The Crystal Cathedral

fOn the last day of our CA vacation, we went to see the Crystal Cathedral which is an extraordinary experience.

I found the following on their website:

"The Cathedral has more than 10,000 windows of tempered silver colored glass that are held in place by a lace-like frame of white steel trusses."

Imagine trying to clean that sucker. What happens in the event of a hail storm?

"In addition, two 90 foot tall doors open electronically behind the pulpit to allow the morning sunlight and warm breezes to enhance the worship services."

"The sanctuary seats 2,890 persons and over 1,000 singers and instrumentalists can perform in 185 foot long chancel area. The service can be viewed on a giant indoor Sony "Jumbotron" television screen, or outside on a giant Nit-Star directly adjacent to the Cathedral, for "drive-in" worshipers."

"The Cathedral pipe organ, made possible by a gift from the late Hazel Wright of Chicago, is world renowned for its size and quality, and stands among the five largest pipe organs in the world."

Whoopdedoo!

"The chancel area is constructed of Rosso Alicante marble, quarried in Spain and cut and polished in Italy. The altar table and pulpit are made of granite, and the 17-foot tall cross is antiqued with eighteen karat gold leaf."

Money well spent, I'm sure!

Did you know that you can bury your loved one on the property of the Crystal Cathedral? This, again is from their website:

"Our state-of-the-art lawn crypts for traditional below ground burial, are complete with double depth concrete vaults that provide for either double or single casket interment. Our lawn crypt prices include the property, the concrete vault, endowment care and the flower vase. Prices range from $9,750.00 to $11,750.00."

I guess if you're in the shade you have to pay more if you're at the edge of the garden...the crappy spot...you only have to fork over $9,750.00.

"Marker and inscription fee is $600.00. Opening/closing fee is $650.00 per placement".

Nothing's for free or even at a decent fee here.

My favorite: you can buy an 8-place burial site beneath the sculpture of Job for a mere $750,000.00 - maybe that's cheap for California. If my family had that kind of money, I'd rather they took that money, bought a nice piece of land in the Rocky Mountains, cremated me and buried my ashes next to an Aspen on that land. And for good measure, find a rock and drop it on the place my box is buried. Then I'd like them to build a fun cabin to spend many a fun weekend or vacation in.

I wonder where Shuller will be buried. Maybe under the pulpit in the cathedral itself (and I'm not trying to be sarcastic here...I just wouldn't put it past him.)

Although the cathedral is spectacular to look at, the sculptors lifelike and incredible, I do wonder how they could have used the money it took to build all of the above in a more constructive way...like feeding thousands of starving families, building homes for those who are homeless, building schools for those who don't have a place to get an education. How about funding missionaries to go to countries that need to hear the Gospel, translating bibles, etc.

Instead Robert H. Shuller has a glamorized a building that has placed the town of Garden Grove on the map. I also think he's had a bit of a nip-n-tuck glamorization done to his face, judging by his picture on the website. I guess that kind of thing comes with a celebrity and having your own live broadcast each Sunday.

Still, in spite of all this bling, I believe God uses Mr Shuller to bring people to Himself. And who am I to judge, right? ;)

This cracked me up. Church in your car.

Do they serve communion with ushers or servers on roller-skates?