Whatsoever |
Whatsoever |
I was asked to give a talk on Zoom today and I chose as my theme the verses from the Bible : The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means “God with us”. Matthew 1:23, quoting Isaiah 7:14 How can we start to understand what this means. I talked about three favourite paintings that help me appreciate more the wonder of 'Immanuel" GOD WITH US - what does it mean? Christmas may in many ways be seen as full of light, predictable and simple and straightforward.. At the centre of the Christmas story however is a dark night, a dirty stable, a puzzled young woman and the man who cares for her, the agony of a baby being born. It was hard there and it hurt. For many this time of year is coloured by sadness, hard memories, frustrations, loneliness and even fear. How can any of us cope with shock, unpredictability? By sitting close to the manger, allowing all the fragile certainties to slip away and go down to the very centre of history. The birth of Christ is the most unpredictable thing in the world. God coming to earth, having to learn to walk again. It seems that the comforting image of Christmas as light, predictable and simple is far too trite to deal with the realities of life. And yet, as we battle through complexity and unpredictability, what do we find as we come to kneel before that new born baby?
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This painting by Carpaccio depicts Christ calling Matthew to follow him as a disciple The costumes and setting are strangely Italian and there are some slightly troubling aspects to the perspective of the buildings. Yet right in the centre are two hands joined. Christ holds out his hands to gently call the proud tax collector away from his money and reckoning. He calls him away from all he has known and relied upon. By the inclination of his head and the slight pull of his hand he beckons to a new life. Matthew has to step down onto the rough ground. He will need to discard his rich brocade cloak and gold trimmed hat. He will be able to discard the notoriety and resentment of his job for an even less respectable crowd of itinerant followers of a deeply disturbing teacher. He does not yet know what the future will hold : that he will discover the ability to exchange accounting with numbers for accounting for the truth of this man, this Messiah. In those hands there is such a clear image of God, coming to earth as a man and coming to meet us and lead us out into the future.
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Kintsugi (golden joinery) is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold — built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art Mending for us, as we live our harassed and sometimes helpless lives, often comes by people, by talking and sharing and helping. The promise of the Messiah is predicted: A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the coastlands will put their hope.” – Isaiah 42:3-4. Jesus tells the story of welcoming the broken into his banquet Luke 14:21 NIV [21] “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The modern poet songwriter Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack,, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. Leonard Chosen 'Anthem' This earlier blog post reflected on waiting particularly from the perspective of Simeon, in the Bible, who had waited for the Messiah to appear. Here are some more reflections about waiting. The world learning about waiting : `Our 21st century western perspective of time and space - it was thrown by the pandemic - nothing is as it was and we all had to wait, for end of lockdown, for the vaccine, for the chance of travelling again, for normal connections with people to resume. It took far longer than we imagined. The impacts have been far worse. It is clear that we know nothing at all about so much. What are does waiting feel like?:
The ultimate waiting However, despite all these feelings about waiting, there are also much more profound times of waiting that can cut far deeper: Waiting for the second coming, waiting for death, waiting for love, waiting for conception, waiting for the 'second shoe to drop' Each of these brings great challenges as they may be impossibly distant, terrifyingly real, resignedly impossible, scarily uncontrollable, worryingly pessimistic. So, what is positive, hopefully, real and affirming about waiting? ‘`Good things come to those who wait’ - where does that phrase come from? We know that impatience and rushing can lead to the gimcrack and unsatisfying. Grabbing and forestalling the true processes can give less than the best, much less. ‘Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord’ - This from Psalm 27 is about the way to do the waiting - so it is not weak, pessimistic and pathetic but it is possible to do the waiting strong and optimistically, hopefully. There is a restfulness in waiting - a freedom in ‘there is nothing I can do’. It can be a time of receiving, slowing down. And it requires a load of trust. Trust that I am waiting in the right place, trust that ‘all things are working together for good’, trust that there is a plan even if I haven’t seen it. It helps to get a bit more understanding of time and eternity. The Psalms are a great place to go for this. What do Psalm 27 and Psalm 90 tell us about time? Psalm 27 - is about becoming free, and the way to do this is to dwell ‘in the house of the Lord, safe, hidden, set on the rock. He cries for mercy, for God not to forsake him but to lead and guide. The pslam is full of yearning and hope and ends with the glorious words (v 13,14) - and if they are reversed, it would read….’Wait for the lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord’….’ I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’ In Psalm 90 there are many references to time. eg v4: ‘A thousand years in your slght are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night’. V12: ‘teach us to number our days, that we may gain the heart of wisdom’. V14: ‘Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days’. Another place in the Bible that helps in waiting Surprisingly, perhaps, this can be found at the very beginning and end of the book of the Acts of the Apostles. It is usual to characterise this book as a great adventure story of the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church, full of movement and drama and action. However, right at the beginning, in chapter 1, we read of a group of people having to wait, not knowing all the answers. They then have to make a journey and wait again Then right at the end of this roller-coaster of a book in chapter 28 we find that great activist, Paul waiting in Rome, in rented accommodation, using that time of waiting to proclaim the kingdom and teaching about Jesus Christ. Waiting is necessary, powerful, and worth it.....something is happening, even if we are not quite sure what! As you wait, and think nothing is happening, things are going on in the background, and perhaps if we weren’t forced to stop and wait, the really important things would not happen. Acts 1:1-11
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 28:26,30-31 “ 'Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” …. …..For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ---with all boldness and without hindrance! |
WhatsoeverThe posts are 'postcards' on my journey through faith and art. The name 'Whatsoever' comes from Philippians 4:8 in the Bible : Categories
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