What -- or Who -- is at the Centre?

A few postings ago, "Old First" wrote about how his church maintains a "strong center" -- "the risen Lord Jesus Christ" -- with few boundaries.

In Berlin, we visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche -- the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The original church, built in the 1890s, was in many ways a celebration of German imperialism. It was destroyed by British bombs in 1943 leaving only the main west tower. After the War, the decision was made not to restore the church to what it had been but to make a different kind of statement.

The tower was left standing, sheered-off spire, pock marks from bomb blasts and all -- and turned into a memorial to the cost of war.

A new octagonal church was built, incorporating 15,000 panes of blue stained glass. The interior effect is quite remarkable -- dark and quiet, yet constantly illuminated.

Most striking of all is the massive hammered metal figure of Christ which absolutely dominates the space. Given the history of Germany, Berlin and this church, is more than just an aesthetic adornment. One of the descriptive signs says that the figure of Christ "reminds us who is at the center of each worship service." This congregation had experienced first hand what happens when another ideology is allowed to displace Christ. In the aftermath of the Nazi nightmare, the centrality of Christ must have taken on a whole new meaning and urgency.

We hear a great deal today about how the "exclusiveness" of Christ is a barrier to authentic spirituality. But I wonder how true that can possibly be. It seems to me that Christ at the centre of the church's life is the only thing that keeps the church from being co-opted by the culture -- because Christ stands in judgment on all human systems and ideologies. "Christ at the centre" is not at all the same thing as "the superiority of the Christian religion" because Christ judges Christianity whenever Christians depart from the redemptive self-giving love that Jesus came to demonstrate and to unleash on the world.

Is this a message that can still speak in today's world? Personally, I think we need to hear it more than ever.