An Experience of Worship

As I write this, I am sitting in a Cathedral. An act of worship is going on all around me.

Isn’t it a bit disrespectful for me to be blogging when worship is happening? No – because writing this blog is part of that worship.

I entered the Cathedral through the large doors at the front, walking into the expansive Nave where a couple of hundred worshippers were already busy in activity. Too busy to notice me but I didn’t mind because they were already enraptured in their Moment.

I looked around and took in the many brightly coloured icons around the walls, enticing me into a deeper experience through sensuality. I mingled with the congregation, standing alongside them as they worshipped. For a few moments, I became engrossed in their activities, the Observer becoming Participant through that very act itself. I soon decided, however, to become more actively involved in the worship itself.

This Cathedral has a glass staircase rising in the middle of the Nave. Nervously, I held onto the side rail and began climbing closer to the heavens. I could hear the excited buzz of many voices from the sanctuary at the top of the stairs. I felt a little anxious – here were the true faithful: am I worthy to be with them? Undeterred, I reached the top of the glass stairs and looked around.

To my right was the Children’s Activity area. There were a dozen or so children sitting on beanbags, engrossed in worship through activities that were aimed specifically at their level of knowledge.

To my left was an area set aside for the Confessional. Here, a queue of people waited silently for their turn with the Professional, to whom they could talk about their errors, their mistakes, the things that had gone wrong recently.

Around the walls are the holy Books on shelves. Worshippers flick through these, desperately searching for the right passages that will bring them knowledge, healing and wholeness.

There was music playing, there were people milling around having conversations about the Divine. Strangers united in the Moment around a common Faith. There were Priests and Holy Men wandering around who would answer your queries or point you in the right direction for personal growth.

Most exciting of all was the Sanctuary itself. There stood the Bishop, the most holy man in the Holy of Holies. In pews in front of him sat the most ardent disciples of all, listening intently to his instructions, following his every word in their Books. I stood entranced, soaking up his every word, feeling my knowledge grow as I listened, determined to try harder when I left.

So, where is this Cathedral in which I sit? It is, of course, the new Apple Store in Regents Street, London.

The layout of these Cathedrals are the same in London, LA, New York and – I guess – everywhere else in the world. All intriguingly designed to create not so much an opportunity to shop but an Experience, an Event, a Religious Moment. Product Marketing – Brand Marketing – at its most ingenious.

If you get the opportunity, come worship with me. We may be on different Continents but that doesn’t matter: we will be united across time and space by our common Faith. Try it – your life will never be the same again.

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