Sometimes, concepts for events make my eyes roll. “The incredible beauty of sacred spaces” is what I’ll “be captivated by,” you say? Let me guess: I’ll “enjoy enchanting performances” while gaining a new appreciation for a “rich architectural heritage,” too. Look, I got an art degree; I’ve heard it all before.
That said, the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture made me feel several things, all of them good, during its recent Cathedral Crawl tour of downtown churches, in partnership with Tulsa Opera. And while I scoffed at the idea of it being self-guided (“What am I paying for?” I thought), I found as I went that this fact was necessary and vital for the pacing of the thing. I came away from it with, sigh, yes, a newfound appreciation for Tulsa’s beautiful churches and its architectural heritage.
I’m not exactly a Christian, nor an agnostic, nor an atheist, but some secret fourth thing: a born Christian who deviated harshly and continues said deviation in the direction of Buddhist ideals. Do not under any circumstances tell my grandmother this. I’m not against experiencing a feeling of spiritual rapture, but I have all but given up the idea that I would ever again have such a feeling in a house of Christian worship.
Irreverent to my irreverent feelings, the churches of downtown Tulsa not only wowed me, they brought me to a state of stunned awe multiple times. Each new intricate stained glass installment found me verklempt at the little tinklings of light on carpet. Churches don’t have to be beautiful; sometimes people have knee-quivering spiritual experiences in former K-Marts. But the work and thought put into these spiritual spaces, where spots an inch wide are inscribed with Biblical heritage, is a testament to how fervently Christians feel about their complex and serious religion. As much as I try to escape Christianity, it is the foundry in which I was formed; the aesthetics of a good church will always appeal to me.
And aesthetics were there in abundance. Consider the Boston Avenue Methodist Church, whose 250,000-tile mosaic weighs three tons and was flown in from Italy. In the sanctuary, we were lucky enough to see a surreal moment in the history of the church: currently, it stands stuffed with scaffolding as the ceiling undergoes renovation.
There’s also Holy Family Cathedral, whose massive Gothic Revival altarpiece is one of the finest I’ve seen in any church, and whose sanctuary is bedecked by figurines and stained glass.