Toy Collection & Treasure Storage

Jesus Christ set of Matryoshka Nesting Dolls found on Ebay

Luke 12:13-21

Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

I mentioned in an earlier entry that you don't have to be rich to collect art. Their are several different ways to become an art collector on a budget. You can tap into the work of undiscovered artists and art students. You can go to estate sales and snatch up the finds of rich dead people. You can also become involved in one of the new emerging niche art markets before it grows too pricey. One of these new areas is Toy Art. It is more than collecting Beanie Babies in hopes that their value will go through the roof in a decade. Their a several serious, famous, contemporary artists who focus on raising the bar on how toys and collectibles are viewed. There are also scores of artists and craftsmen who sell through sites like Etsy. Many view Japan as the center of this whimsical aesthetic genre. That may be true, but for my toy art viewing I keep it old school and look back to Mother Russia! If you know me... I mean like really, really know me, then there is a slight chance that you may possibly be aware that I am secretly obsessed with Russia. This has been the case my whole life. Hey, I'm a Cold War kid! I was born into an era when the news was saturated with tales of the Soviets and the "frenemy" relationship between Gorbachev and Reagan. In elementary school I was looking through my family's book closet and discovered that my mom had an introduction to Russian textbook from a high school class. I would look at the neat backwards R's and try and teach myself words. I even would bring it to school and covertly stunt with it at the cafeteria (#nerdballerstatus). I would call my grandfather up (who used to teach Russian Literature) and talk about their amazing art. Then in high school I discovered that besides the standard foreign language courses in Spanish and French there were also two satellite TV instructed courses offered in Japanese and Russian... I think that you know which one I picked. Over the years I have consumed the images in various Russian graphics and printmaking books and even Fritz Eichenberg's (a German/American) illustrations for Russian classic writers like Dostoevsky. Even to this day I scour the Internet for stories of Russian billionaires balling out and doing hood-tastic things like parking their Noah's Ark sized yacht outside of New York City and getting the exterior of their BMW X6 covered in leather... yes, I said the exterior. So naturally when I started this blog I noticed when this blog site started getting a few international hits...from Russia! I ran to my wife and exclaimed, "The Russians have finally accepted me as one of their own!" Currently Russians still lead any other international group of visitors to my blog by 100 hits. To any of my Russian readers I say "Привет и спасибо за посещение." Thank you Google translate. In 1890 Vasily Zvyozdochkin created the first Matryoshka dolls. The word matryoshka is similar to the English word "matron" and describes how each toy has a lineage to the one that it was cut out of. Each doll begets another one in the birthing process. It is also referred to as the "Babushka" (meaning grandmother) doll or the "Russian nesting doll." He  received a Bronze medal for their design in Paris and they have been worldwide sellers ever since. To many these "nesting dolls are a symbol of Russia. They are made from one block of wood and cut out of each other. After the exterior is illustrated each doll serves as storage of other dolls (that are one size smaller). Besides the initial excitement of finding another toy inside of your toy with another toy inside of that one (it's the gift that keeps on giving), the charm to the matryoshka to collectors is that these handmade treasures can be personalized to any interests. Besides the normal grandmother looking matryoshkas and the religious matryoshkas, I have discovered Russian president and Soviet premiers matryoshkas, US presidents matryoshkas, British royal family matryoshkas, Beatles matryoshka and Golden Girls matryoshkas... sitting around on the lanai eating cheesecake. The toy art of matryoshka dolls also fits within the same design and functional art category as ornate treasure chests and ornamented jewelry boxes. They are all a way for the owner to store their valuables. It reveals what the owner treasures and protects. Today's parable creates a matryoshka situation of its own. It makes the reader ask one question nested inside another, which is nested inside yet a larger question. What are you are storage device for? What is your treasure? What is your security?

What are you a storage device for? Matryoshka dolls are storage devices for other dolls matryoshka dolls. The more you search the more you find are other dolls. If someone where to search within you what would they find? I mean besides organs, blood undigested beef and maybe a baby (if you're a woman). What if they were to search what was in your heart (metaphorically speaking)? This question comes to mind when reading Jesus' parable in Luke 12:13-21. In this episode Jesus gets a question yelled at him like a heckler at a comedy show. Jesus is asked about inheritance issue. The questioner is one of two brothers engaged in a feud over inheritance. Jesus replies by refusing to be the arbitrator of their grievances. He does, however, warn the brother of a greater potential loss. One that is of greater worth than money and possessions. "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Coveting? Does Jesus suspect that this one brother is desiring more than his fair share of the inheritance? Not necessarily. Coveting is not just about being obsessed with your neighbor's possessions. It is about being obsessed with possessions themselves, even your own. Moses' tenth commandment warns against the envious desire for another's things, but Jesus sees a greater general principle nested within it. Christ sees a danger in materialism. That is the heart of the 10th commandment. Christ sees that this man is a storage container for covetousness. The problem is that the space in his heart is limited and the storage that he uses for earthly goods is slowly emptying out the contents of his soul. His pursuit for financial riches has strained his love for his family and left him spirituality poor. In gaining everything this man has been left with nothing.

