The Appropriate Gift

Imprisoned by sciatica I escaped in reading including Rosemary Hill's biography of Pugin, God's architect. It's a dense read and co-codamol and diazepam slowed my progress.  Undeniably Pugin's short dramatic life impacted Britain with his visionary Gothic architecture. Hyper-active and hyper-creative he designed cathedrals (Punch magazine said he could do one it in 45 minutes), churches, houses, furnishings with side-lines like Big Ben and inside Parliament.  So many details are fascinating such as his designing the interior of the chapel in Jesus College Cambridge (of special interest to me)  The interweaving of his Roman Catholic faith with his work and relationships threads right through. Family life was important to him as was romance but his unstoppable work rate made him increasingly remote. 

One paragraph struck me.  In 1840 with a son Cuthbert just born and Agnes aged 4, Rosemary Hill writes;

He was a fond father but at the time a distant and intensely preoccupied one.  His daughter Agnes later told her granddaughter that she remembers Pugin saying that for her birthday that year he had designed a cathedral.  She also remembered being very disappointed.

The sheer inappropriateness of the gift seems not to have crossed Pugin's mind. He wanted to give her something magnificent but unsurprisingly the four-year old was disappointed. It was all a tad beyond a child's wants and appreciation.

I haven't preached much recently but this struck me as a commentary note on the Incarnation and its sheer appropriateness.  God could have overwhelmed with magnificence, but a baby in a manger can be understood by all.  The whole miracle of Jesus being among us shrinks glory into a Lord who lives like us. Who can be easily rejected.  But, when taken seriously will never disappoint.