Thoughts on Old Cathedrals and Cemeteries

It is inescapable in Scotland - history!  It is everywhere you look.  The buildings are old and some of them very old.  I spent a lot of time pondering history and those that have gone before us.  I spent a fair amount of time in cemeteries while there.  I love cemeteries!  They are a reminder that our life here is fleeting, that we too will depart from this earth as others have before us.  They are a reminder of how "easy" we have it now, as I read stone after stone listing the many, many children that died before reaching their prime.  I can't help but imagine the grief of their parents as they bury children every year, or every other year; some as infants, some as teenagers.

Cemeteries also remind me of how insignificant so much of our earthly life is.  As I look at the tumbled tombstones that were inscribed with the worldly accomplishments of the "great" people of Glasgow - the merchants, the authors, etc.   Now, hundreds of years later, most of their names are meaningless to me and many of the tributes to their lives are unreadable, worn away by time.  This actually did not depress me; it reminded me that only things done for God, with my eyes on eternity, will remain, when it's all said and done.

Throughout the trip, I was also reminded of the great cost that our fore-bearers paid to serve Jesus Christ.  The Reformation in Scotland, as elsewhere, cost people their lives, yet still many spoke the truth, lived the truth and did not turn back when counting the cost.


Then there were the cathedrals.  The many, many cathedrals!  When I walked into the first one, in Glasgow, it gave me goosebumps and I almost started crying (no great shock there to those who know me).  It just struck me how in that very building for hundreds of years (400+) people had come to worship Jesus; no doubt thousands and thousands of people over the centuries, and there I, who also love Jesus, stood to take my place with them.

The other thing about the cathedrals that struck me was their magnificence.  I don't think you need to have a massive, beautiful structure to worship God; however, it does indicate how awesome and worthy of all honor the people who built these structures believed God to be.  They wanted to build a structure worthy of an almighty, all holy, all powerful. all beautiful God.  Of course they failed, but they came much closer than we do these days.


So, there you have it.  I love both cemeteries and cathedrals because they point me to the One who is of the most importance.