What is your treasure? We all have our desires and if we are successful in attaining them then these desires lead to collections. Even though I've always hated baseball my whole life, I still managed to gather a very respectable baseball card collection in my youth. I even owned a Hank Aaron card and a Reggie Smith autograph. Those were the treasures of my youth. I desired them. I sought after them. I collected them. I stored them and showed them off with pride to select friends. Then I lost them all in Hurricane Katrina...or maybe my mom threw them away because they were stored in a grocery bag in my closet. Either way the point is the same: I invested in something that bought me temporary happiness, a few bucks and respect of my youthful peers but in the end it proved to be just another thing that can be taken away. Jesus' parable is about a rich man's treasures and the storage of these possessions. His treasure was more practical. It was the crops that he harvested on his farm. It was literally the fruit of his labor. Even though it was treasure that was rightfully his (like the brother that Jesus is speaking to) he discovered that he is in danger of losing his soul. Jesus ends the story by warning, "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” What does it mean to "be rich toward God." It means being rich of the things of God. But what does that mean? Wealth is measured in the currency of the given market. I can be rich in US dollars but if I move to a Euro member state then suddenly my wealth has decreased because US currency isn't worth as much in that market. Before paper money and coinage, the currency of the time was the barter system. One could barter (or trade) gold or goats (which ever possession you were rich in) to obtain other goods, services or pay off debts. But the barter system only works if your possessions are desirable in that specific market. So the question is: are your treasures valuable to God? Are they enough to settle your debt with Him? Are you saving up baseball cards to barter your way into Heaven? If our treasures are not the spiritual riches of faith, holiness, love and mercy then they are not suitable to God. These spiritual virtues are God's currency. Earlier last week we read Ecclesiastes and listened as King Solomon lamented the vanities of this world. Solomon possessed many things that were understood as valuable: riches, wisdom, land, love affairs, soldiers and accomplishments. Yet in the end these treasures only brought problems... or rather they only revealed Solomon's problems with consumption. All of Solomon's vain collections of gold, power, learning and women were worthless toys when compared to the true riches of God. They were worthless toys that he would leave behind when he died.

What is your security? Charlie Brown's friend Linus carried around a security blanket. No doubt the blanket couldn't stop bullets or even a strong yank from Snoopy, but it filled a need to be warmed and sheltered from fear. Possessions give a false sense of security. How many times have you logged into your mobile banking app to get a sigh of relief? The idea is that these assets will ensure your safety in times of need (be they near or afar). It is important to invest in financial protection but greater than that is our need to invest in eternal assets. Sometimes we can be lead to think that money can even lead to spiritual security. It may be a popular thing to hear religious circles today but it is not new. Martin Luther started the Reformation in response to a travelling preacher John Tetzel. Tetzel was a German Dominican preacher commissioned by the Church as an evangelist/fundraiser. He was sent to towns preaching the sale of indulgences. The concept was that if you gave to the Church's building campaign then you would receive a certificate that ensured that your love ones would get less time suffering in Purgatory. John Tetzel even had a little song/rhyme to go with it, "As soon as money in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory's fire springs." It amounted to a religious get out of jail free card and it enraged Martin Luther into protesting this and other offences. It was so infuriating because it just isn't true. Money can be used to do much good but without a saved soul you are just a sinner who happens to be a benefactor of the Church. Your giving money to God does not lessen your sins or pay for your relative's ransom. Investing in the Kingdom of God is not just about giving to the poor (though that's vitally important) it's not about giving to the church (and yes that's important too). I say that because it can lead to thinking that our problems with money can be solved by money. Like money can be redeemed by giving it to the right places. Now I am not against money. Money is at best neutral. It has its purposes. The problem with money is a problem with its possessor. Money cannot be redeemed but we can. The investment in God's currency does not involve money. It involves investments in your soul. The story that Jesus tells centers around agriculture. Maybe you never thought about it this way but farming is an investment industry. You make a deposit of seeds into the ground and the returns that are yielded are plants/fruit. Notice that actual money is nowhere in this transaction. Money can help (like buying you seeds, tools or fertilizer if they are not given to you freely) but money cannot be deposited in the ground with the expectation of a money tree to grow. Investments (agricultural and otherwise) will only give back what is placed into them. If your desire is to receive a spiritual return then your deposit must be spiritual. Like many others, the rich man had spent much time and effort investing in everything but what counted the most. He did not sew anything spiritually so he did not reap anything spiritually (at least anything good). It was the one true thing that would grant him true security. Upon first glance the rich man seems like a man that one would describe as prudent. He seems to grasp the idea of maintaining inventory and reducing product loss. His desire to expand the business is actually based in bettering his accounting practices. He also obviously has a mastery of his trade. So much so that he has gained a profit... a large profit. But what does it profit a man even if he were to gain the whole world if he loses his own soul? That is why the Lord calls him a "Fool"... but unlike Mr. T, the Lord has no pity on this fool. When God took his own spiritual inventory of the spiritual treasure that the rich man had gathered, He found nothing. His silos were overflowing with grain but his soul was empty. Since the rich man had not settled his account with God he was met with judgment and not mercy.

