First Day in Dublin

Our flight went well (minus a cranky flight attendant who yelled at Cali for no apparent reason), and we landed in Dublin about twenty minutes early, which meant we actually got our luggage at 8:40 this morning instead of landing at the airport at 8:40 in the morning. Once our group freshened up (as much as you can freshen up in an airport bathroom) and Jordan joined the group, we set off for our hotel, which was harder to find than initially anticipated. Not deterred, we finally made it only to find that our rooms weren't ready. We stored our luggage at the hotel and set out to explore the city before we could get into our rooms at 3:00 pm (10:00 am EST) While sight seeing, we toured Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral. We stopped for lunch at Burdock's and ate authentic fish and chips in the courtyard of St. Patrick's. We returned to the hotel and settled in our rooms (four apartment-style hotel rooms with full kitchen and living room and a washer/dryer). After a qucik power nap (or a really long nap as the case may be for some), we went to the Old Mill Restaurant for dinner led by Sam, who did a great navigational job in the dark, with a tiny map print out, in a strange city. Regardless, we have made it back to the hotel safely, and we are ready for some serious sleep.

I have a few initial impressions of the city of Dublin (side street pitctured above) before I talk about what we did today. These impressions are:

1. It's quiet...really. I was expecting New York City, and I found something milder than Charleston. There are no angry cab drivers (in fact you rarely see a cab), traffic is minimal (albeit confusing to my Western brain), and the tallest building I have seen is a cathedral. (Or maybe the castle in the middle of town... All the towers blend together after a while...)

2. San Francisco has nothing on Dublin's hills, which were covered in a frosty layer of ice until late this afternoon. We had fun sliding around. 

3. Real fish and chips are amazing, especially from Burdock's at Christ Church, and especially when enjoyed from the courtyard of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

4. I can't tell tourists from natives, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that I am a tourist.

5. The showers at are hotel are weird. First, there's no shower curtain--just a plexiglass panel covering about a fourth of the length of the shower. Secondly, there are two temperature settings: Mordor and Elsa's Ice Palace. In Sam's words, "It was an adventure." 

6. The architecture in Dublin is an interesting mix of the old and the new. You can easily find a pub frequented by James Joyce situated by a pre-fab law office. The incongruity is noticeable, but I appreciate it. In some ways, it states that Dublin is celebrating the old and acknowleding the new, an important aspect of any culture.

Now, to discuss the cathedral visits. Christ Church Cathedral Dublin (pictured above) was originally built in the medieval town of Dublin, was founded by Nordic peoples, and was destroyed by barbarians only to be rebuilt in 1170 by Anglo Normans. Not only is Christ Church Cathedral one of the earliest churches in Ireland, it is also the home of the first Irish bishop, Dunan. AND (fun fact) the Christ Church Cathedral Choir was the first to ever sing Handel's Messiah, but they sang it st a different church because they believed the music to be too secular. I think my favorite part of Christ Church Cathedral was ghe cript underneath the church, which displayed treasures of the church, such as the tabernacle of James I and several handwritten books of explanation on the Trinitiarian Controversy (i.e. the great problem in early church history... Does Jesus come from the Father? Is Jesus part of the Father? How do we define the Holy Spirit?). I especially enjoyed looking at the manuscripts and noting the characteristic style of the period: flowery writing, red ink accents, etc. The upstairs was more in the Medieval tradition, plane decorations, except the altar, which is always (and probably always should be) ornate. 

Then we moved on to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Before I start talking sbout St. Patrick's the place, I feel like I should talk about St. Patrick the man. St. Patrick was originally from England, but he was kidnapped by Irish slave traders and spent many years in Ireland as a shepherd. During this time, Patrick grew in his faith in leaps and bounds. According to Thomas Cahill in our textbook How the Irish Saved Civilization, "Patrick prayed, made peace with God, and then looked not only into his own heart but into the hearts of others. What he saw convinced him of the bright side— that even slave traders can turn into liberators, even murderers can act as peacemakers, even barbarians can take their places among the nobility of heaven." When Patrick had the opportunity, he escaped from his masters, returned to England as a stowaway on a boat, earned his seminary degree, and came back to Ireland as a missionary. In fact, Patrick spoke out against the slave trade, which was unprecedented during this time, and he was successful in eradicating slavery in Ireland, which came hundreds of years before the British and the Americans would consider abolishing slavery. More than that, Patrick shaped Irish culture and religion in a beautiful and lasting way, and this can be seen in the architecture of St. Patrick's. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral, built in the fifth century, had breathtaking architecture inside and out. One of the coolest features about St. Patrick's besides its patron saint is the fact that Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels was dean of the cathedral for several years. And while I might not be the biggest Swift fan (Jonathan or Taylor), there's something to be said for stepping into the world of this writer, of picturing him at the lectern, of imaging what kinds of sermons he might have delivered, of what kinds of people constituted his congregation.  And that got me thinking. Sure, Swift was a famous writer of a classical book, and sure his satire is spot on, but the fame of one dean is not what gives the cathedral the eternal impact it has on the lives of others. It is amazing to me that people so long ago worked so hard and put in so many years of effort to build something so lasting that a thousand years later, people go on pilgrimage to these places. And I think this is where we see God in the cathedral. For these cathedrals were not built for the glory of man but for the glory of God. These cathedrals were built to make you stand in awe of God.

In a way, I think that is how we should live our lives; in such a way that one thousand years from now people are still impacted by our dedication and service to Christ. The best example of this is the story of the mosaic tiling on the floors of the cathedrals. Members of the church who wanted to offer their wares as tithes to the church decorated tiles to be used for the floor. This is a reminder that not only do we always have something to give (as in the case of the poor aritsans), but we always have something to give to the glory of God and the furthering of God's kingdom. In a time when there is so much despair in the world, I find this a comforting thought.