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Ship of Fools: St Pierre Cathedral, Old Town, Geneva
The Mystery Worshipper
Shipmate
Ship of Fools: St Pierre Cathedral, Old Town, Geneva
A stiff, sparse service of the word which would have made John Calvin proud
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Comments
One quibble, about the “disarmingly bare” “altar.” Being a Reformed church—indeed, perhaps the mother of all Reformed churches—Saint-Pierre doesn’t have an altar. It has a table. In a Reformed/Presbyterian church the US, at least, that piece of furniture would usually be called the Communion table or simply “the table”; one might also hear “the Lord’s table” (particularly in the context of celebration of the Eucharist) or (occasionally) “the holy table.” I believe that in French, la table or la table de communion are the usual terms, but I may be wrong about that.
The table in Saint-Pierre has the emblem of the Protestant Church of Geneva—a sunburst with the letters IHS in the center—in gold centered on the front, with the motto adopted by Geneva at the time of the Reformation, Post Tenebras Lux (After Darkness Light), above it. The royal arms of Scotland are on one side and the arms of Geneva are on the other. I seem to recall that the table was a gift from the Kirk, but I may well be misremembering.
thank you for the correction! yes, coming from the tradition i do, i tend to use ‘altar’ to refer to essentially any focal point of a church/church service, even if that’s wildly inaccurate. interesting to note that on a previous visit, even my girlfriend, who is from the evangelical mission within the church of sweden, remarked on how bare the table/sanctuary looked!
i would recommend a visit, both to the cathedral- which is beautiful- and to the city in general. the reformation museum reopens next year, and until then there remain the archaeological site under the cathedral, the reformers’ wall opposite the main building of the university of geneva, and (if you’re like me and especially geeky about church history) the approximate location of the execution of michael servetus. it is now a little park next to a train station. history, we’re told, is written by the victors…
as my review of hillsong geneva will attest, there does seem to be a certain allergy to scripture in some evangelical churches. i can’t speak for the evangelical wing of the c of e- when i’m unlucky enough to find myself in england i avoid evangelical c of e churches as much as possible. i’ve had quite enough homo/transphobia and shine jesus shine to last me a lifetime.
PS "St Peter's" to us English speakers