I have spent the last week in Sevilla, Spain, doing research for Christian Associates. Three times a year (on average) I get to be part of a team that researches a city in Europe. The central question we ask in our research is: should CA plant a new church here, and if so, what kind of church?
I love going on these trips. It is so much fun to get to know a new city. We meet as many spiritual leaders as we can find, talk to as many people in the streets as we can. We visit restaurants, clubs, churches, cinema's. We walk for miles and I take a ton of photographs. In Sevilla I took 1047 -- after I deleted all the pictures that did not come out, or that I did not like. On my photo blog I will post more images and there is a web gallery here.
So what did we learn avout Sevilla? Here are some things that stand out:
- Sevilla is the warmest city in all of Europe. The average temperature is 26-degrees. We certainly felt the heat: Saturday it was 37 degrees.
- Nobody in Sevilla speaks english. I know the word 'nobody' is strong, but I kid you not: nobody spoke english, not even the ladies in the Tourist office!!!! Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia, Spain's poorest province. Until 3 years ago no one learned english in school.
- Sevilla is strongly, strongly catholic. You probably think: "well, duh, it's in Spain!" but my team mates who lived in Spain (Richard, Jay, April and Kelly) assured me they had never seen anything like it.
Catholicism in Sevilla is not so much a religion, however, as it is a culture. People will tell you "I am Catholic, but I do not believe in God.
The most evident expression of the Catholicism of the Sevillanos (as they call themselves) are the processions. We saw no fewer than four processions.
THe picture at the top is the best photo I made during these processions. It is a picture of a little girl in a Flamenco dress. She is all dolled up and she is carrying the golden cross at the beginning of the procession. It was obvious that she felt completely lost in this adult-spectacle... - So, if Sevilla is Catholic, than just how postmodern is it? I made an interesting discovery regarding this question. In most of Europe postmodern philosophy goes hand-in-hand with relativism and pluralism. Pluralism is the idea none of have all the answers, but we need all the different perspectives to give us a direction to move in together.
In Spanish (Catholic) postmodernism, however, pluralism is not a necessary companion at all. Here, people embrace their Catholic culture without embracing its doctrine. The result is relativistic mono-culturalism. Very interesting...!
Perhaps I can explain this a little more. In the centre of Sevilla stands the city's large cathedral. It is absolutely huge. That is because it is built over a Mosque that the Moors built in the 700 years they ruled Sevilla. The Moors built their Mosque on top of a Roman Temple. The Roman temple was in turn built on top of a temple belonging to the Visigoths.
Can you understand what that does to your view of the world, and in particular, of Catholicism? It makes you think: "well, all these religions... what remains in Sevilla (us, we remain). We have this culture, but it is all relative. But we have these beautiful processions, and flamenco dresses and music, and bull-fights... what really matters is our culture, and all that we enjoy within that).
So - is CA going to plant a new church in Sevilla? I sure hope so. It is a beautiful city with a very friendly people with a rich culture. It is a culture that loves children, good food, music.
And, just before you ask: I get very excited about the possibilities, but no, Sophie and I are not thinking about moving to Sevilla ourselves...
Here are two images that say something about Sevilla...
This is some grafitti we found on walls in different places (during the research trips you read everything!). It says: did he just have to die to save tourism?
This is the motto of Sevilla: no8do. It is the statement "He has not left us alone." The statement refered to a King who liberated Sevilla in the past. But we wondered if it could not also be read as a reflection on God's heart for Sevilla: he has not left Sevilla alone.
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