Coming from the Earth: Humus, Humanity, Humility

Home , Humus

B1 THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 Loston9/11,churchisreborn Greek Orthodox shrine to welcome Ground Zero visitors of any faith

Karen Matthews Associated Press

Greek Orthodox church taking shape next to the A World Trade Center memorial plaza will glow at night like a marble beacon when it opens sometime next year. It also will mark another step in the long rebuild- ing of New York’s Ground Zero. The St. Nicholas National Shrine, designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, will replace a tiny church that was crushed by the trade center’s south tower on Sept. 11, 2001.ThenewchurchwillgiveGreekOrthodoxbelieversa placetoworshipwhilealsowelcomingvisitorsofanyfaith who want to reflect on the lives lost in the terrorist attacks. “Itissuchasignificantchurchbecauseofwhathap- pened here,” said Jerry Dimitriou, executive director of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which over- sees 540 parishes and 1.5 million Greek Orthodox faithful across the United States. He said people may want to stop andprayafterthey’vebeentotheNationalSept.11Memorial andMuseum,afewpacesaway.“Wewillgivethemaplace to come and sit, and sit inside of a church,” Dimitriou said. The large crowd that attended Monday’s ceremony on the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks could see the unfinished church, now a raw-looking structure covered in concrete and plywood. It is one of a handful of unfinished pieces of the recon- struction of the huge trade center site, which is now a combi- nation of green trees, polished stone and glassy towers after being a dusty, gray construction zone for years. Two of four planned office towers are now open. A third The St. Nicholas National Shrine being built at the World Trade Center in New York is still something of a raw-looking is set to open next spring, with Spotify as an anchor tenant. structure covered in concrete and plywood. But sometime next year it will glow at night like a beacon — sheathed in marble A fourth office tower and a performing arts center are yet to from quarries near Athens, the same vein of marble that was used to build the Parthenon. Mark Lennihan, Associated Press be built. The church, tucked in a park on the southern edge of the site, is Calatrava’s second World Trade Center commission. hope,” he said. “What I’m trying to do as an architect is give His bird-shaped train hall, called the Oculus, opened a sense of hope.” in March 2016 and is now a draw for selfie-taking tourists, The original St. Nicholas was far more modest. The though some critics grouse that the $4 billion price tag was 35-foot-tall building housed a tavern when Greek immi- high for a structure that seems more mall than train station. grants bought it in 1919 to use as a church. The estimated cost for St. Nicholas is $50 million. Unlike the transit hub, built largely with federal transportation dol- ‘A PLACE FOR EVERYBODY’ lars, the church is being financed through donations from The church stayed put when the trade center’s monumen- disparate sources including the Greek government, Greek tal twin towers were built in the 1970s. Orthodox church members around the world and, Dimitriou “All of the buildings around it were sold,” said Olga Pav- said, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the Ital- lakos, a parish board member whose grandparents were ian city of Bari, whose patron saint is St. Nicholas. among St. Nicholas’ founders. “We stood our ground. Greeks The church they are building hardly resembles other are tough people.” Calatrava projects such as the Oculus or the Milwaukee Art But the church that survived the twin towers’ construc- Museum, with their distinctive ribbed wings. tion could not survive their destruction. St. Nicholas was the only building not part of the trade center complex that was INSPIRED BY CLASSIC SHRINES completely demolished after hijackers struck the towers. Rather, the new St. Nicholas was inspired by two Byzan- The new church is a few dozen yards west of the old St. tine shrines in Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia and the Church of Nicholas, on top of the screening facility for trucks entering the Holy Savior in Chora. Like those structures built in the the trade center site. The land swap between church officials fifth and sixth centuries, St. Nicholas will feature a central andgovernmentagenciesinvolvedinrebuildinglowerMan- dome flanked by towers. hattan took years to settle, delaying the start of construc- Thebuildingwillbesheathedinmarblefromquarries tion. north of Athens — the same vein of marble that was used to A temporary icon of Christ gazes down at the sanctuary build the Parthenon. Calatrava said he was thrilled to receive underconstructionnow.Itwillbereplacedbyapermanent permission from the Greek government to use the marble icon before the sanctuary starts hosting Orthodox services. because, “for me, Hagia Sophia is the Parthenon of Ortho- Meanwhile, work has started on second-floor meditation doxy.” and reflection spaces that will be open to all. While the towers at the church’s corners will look like solid A spherical bronze sculpture that stood between the twin stone from the outside, the dome and sides will be covered towers before Sept. 11, 2001, returned to a spot next to the with thin layers of sandwiched marble and glass that will be church just last week. Artist Fritz Koenig’s sphere, seen by lighted from the inside at night. manyasasymbolofresilience,wasplacedinasmallpark “You’ll see that the dome is glowing and the front is glow- just west of St. Nicholas. ing,” Dimitriou said. “The dome area will all be illuminated Pavlakos said the new church’s welcoming stance honors like a candle.” the legacy of the old St. Nicholas, where area office workers Calatrava said his building will complement the memorial often stopped to light a candle during their lunch hours. A temporary icon of Christ gazes down on the nave of the St. pools directly to the north. “On one side you have water and “It’s not only for Greek people, it’s a place for everybody,” Nicholas National Shrine in New York. It will be replaced by a memory,andontheotherside,inthechurch,youhavetheGrand Rapids Press - 09/14/2017 Copyshe said. Reduced “And that’s to 80% what from we stoodoriginal for before,to fit letter so this page is a permanent icon before the sanctuary startsPage hosting : B01 Ortho- idea of the light of the candle and the flame and the sense of continuation.” dox services. Mark Lennihan, AP