Even tough this is an entry about toys it could not be more serious. Those collections that we store up reveal a lot about what we have inside of us. It also displays what we lack amongst our spiritual treasures. What are you a storage device for? What is your treasure? What is inside of you? Your inventory of your possessions may reveal that they actually possess you. Christ warned us about the dangers of allegiance to wealth. In personifying the concept of riches as "mammon" he said:

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
-Matthew 6:24

Instead of being possessed by our possessions and we must rather be possessed by God. We must forsake our allegiance to fleeting wealth and become one of God's treasures. When we do this we will discover what the brother who asked for Jesus' help in an inheritance dispute did not understand. Our true treasure doesn't come from our earthly fathers but our Heavenly Father.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
-Matthew 6:19-21





 

Community Dwelling



Swoon, wheat paste hand colored woodcut print on public wall 

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God...

 

Art ownership is usually something that we associate with home ownership. It is not that one has to be rich to buy art (but it sure does help) but it helps if you have a wall (or refrigerator) to hang your paintings on. So whether it is a house, an apartment or that cosmopolitan hybrid commonly known as a condo, art is often something that we put in our homes: a secondary consideration after we find shelter. After the cavemen moved into caves they then consulted the nearest interior designer to advise them on what cave paintings to display on their walls. Art is a way for us to mark our place in the world?  But what about the homeless: those without homes? What about refugees: those without a homeland? Where is the dwelling place in which they place their treasure? I believe that an answer can be found between one of my favorite psalms and one of my favorite street artists. Moses wrote Psalm 90 understanding what it was like to not have a home or a country. He was the leader of a nation of newly emancipated slaves that would wander the wilderness for the last 40 years of his life. Generations earlier Abraham, the forefathers of the Jewish people, had been called by God to leave his hometown (in present-day Iraq) and sojourn to a foreign land that would be his children's inheritance. God chose to be the god of pilgrims, nomads and freed slaves, creating a community where none had existed before. To these hoards of believers God would reveal Himself to be their true home. Street Artist Swoon has made a name for herself by creating artworks that don't reside within homes but rather create a community themselves. She first garnered attention by posting her wheat paste prints on public walls. These prints were beautiful in themselves and showed the beauty of the the overlooked members of the neighborhoods where the pictures where posted.  Both Moses and Swoon became members of communities of the marginalized. It is the marginalized, overlooked and rejected that God invites into His home. He places them on a pedestal as His work of art and values them as His treasures.



Swoon, Konbit Shelter Project, Haiti



...You turn man to destruction,And say, “Return, O children of men.”

For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep.
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers...

 

As beautiful as Swoon's prints are they still are temporary. They are made of wheat paste and posted publicly where they will be weathered by the elements. At the end of the day wheat is just a grass and just like Psalm 90 says it withers away. As beautiful and honorable as they are the people who are the subjects of Swoon's art will also pass away some day. Such is the fate of men and grass. Psalm 90 is all about the juxtaposition of the eternal nature of God and temporariness of Man. People understand things better when they have a point of measurement to compare a subject with. Moses compares the immenseness of God and eternity with the frailty of Man. It is hard to grasp the meaning of both of these subjects (God and eternity). Being that we cannot fully define them experientially, we rely on metaphors to show what they are like or what they are "greater than." Moses knew that his readers knew what a year was because they had experienced many of them. Therefore they could imagine what a thousand of them could be like It is much greater than the year that they understood. Yet a thousand years are nothing in the sight of the Lord's eternal vantage point. God was greater than even their perception of Time. Moses was revealing that this God that was greater than everything was as intimate and warm to the Israelites as a home. He was a solid home that would protect them from the storms of life. God is a house built upon rock with a solid foundation that can withstand tragedy. When a tragic earthquake struck the nation of Haiti in 2010 many people around the globe responded through giving. This calamity had destroyed houses, hospitals and government buildings alike. Those that were able travelled to Haiti and assisted with the rebuilding. Swoon used her own creativity in combination with science and communal effort to design a new earthquake resistant community in Haiti. The Konbit Shelter Project constructed adobe homes for earthquake victims that were dome shaped to withstand earthquakes of similar size. It also utilized local materials, coil-type construction that you see in pottery and a building material called super adobe invented by the Iranian born architect and humanitarian Nader Khalili. When Moses talks of man's fragility he contrasts it with God's solidity, firmness and endurance. God is like one of Swoon's Konbit shelters. When life gives us tragedies that tosses us to and fro, sifting us like wheat, God stands strong. Those who dwell in Him are protected fro danger. 





