Wounds of Light

Wounds of Light
2015

Water soluble oil and charcoal on corrugated paper

So Moses said, “I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” Exodus 3:3 NASB

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. Romans 8:29 The Message

Light defines shape and provides color, but the light of a fire is ever shifting, providing ‘active’ color and definition to the surrounding environment. Firelight give memories to our eyes, like a visual conversation, leaving bits and pieces to ponder. William Blake said, “Colours are the wounds of light.”

Moses experienced a conversation with God through light, sound, and, lest we forget, temperature... fire commands the space between the observer and the consumed.

Michael Card said this,
     "You know, the rabbis asked the question as to why the God of the universe should speak through a lowly bush. They said it takes two minutes to determine if the bush is being consumed or not. They concluded that God was looking for a man who could listen for two minutes!"

John O’Donohue said, “To be holy is to be home, to be able to rest in the house of belonging that we call the soul.” Perhaps there, in the holy shadow of God's fire, God saw a man who could listen and Moses saw the intended shape of his life and felt home.

Wounds of Light incorporates water soluble oil paint and charcoal- water, oil, and charred wood- basic materials artists have used for millennia.

"I was wondering..."

 

Christian evolution?

     "I was wondering - what Christian denomination do you belong to?" a friend recently asked me. It is, for people like me, an awkward question... I am a Christian but I don't belong to a denomination. So, when I say,"I am just a Christian" faces tend to scrunch a little. The underlying question, the real question, is- What kind of Christian are you? (to which the honest answer would be- 'not a very good one'). People of Christendom want to know 'What is your brand?'

     Debbie Millman said,

"Brands signify our beliefs."

     Do you drive a Chevy or a Ford, drink domestic or imported, wear Toms or Target, PC or Mac...? Everyone notices brands. Brands help us to categorize; they have become our aid-de-camps, completing our if/then propositions. If you wear __________ then you are ____________. My friend wanted to know what dogma I wear.

     'What do you believe?' is an old question; the Christian Church has wrestled with it for centuries, and one group came up with this:

The Apostles' Creed

 

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended into hell;

on the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;

from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Amen

     

     The Apostles' Creed covers the essentials of the brand called Christian. Somewhere along the Way something happened...People, Ideas, Non-essentials... until just Christian wasn't enough. Eugene Peterson said,

"A healthy noun doesn't need adjectives. Adjectives clutter a noun that is robust. But if the noun is culture-damaged or culture-diseased, adjectives are necessary." 

     Jesus knows us. Before He was crucified, He prayed for us-

"I'm praying not only for them (the disciples with me now), but also for those who will believe in Me because of them and their witness about Me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind- just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that You, in fact, sent Me."

John 17:20,21 The Message 

Amen

  

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Simple Gifts

1848

Elder Joseph Brackett

Two questions collided this week, seemingly unrelated, and yet... most of our walk through life involves connecting the dots between the 'unrelated'.  

Question One: 

'What motivates you?'

I was still considering question one when, days later, I was asked question two:

'What do blind people dream?'

Motivation. Blindness. Dreams.

Here is a story about blind men who were motivated by, what some might consider, a dream-

Matthew 9:27-34

As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!" When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!" He touched their eyes and said,

"Become what you believe."

The Message

What motivates you?

What do you dream?

Become what you believe.

Many of the best gifts are simple. Here is a video by Vituc, recorded with an iPhone-

Prayers, Praise and Pomodoro

Grande Disco

Arnaldo Pomodoro

Charlotte, NC

"The social challenge of art today, in my opinion,

is to start a dialogue with the people."

Arnaldo Pomodoro

     "Congenial conversation- what a pleasure!

The right word at the right time- beautiful!" 

Proverb 15:23, The Message.

     Words matter. The art of conversation rests on the right word at the right time. Words are the stock and trade of preachers and politicians, poets and pragmatists... it's no wonder we cringe at the word rhetoric (check out Rhetorica ad Herennium, you can click here to download a copy). FYI- Google translate doesn't list art as a language.


     Saturday I witnessed a beautiful thing- teenagers giving away words of hope, written, spoken and sung, to strangers on a sidewalk in Uptown Charlotte. They defied all the stereotypical 'kids today' comments. They prayed for people, out loud. They sang. Loud. They danced. Extravagantly. They freely gave away one of their most precious gifts- time, for the express purpose of sharing the love of God... without hype or pressure. There were, of course, some who steered clear of the group. These are strange times, filled with strange people. Too many agendas to be leary of.


     Not too far from the youth, across the street, there stands a sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro. The Grande Disco. The artist's statement at the base reads:


     Our life today is one of crisis... of movement... of tension.
     We do not know what our world will become.
     I try to say something about this uncertainty in my work.
     I try to communicate a sense of vitality and connection
     with the movement of life today...
     and to be a part of its movement.
     The social challenge of art today, in my opinion, is to start
     a dialogue with the people.
     I hope that is what happens here with the Grande Disco.


