Angels in the Architecture

When we went to Washington for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear* we also got to see a few of the landmarks, including the National Archives and the outsides of many of the Smithsonian. We also made a trip out to see the National Cathedral. This is an amazing place to visit if you're a fan of gothic architecture, which is unusual given its relative youth. (It's a 20th century church deliberately built with 14th century techniques.) There are buttresses flying all over the place, the towering pillars thrust the vaulted ceiling up and create an incredible sense of size and awe, and of course there's the famous Rose Window. But even though services are largely Episcopal and many religious groups use it as a ritual space, you have things like the Space Window (with its own moon rock!), the Birth of a Nation window, a window of Doctor Jesse Lazear (who did groundbreaking research in yellow fever), Churchill Porch, statues of Washington and Lincoln, and of course the famous Darth Vader grotesque. (Bring binoculars or a camera with a zoom lens if you want to see that last one.) So yes, the cathedral exalts god/gods but it also exalts humans, people at their best. (People who did not die gruesome painful deaths for being Christian.)

And that was what struck me, what I carried out of the cathedral with me.