INTERFAITH INSIGHT Coming from the earth: humus, humanity, humility

Douglas Kindschi Director, Kaufman over plant food products and leaving them my children and you and me, have existed refers to God as the one who “throws me Interfaith Institute to decompose into what is called compost. for billions of years. ... This mud is spec- into the mud and I am reduced to dust and (Yes,mygardenerwifealsohasacompost tacular, and we believe that God made it so. ashes.” (Job 30:19) Last week we considered bin.) It is the recycling of plant material. This mud is rich, pregnant with possibil- Eugene Peterson put it this way: “The the image of the garden as Think of it as “earth to earth” for the plant ity. …Toseeourselvesasmadeofthesame Latin words humus, soil/earth, and homo, a metaphor for the world as world. stuff that rests under our boots as we jour- human being, have a common derivation, well as for our lives. I would Author and educator Parker Palmer ney a mountain path is no insult to human fromwhichwealsogetourword‘humble.’ like to pursue this further by considering also uses these images in an essay titled, dignity, no affront to the image of God in This is the Genesis origin of who we are: the actual dirt or earth that is that base for “Autumn: A Season of Paradox.” Palmer us;itisratherareminderofthemajesty dust—dustthattheLordGodusedtomake gardens as well as the source for what it writes: “I find nature a trustworthy guide. of inspired mud, a reflected majesty that us a human being. If we cultivate a lively means to be human. …AsI’vecometounderstandthatlife‘com- gives us but one more fleeting glimpse of sense of our origin and nurture a sense of We know this image well. We are cre- posts’ and ‘seeds’ us as autumn does the the blinding brilliance of the maker of the continuity with it, who knows, we may also atedfromthedustoftheearth,according earth, I’ve seen how possibility gets planted mud.” acquire humility.” to Genesis. At funerals, the committal rite in us even in the most difficult of times.” These authors remind us that in the cycle Fully understanding who we are requires often includes the phrase from the English of life we are closely related to the earth. the realization that we are part of the earth, Book of Common Prayer, “earth to earth, MAGNIFICENCE OF MUD We have much in common with compost the soil, the humus, to which we will return. ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Philosopher Brian Austin, in his book and mud, which contain the chemicals that It is only by God’s grace that we have life. ThewordhumancomesfromtheLatin “The End of Certainty and the Beginning of also make up our bodies. They affirm that The confidence and faith that we have is word “humus,” meaning earth or ground. Faith,” tells of hiking with his family along we are God-breathed dust, made from the important to affirm, but we must also be In a recent meditation, the Franciscan the trails which parallel stream beds in the humus. We are mud balls who have been humbleinrecognizingthatthereisso priest and author Richard Rohr wrote: Great Smoky Mountains. They often return created in the image of God. much more that we do not understand or “Being human means acknowledging that with mud-caked hiking boots. While he possess. we’re made from the earth and will return finds himself impressed with the majesty DUST AND ASHES As we engage others in our community, to the earth. We are earth that has come of the mountains, it is also, (in his words), AnotherwordthatcomesfromtheLatin be they refugees or immigrants, people who to consciousness. … And then we return “the mud, still glistening with the mist that root humus is humility. We see it expressed are different in race or class or political per- to where we started — in the heart of God. makes dust come to life, [that] harbors mys- by Abraham when he bargains with God to suasion, or persons of a different faith or of Everything in between is a school of love.” teriesasmagnificentasthemountains. spare Sodom for the righteous people’s sake. no faith, let us remember we have all come Humus also is a gardening term that “From that mud, from its carbon, nitro- In Genesis 18 he expresses it thus: “Now from this same soil. We are called to recog- referstothecomponentsofsoilthatarerich gen, hydrogen, oxygen, and assorted met- that I have been so bold as to speak to the nize this with humility. in organic matter. It is the final result of als,achildcanbewoven.Theatomsinthat Lord, though I am nothing but dust and mixing yard material like leaves with left- mud, the same kinds of atoms that comprise ashes.” Likewise, Job in his lamentation [email protected]