Apollo

That the Christian faith has taken upon it images from outside cultures is well known. One can see this especially in the Mexican Day of the Dead. The very person of Christ was often in the times of the Roman Empire "translated" into a sort of Apollo.

[Ravenna mosaic]


[Early Roman Christian]


[Velasquez]
This is Apollo visiting the Forge of Vulcan - looks on first sight like Christ doesn't it ?


[Walter Erlebacher]
Even in our own time the legacy of the early church's commandeering of the imagery of Apollo survives.

What does it mean when the Church takes such imagery and makes it her own?

At Sea

Discipleship is scary - out on the water. The fishing could be poor. The sea could rise in a furious storm. We could be adrift. The boat could hit a shoal.

We get cranky when things don't go our way. We start bickering about all the details, but so often we're missing the reason for daring to be Christian. It's about love - even of our (perceived) enemies.

Love one another.


It's worth every bit of pain.

One and Only Noble Tree

This summer has brought two remarkable events in the lives of gay Christians. Both the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church (USA) have both made clear in their polity that gay and lesbian members of their churches may be considered fully eligible for the clerical state of life. Furthermore, both churches have agreed to bless, in some way or other, faithful committed same-sex relationships. This has brought with it, however, considerable anguish on the part of conservative members of their respective communities - anguish that is grounded in a more literal reading of parts of sacred scripture. When people of good faith disagree with one another, it troubles me, but when pain is inflicted - even be it self-inflicted pain, I am deeply troubled. This is why I was so deeply touched by the words of ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson to their convention following the strongly affirmative vote.

He said: “We finally meet one another not in our agreements or our disagreements, but at the foot of the cross, where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us, and where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ.”

[Salvator Dali]

Faithful Cross above all others. One and only noble Tree.

[Cimabue]

Cimabue's great rood was essentially destroyed in the great Florentine flood of 1967 and so the only photos remaining of it's former glory are very old ones. The great and powerful corpus writhes on the cross is one way of viewing this image, but another I can see is the corpus dancing lithely on the cross - a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice.

Michelangelo Buonarotti]

Believed to be a youthful example of the great sculptor's work, this lovely figure shows a youthful Christ in repose.

“We finally meet one another not in our agreements or our disagreements, but at the foot of the cross, where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us, and where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ.”

Come Lord Jesus.

Quiet Summer

In keeping with my time of rest from blogging, I wanted to simply share a few images I thought interesting and beautiful. While I would like to say more, I'm in a sort of retreat at the moment. Pray for me, if you would.

[Duccio]

I love the way the crowd has gathered and the tightness of the composition - look at Lazarus off by himself - he was the dead one.


[Georges de la Tour]

De la Tour's work is always stunning. Here St Jerome reads some correspondence - pre-Twitter.


[perhaps designed by Hardman]

I like the clarity of the glass colors and the abstract quality of the design.


[Millais]

Millais' early work was very graphic and crisp - too polite for most today, but this was characterised as being vulgar...


[ Van Eyck]

I just love the excess.

Cleansing

[Valentin de Boulogne]

I’ve been in a slump, as you all know. In part this is due to summer months of heat and humidity and a lack of energy. There are a multitude of reasons for that lack and the struggles of being Christian and gay seem to be pressing down right now. It almost makes me long for the good old days when we were all in the closet – so much easier to get headaches and hide. Almost.

But I guess I just want to meditate a bit on what’s up to us and what’s up to Jesus? The disciples were no doubt startled and probably some of them were thrilled when he seemingly lost grip and drove the money-changers out of the Temple. Flailing away, shouting – not the gentle Jesus meek and mild we tell children about.

[Rembrandt van Rijn]

So is it up to us to clear the place out? Are we meant to go about telling those naughty – whoevers – that we know what’s to be done and they better move on? And how exactly do we know we are right?

I’m never sure whether I’m right or just self-satisfied. Basically I’m useless as a campaigner. So I try to leave the campaigning to Jesus, who knows exactly when a where to do what needs to be done. Yes, yes, I know St Theresa, or someone said “he has no hands on earth but ours…” But then, she was a much better Christian than I.

[Eric de Saussure]

Enough self-doubts – that’s not the point. The point is it is Christ who will cleanse the Temple, not us – and from all the hectic activity shown here, I haven’t the energy myself. Pray for cool weather and maybe I'll feel more self-assured.

Right now I'm praying that gay and lesbian Christians may be given an equal place at that table that belongs to Christ alone. And that table belongs in that very Temple from which he drove out everything that separates us from God.

Going Green

First I apologise for being lax in blogging. My heart's not been in it and this post is really just a way to say hello and share some sacred imagery.

A little used image today is the Tree of Jesse - a pedigree or family tree of Jesus. In another time, pedigrees and family trees and genealogy were important to many. Things have changed. But still it's a charming image.

Here's a nice contemporary example - minus the individuals.

[Catrin Jones}

Beauvais Cathedral has this elaborate sculptural example, but the individuals have been hacked off leaving, again, just the tree.

{Beauvais]

Here's a manuscript version - charm exemplified.

[Herrad of Hohenberg]

My favorite, but the most bizarre is this example by Jan Mostaert that looks more like a nightmare than a sacred image. (Do expand the photo if you're not nightmare prone.)

[Jan Mostaert]

So I wish you all a restful summer - under the trees, perhaps. And maybe, just maybe, I'll find some inspiration that doesn't involve making a living.

My Truth

[Albrecht Dürer]

We're accustomed in these times to hear people speaking of their own personal truths. There's a famous story from a theologian (whose name I forget at the moment) where a woman named Sheila he interviews says, that having "found her inner voice", she is content to have her own personal religion - in her case Sheilaism.

Here we are very near my favorite feast of the year - Corpus Christi. I love the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus more than I can say in mere words. Maundy Thursday is, of course, the moment when the Church recalls the glorious gift to the Church of that Presence, but being in the sad and tragic "outside of time" experience that we call Holy Week, that particular day is tinged with sadness.

Corpus Christi leaves all that behind and we - I - can glory publicly in the mysterious presence of Christ under the forms of bread and wine.

So, my personal truth, perhaps a bit Sheila-like, is my complete confidence in that reality, the absolute reality of the presence of the true body and blood of Jesus on our altars and given to our souls and bodies. The "Mass of St Gregory" above shows my personal Truth as well as anything.