Once a year the city of Amsterdam opens 40 of its museums at night, til about 2am. There are free buses and the canal boats are free for those visiting the museums. There are musical events, cultural cuisines and art, art, art. By far this is one of my favorite nights. So last night, we started our journey through the city, with thousands of others, seeing and experiencing the rich culture of this city.
One of the sites was a Portuguese synagogue located in what is left of the Jewish Quarters in the city. This area was practically destroyed in WW2. The building was built in 1675, and the design of the barrel-vaulted roof was designed to echo like that of the temple of Solomon. There are over a thousand candles and they were all lit that night. As we walked in, there was a choral group of men singing in the center. It felt very “sacred”. You could sense the level of devotion and reverence for the space they were in.
The last place ventured to was the nieuwe kerk, or new church, located in the heart of the city, The Dam, which is the largest center in the city. This church is anything but new. It is a Gothic church but the actual date of when it was built is unknown. It has been used since 1815 as the place where the royalty are inaugurated, and in the off time is used as an art gallery. On museum night, it housed an exhibit of Istanbul. They had music there are well, performed by an Islamic band, playing traditional music and the inside was decorated with the customs and traditions of the city of Istanbul. A very different feel than the synagogue. Obviously a church, maybe at one time, intended to be a place of worship, a place of reverence for Christians in the time of Christendom, but those days are long gone.
Isn’t it interesting that even though the Jewish faith as been around for thousands of years, faced countless persecutions, and their presence in a city where they are clearly the minority, their place of worship is intact and still functioning and being regarded as a place of worship, community and identity, while the new church is an art gallery?
I walked around the new church, as I do in most old amazingly beautiful cathedrals here in Holland, walking on the floors made of the concrete coffins of people, more than likely those who attended and identified with this place as a sacred place, a place of community and identity, and wonder. Wonder lots of things, but mostly I wonder how God is going to redeem the plundering and abuse of power that the church paticipated in for centuries? How is Jesus going to be more than that guy that hangs on all the crosses or that weak looking guy in all the pictures? How is He going to be more than an icon here? So many people traveling through the churches that are now museums, while the mosques and synagogues are still places of worship.
