{"id":2155,"date":"2014-09-04T16:38:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T16:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2014-09-04T16:45:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T16:45:21","slug":"a-trip-to-st-petersburg-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-trip-to-st-petersburg-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trip to St. Petersburg, Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up, I attended worship every Sunday at Springfield Friends Meeting in High Point, North Carolina. Quaker meeting houses are not known for their ornate decorations or visual art. In fact, this statement is included in our Book of Discipline, Faith and Practice<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cPaintings, crosses, and stained glass are all outward symbols, or representations, of the divine. Worship in the manner of Friends calls us to strip away, and seek beyond, all outward forms and be transformed by the direct experience of the divine. Thus, a traditional Quaker meeting house, void of all symbols and representations, is an ideal setting in which to seek the inward light.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Friends gather for worship in an unadorned room, and the Springfield worship space was and is as plain as I have ever seen. The walls are painted a cream color with a slight pink tone. There are no crosses, no stained glass, no candles, and no artwork of any kind. The only color that breaks the stark simplicity is viewed through the large glass windows, and those windows look directly into the two hundred year old cemetery!<\/p>\n

Why do I tell this story? Reading Visual Faith (<\/em>Engaging Culture): Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em> by William Dyrness took me to a foreign world. Of course, I have served in other denominations since my time at Springfield, and through my mission excursions, I find myself worshiping in all types of venues – from tent camps in Haiti with makeshift structures to elaborate Russian Orthodox churches filled with icons. But I must admit I have never quite connected the dots between the visual arts and worship. Because I grew up only knowing worship in a simple, plain space, anything else seems weird, over-the-top, or even gaudy.<\/p>\n

At the church I am currently serving in Louisiana, I walk into our gigantic sanctuary with ten ceiling-to-floor stained glass pieces, and I simply stare in awe and bewilderment. Even more so, as I make my way down the road to our contemporary worship space, I wonder why we pay someone on staff to be the \u201cDirector of Visual Arts.\u201d Yes, the paintings, the sculptures, and the large cross made of little crosses are beautiful, but what do they really add to worship? Frankly, in my lack of discipline and familiarity, the artwork distracts me. When I am supposed to be worshipping, I ask, \u201cNow, why is that there? What is that supposed to mean?\u201d This feeling came to a crescendo one week when a man stood on stage in the corner and painted while the pastor preached. My mind could not overcome the distraction to see how the verbal message and the visual art connected. This seems to be exactly what Dyrness is describing in his book. Because art was taken out of Protestant worship, and especially the Quakers concentrated on their inner spiritual lives[1], art was a lost art!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A piece hanging in our contemporary worship space.<\/p><\/div>\n

The art world can be confusing with its abundance of forms and styles. I, for one, ring true to my \u201cISTJ\u201d style, and understand that \u201cart\u201d is a context that does not suit many modern Christians who like convincing, rational presentations. Yet, I am slowly coming to learn that visual art is a rich context for exploring meaning, spirituality, and worship in interactive, collaborative and visual ways. As Dyrness writes, \u201cA carefully wrought and intelligent object or painting, when it is patiently observed, opens up windows on the human situation in a way that other cultural products cannot.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n

\"Rembrandt's<\/a>

Rembrandt’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son”<\/p><\/div>\n

It was not until this past February in St. Petersburg, Russia when I stood in front of Rembrandt\u2019s The Return of the Prodigal Son <\/em>that I understood Dyrness\u2019s passion. I was visiting the Hermitage, and my friend, Clint Baldwin, encouraged me to stop by the Rembrandt piece. Having been with me in the London Art Museum, he knew my attention span would be short! After strolling through nearly the entire building, I turned the corner and covering the wall was this piece by Rembrandt. Never had a piece of art elicited any type of emotion from me\u2026until this. The story from Luke 15 flooded my thoughts. I experienced the joy and exuberance of the father. I felt the forgiveness and grace coming off the canvas and into my heart. The painting was solemn, and I could feel God wrap His arms around me, as the father placed his arms upon the son. I stood in front of that painting for almost a half hour. As Clint and I later discussed, this piece is a reminder to seek to love people for who they are as characterized by understanding that all have the Image of the Creator, the Imago Dei<\/em>, infused in them. The Creator created this man Rembrandt and instilled in him enormous creativity and the gift of expression. With that, Rembrandt himself became a creator and used his gift to produce this piece of art that so many years later could elicit one person (and many more) to worship and experience God in a new way through art.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_________________<\/p>\n

[1]William A. Dyrness, Visual Faith (<\/em>Engaging Culture): Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), Loc. 198.<\/p>\n

[2] Ibid., Loc. 309.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up, I attended worship every Sunday at Springfield Friends Meeting in High Point, North Carolina. Quaker meeting houses are not known for their ornate decorations or visual art. In fact, this statement is included in our Book of Discipline, Faith and Practice: \u201cPaintings, crosses, and stained glass are all outward symbols, or representations, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,289,481],"class_list":["post-2155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-dyrness","tag-lgp4-2","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2155"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2160,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions\/2160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}