Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Another Side Trip: The Church of the Light


Current City:  Kyoto

...in Ibaraki...

Within a quiet neighborhood of this little town, there rests a beautiful little church called The Church of the Light.  We actually visited this last Sunday, but, it so happens to be posted today!  This church is only open for public viewing on Sundays.  We had to contact the church via their website.   We were then added to the list of visitors that day.  There is a limited number of people who can visit the church...which is totally understandable.


This church was commissioned by the town to be designed by Tadao Ando.  He designed the church so that it could be filled with light.  So, from this particular worship area, there was a giant cross that is cut out from the wall.  As the sun passes over the structure during the day, the light of the cross moves across the room.  There are images of this in the church office.  It's really spectacular to be here during noon time.  The room is just filled with such a luminous light.




It was a beautiful experience to sit in the pews of this church.  There was also an organ lesson going on at the time.  So, we had an incredibly inspiring experience.  I wonder what it would be like to have church service here on Sundays...