Rising from the Ashes

This week, the attention of the world converged on a glowing spire in Paris, as the Notre Dame Cathedral was heavily damaged by fire. Soon, social media was flooded with selfies taken in front of her iconic flying buttresses and Gothic towers. Many wrote of their personal connection with “Our Lady,” noting her long history, her symbolic value to Paris and France, and the spiritual insight often discovered in the glow of her glorious Rose Window.

Thousands of miles away, in St. Landry’s Parish in Louisiana, residents and parishioners were still reeling from their own losses. Under the darkness of night on March 26, the century-old St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre burned to the ground. Origin of fire: suspicious. Within days, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, both in nearby Opelousas, were also torched by an arsonist. 

Ashland is no stranger to church fires. On a Sunday morning in December 1933, the First Presbyterian Church was ablaze, most likely a result of faulty electrical wiring near the pipe organ. Ashland’s First United Methodist Church was doubly struck, as the congregation suffered a major fire in the 1880s, resulting in the construction of a new, “modern” church building at Sandusky and Cottage Streets. Then, in September 2002, fire once again roared, this time through its education wing, although the sanctuary itself was spared.

I don’t know the responses of the people of Ashland, Ohio or Opelousas and Port Barre, Louisiana, as the fire sirens wailed and the news rapidly spread through town. However, it’s likely their reactions were similar to the Parisians who quickly gathered to bear witness, to watch, to wait, and to pray, their tears mingling with the soot choking the air. News reports featured clips of the burning cathedral, with the spray of the firehoses arching towards the flames, surrounded by stunned onlookers who sang the Ave Maria and other hymns of faith.

In a discussion of Gothic architecture in “Christianity Today,” Matthew J. Milliner wrote under the headline, “At Notre Dame, Good Friday Came Early.” As Christ followers around the world mark Holy Week, the destruction of this magnificent image of faith surely does seem symbolic of Good Friday, the day when Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. The damages suffered in St. Landry’s Parish magnify that symbolism, as the betrayal of hate adds to their loss, again reminiscent of the Passion narrative. 

Regardless of the actual day of the week, when tragedy strikes, it seems like Friday, not the TGIF kind of Friday, but like Good Friday, a time of grief and loss. But as Pastor Shadrach Meschach Lockridge first immortalized in his sermon of the same name, “It’s Friday . . . But Sunday’s coming.” Dr. Tony Campolo has popularized Lockridge’s classic sermon, quietly setting the scene: “It’s Friday. The disciples are hiding and Peter’s denying that he knows the Lord. But Sunday’s coming.” His words crescendo until he reaches the peak: “It’s Sunday. And now everything has changed. It’s the age of grace, God’s grace poured out on all who would look to that crucified lamb of Calvary. Grace freely given to all who would believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, was buried and rose again. All because it’s Sunday.”

In communities, in cathedrals, in hearts and lives, the pain and suffering of Good Friday only remains for a season. In Ashland, First Presbyterian Church and First United Methodist Church stand strong today as symbols of resurrection, risen from the ashes. In Louisiana, churches in St. Landry’s Parish are will move ahead, buoyed by their faith and a growing gofundme account that will allow them to start construction. And in Paris, as French President Emmanuel Macron proclaims, the Île de la Citéwill one day welcome a renewed Notre Dame Cathedral.“We will rebuild!”

Here we are on holy Saturday, thoughtfully nestled between Good Friday and Easter so we can purchase the ham and the butter lamb, hide the eggs and the chocolate baskets. Yet on this day, as have people through the ages, we too can bear witness, watch, wait, and pray, in faith that resurrection and rebirth are possible. Alleluia!