ok, so really these are notes from two sermons and an Adult Ed Class. The first is from Revd Mary Baker’s excellent breakdown of “Jesus as Priest,” The second (three pages worth) is from Mike Strachan’s mind blowing exploration of (primarily) Matthew 22- btw he started the sermon stating how much he hated it, but really, it was moving. The third is from today’s sermon, shortened a bit by a wonderful baptism, by Father Martin. Although it was shorter than usual, it was none the less eloquent, and was well crafted to perfectly set up the sacrament.
oh yeah, and the last picture is my son’s illuminated letter “S’ that he made today. Connects to this post, somehow.
What strikes a big chord with me personally in all of this are two phrases from the past two weeks. First, Mike’s challenge that we (the Church) are to be in the business of working with God to subject all of the created order to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the second is Father Martin’s reference to Martin Luther’s statement from a Christmas sermon that God becomes man so that man can become God. Sorry can’t quote that exactly- not sure I wrote it down faithfully. But I’m pretty much for any quotation of Luther.
These statements together make me think about trends in contemporary art, or more specifically contemporary sculpture. I’m thinking specifically about sculptors who emphasize mundane materials, recontextualized, both in galleries and outside of them. Sometimes these artists are falsely (I think) put in the “anti-aesthetic” camp. But I think what they are doing is as much about lifting up the “lowly” material as it is disrupting the “sacred” space (usually gallery). When you change medium you change everything about your understanding of both the concept and the medium. So important to realize that, so easy to forget it.
Here’s some artists I think about in relation to these quotes:
There are plenty others, to be sure. Feel free to chime in with others.
It becomes clearer how Samuel’s drawing is related when you know that previous incarnations of these squiggles spelled out G O D in green (God’s favorite color, don’t you know). This one in red, Samuel’s favorite color, contains circular representations of the G O and D held w/in and by the S…for Samuel. And he didn’t even hear the sermon today! Now you need to show one of the green ones (check the fridge).