November 20, 2020

The Coming of Advent

The season of Advent is in many ways about seeing.  From the visions of Zechariah and Mary, to the dreams of Joseph and the Magi, to the shared experience of the shepherds seeing and hearing angels, to the beholding of the child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, this time of preparation, and the celebration of Christmas itself, are all about seeing.

A recent issue of the “Seen Journal,” published by CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts), highlighted this theme of seeing in more general terms, but the offerings of the writers and artists that fill that issue have helped to provide me with reflections that are focused more specifically on Advent.

There are scholars of course who raise questions about the validity of the birth stories in Matthew and Luke.  They ask if these stories are perhaps creations of those writers.  One can certainly argue on either side of the question.  But the reality is that these stories have come down to us through two thousand years of tradition, and they shape how we see and experience the birth of Jesus.  Indeed, what matters is how these stories lead us into the experience of that birth, how they lead us to an encounter with God that is both personal and intimate.

We are invited to see here with our imagination, as writers and poets and visual artists have done for centuries, for the Gospel writers provide us with some details, but there is much that is unstated in the descriptions of the events surrounding the birth.  In fact, the stories and poetry, the paintings and woodcuts, all of which depict portions of these stories, do themselves invite us to engage our imagination in creative and energizing ways.

In this time when Zoom and Facebook Live and other online means of engagement are at the forefront of worship experiences in many churches, it can seem quite challenging to engage the visual aspects of this season.  Everything from banners hung in sanctuaries, to candlelight services, to the experience of art installations, to children’s Christmas pageants, are on-hold as far as in-person experiences go.  Yet, we can still work with the online formats to bring images to people.  They can see beloved banners, and can light candles in their homes such that the light of Christ is truly spread throughout the community.  And as we share other visual presentations of the story, either through online sharing or through advance emails, we can see together in ways that make the seeing even more profound.

Perhaps the most profound experience here is that we are talking about seeing the invisible God.  The power of the incarnation is the idea that in Jesus we got to see God presented to us in human form.  And today we rely upon seeing the actual Jesus in much the same way that we speak of seeing God, through our imagination, through stories which lead us into an encounter with the divine, through visual images that capture what artists see in these stories, and which help us to shape our own images of that time when the Christ child was born.  Here we are invited to see both with our eyes and with the depth of our own spirits.  And this seeing will lead us to a manger and a child that resides within our own hearts.

November 13, 2020

Giving Thanks

If we were meeting for worship in the church building, I would be doing something interactive throughout this month, such as having people put sticky notes on one wall giving thanks for certain things each week.  In lieu of that, I am sending out a daily email to encourage people to reflect upon things as diverse as the first thought that comes to mind when talking about giving thanks, to the remembrance of a long-time friend, to something in nature that touched them the day before, to a favorite book for which they are grateful.  You get the idea.  And my hope was that people would spend some daily moments reflecting upon the different ideas. 

But I have been pleasantly surprised to find that anywhere from five to eight people per day have written back to me with their thanksgivings.  I hadn’t requested that, or envisioned it, but it has shown that people are not only thankful for many things, they also want to share their joy and thanks with others.  It has been fun to receive their emails and to respond briefly to each one.

We also sent out, in our monthly newsletter, a single sheet on which people could note a daily thanksgiving.  I know that some people are utilizing that as well.  And even if they only think to stop and note something on a few days out of the month, it has had the effect of focusing their attention on the gifts and blessings that they have received.

Although worshipping via Zoom does not allow us to do what we might otherwise have done, we are still weaving themes of thanksgiving into each week’s gathering, and enhancing the experience with songs that might normally have been reserved for Thanksgiving Sunday being spread throughout the month. 

In this time when there is so much stress in people’s lives, from the Pandemic and the economic and social consequences of that, to the election, to the fact that the gatherings for dinner on Thanksgiving will no doubt be different if they happen at all, I have wanted to offer to people a perspective and opportunity to celebrate what they do have to be thankful for, and thereby to increase their sense of both hope and joy.

Finally, let me say that I am grateful for everyone who takes the time to visit this site, to read my reflections and ideas.  I know that some blogs may speak to you, and others may seem irrelevant to your situation.  I hope that in the course of your visits to the site that you do find some helpful ideas and encouragement toward your own creativity.  May this be for you too a month of giving thanks in many ways.

November 6, 2020

The Focus in Photography

My wife’s favorite art medium is photography.  Her pure joy is capturing images of clouds and sunsets, although she is happy to focus in on flowers, cats and flowing water as well.  And the other day as we were discussing her creativity, she mentioned that for her, part of the wonder of photography is that it allows her to focus on the beauty that she sees.

I was struck by that image of focusing on the beauty, which of course could be a play on words since one either focuses a camera or allows the camera to focus itself, but the idea of focusing on the beauty is more a matter of choice and intent in this case, a matter of narrowing one’s field of vision in order to see something specific.

As I reflected on this further, I thought about two things.  The first is of my own photographic endeavors, which are not professional by any means, but which do bring me joy as I capture any variety of subjects.  I learned at a certain point that how one frames a photograph in the viewfinder is important.  Again, to choose to include certain elements, like say the branches of a tree on a periphery of a sunset, or to zoom in so as to eliminate those portions of the scene that call attention away from the focus of the photograph, is to frame the image so as to tell the story that one wants to express.

The second thought that came to mind was of something Frederick Buechner once wrote, about a famous kaiku by Matsuo Basho, in which he speaks of how the poet frames a moment for us through his words.  The haiku reads:

           An old silent pond.

Into the pond a frog jumps.

           Splash.  Silence again.

Its simplicity is that everything else falls away.  One is left with just the frog, the leap, and the return to stillness.  There is no description of rocks around the pond, or reeds growing in the pond, or sunlight reflecting off the water, or anything else but the frog, the water and stillness.  Just as a photograph captures a moment in time and space, so the poet does the same, and all else passes beyond view.

There is certainly a metaphor here for us, where often times there is so much going on in our lives that we fail to see the blessing or opportunity or possibility that is before us, but which needs our more careful attention.  Just as photography allows us to focus in by looking through the viewfinder and perhaps zooming in on the subject we see, so too when we zoom in on something in our life we are enabled to set aside the distractions around that and to truly draw out the gift that is there for us.