So then what is the reason for a columbarium?