Saturday, a group of teenagers in Charlotte, North Carolina started a dialogue with a few people. Face-to-face, in real time, in front of The Grande Disco.

Street Worship
Tryon and Trade
Charlotte, NC

Black and White

The Way Home
Michael Carter

"We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all."

I Corinthians 8:2,3

The Message

Reading Fast-Day 14. Sunday.

Yesterday I read this note from the margin of my Bible-

'The Baal Shem Tov taught that every person is allotted a given number of words during his life. When he has used up his quota, he dies. Thus, by guarding his tongue, one assures himself of greater longevity.'

The writer of Proverbs put it this way, "Words kill and words give life. You choose." 

We don't fully know the personal importance of anything until we choose to avoid it. For 14 days I have chosen to avoid the reading of books and I am wrestling with my restlessness. Ink on paper; 'agreed upon' vertical and horizontal strokes we call letters shape meanings that direct our thoughts. Is it really that black and white? The gestalt of a book astounds me.


This morning I read:
"The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: The writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body." Eccl. 12:11,12. (italics mine)


In the margin, after this passage, I had written this quote:

"You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

Augustine, Confessions

A song from Steve Earle

Introductions

introduce- in-truh-doos

to present (a person) to another so as to make acquainted.
L intrōdūcere  to lead inside, equiv. to intrō-intro-  + dūcere  to lead
from Dictionary.com




It's a long life, baby,
when you reach out broken hands and feel
that there are no hands reaching back for you.
When the worlds gone crazy,
I make a cry of desperation
and hear my echo bouncing off cold walls.
All I know, is it's a long life baby.
Chorus- Mile Long Driveway
by Jeremy Current


A necessary part of being human means meeting other humans. Sometimes we introduce ourselves, sometimes we are introduced by others. This week I finished reading two books- My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok and What God Starts, God Completes by Michael Milton. Both were autobiographies, the one about an imagined person, the other real. Since childhood I have enjoyed reading biographies, especially autobiographies. Everyone has a story. It takes courage to share the story with others.


I will never meet Asher Lev, though I was introduced to the fictional character by my friend Amy AcNelis (a fellow bibliophile and extraordinary teacher of English). I did meet Michael Milton. My good friend Glen Robinson invited me to attend a dinner with him; a celebratory introduction to the Chancellor/CEO Elect of Reformed Theological Seminary, Dr. Michael Milton. When Dr. Milton introduced himself to me he gave me a bear hug. He exuded joy that cannot be faked. As I watched and listened that evening, the words of Jesus came to my mind, "Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile!" RTS is blessed indeed.


Relationships begin with an introduction.
Sometimes those introductions lead to a better understanding of ourselves.


"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness how will people taste godliness...you're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world."
Matthew 5
The Message

One Fish At A Time

The Tribute Money

Masaccio

1426-1427

Fresco, 255 x 598 cm
Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Thursday, I discussed the life and work of Masaccio with my students. We viewed a slide of The Tribute Money as I retold the story from Matthew 17:24-27. There is a moment in this story that captivates me. Here is the scene, from The Message-

24 When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men came to Peter and asked, "Does your teacher pay taxes?" 25 Peter said, "Of course." But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus confronted him. "Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who pays--his children or his subjects?"26 He answered, "His subjects." Jesus said, "Then the children get off free, right? 27 But so we don't upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you'll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us."

Detail

Simon Peter and the fish

Here is the moment that grabs me- "cast a hook".

The greek word for hook in this verse is  agkistron and is used once in the entire New Testament. I commented to my students that fishing in 1st Century Galilee usually involved the casting of nets. So, I asked my students, "Why did Jesus tell Peter to use a hook?" I posed the question to all 5 art classes and each time at least one student responded, "Because he only needed to catch one fish!" Truth is elegantly simple. One fish contained one coin which was sufficient for two. 

Detail

Removing the coin

Matthew Henry's commentary reads:

"Peter felt sure his Master was ready to do what was right. Christ spoke first to give him proof that no thought can be withholden from Him. We must never decline our duty for fear of giving offense; but we must sometimes deny ourselves in our worldly interests, rather than give offense. However the money was lodged in the fish, He who knows all things alone could know it, and only Almighty power could bring it to Peter's hook. The power and the poverty of Christ should be mentioned together. If called by providence to be poor, like our Lord, let us trust in His power, and our God shall supply all our need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. In the way of obedience, in the course, perhaps, of our usual calling, as He helped Peter, so He will help us. And if any sudden call should occur, which we are not prepared to meet, let us not apply to others, till we first seek Christ."