Swoon, Swimming Cities of Serenissima, Venice, Italy

...For we have been consumed by Your anger,

And by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom...

 

 Moses speaks of God "carry(ing) them away like a flood" and later goes on to discuss Man's frailty in the face of God's wrath: our moral deficiency faced with His judgments. It is in Moses' book of Genesis that we discover that God had indeed judged Mankind with a flood. None was found righteous save for one man (Noah) and his family. To escape His wrath God inspired Noah to create a large boat (the Ark) with which to weather the storms with a community of his family and pairs of the world's animals). Like Noah, Swoon also engaged in some amateur boat making. Hers was not one great boat but rather an armada of several ramshackle raft creations that look like they were created by objects found in Fred Sanford's junkyard. At first Swoon gathered her friends and sailed up rivers in America but later when she was selected to be the representative artist for the United States at the prestigious Venice Biennale, she upped the ante. The crew created rafts made of New York City garbage and sailed into the Grand Canal of the city of Venice, Italy. Swoon had taken a remnant from the refuse and created a seaworthy vessel for this new community that she had created. Now just like the Creation story in Genesis there is debate amongst Christians about the Flood narrative. Was it a deluge that encased the whole world, the whole known world or just Noah's immediate world. Whichever you chose to believe the themes of the story are the same: God judges and God saves. Both damnation and salvation, justice and mercy are delivered from the Sovereign of the Universe. Both seem to fulfill the Lord's purpose of redemption and renewal. After the Great Flood, Noah's family and the pairs of animals went and fulfilled God's earlier command to "be fruit and multiply." But God gave them more commands than He had provided for Adam and Eve, as He made His covenant with Noah He announced a prohibition against murder and set a precedent of demanding justice of all nations. When Moses told this story in Genesis He did so as a precursor to what he would show in the four other books of the Torah/Law. Moses would later tell of God's saving of the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage, His revelation of the commandments and all of the Law and the subsequent judgment of many who had heard the Law. So Moses would pen this psalm as a testament of all that he had seen concerning Man before God's judgment. Sometimes we don't think about the fact that salvation as an act of judgment as well. When God saved the Israelites it also was an act of judgment against the nation of Egypt. God's mercy towards Israel was an ark of protection against the greater wrath that He was exercising against their captors. We too have an ark of salvation that saves us from God's judgment. This is the Body of Christ. The Church is an assortment of believers around the world like Noah's animals but we come together because God has chosen us worthy to be saved from His wrath. Yet our status of worthiness is not due to anything we have done but rather what Christ has done. Like Swoon when Christ designed his ark he sifted through the refuse. He gathered sinners from the debris of humanity and created a remnant to save. It is with these sinners that Christ found a home. It is to these sinners that Christ is a home. Jesus sails into Heaven upon this ramshackle group of believers. Though we were thrown away before, Christ has redeemed and re purposed us. He has re-commissioned us to be God's armada: not an army of destruction but one of salvation.     

 

Swoon, Music Box, New Orleans

...Return, O Lord!

How long?
And have compassion on Your servants.
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

 

New Orleans is a city nestled in the Gulf Coast swamps of Southeast Louisiana. A place where it is not unheard of to live in a houseboat. Yet Swoon did not create arks or houseboats of any type in New Orleans. Swoon made ordinary land based structures but they were made of river refuse and the leftovers from a dilapidated Creole cottage. Swoon built more than a house: she built a shanty town. And to honor New Orleans' musical heritage she built one that actually plays music. All of the buildings and rooms incorporate elements from musical instruments. They also provide a space where local musicians can perform. That is what the Lord's mercy is. It is not just a house to protect us from danger. It is not just an ark to save us from judgment. God's mercy is place of joy. God's mercy is a place of music and singing. When Moses wrote this poem because he continually found himself in God's mercy. God's mercy is a portico in which do dance within. It is a dining hall to sit within and make merriment with family, friends, strangers and enemies. God is a shelter from tears for those who dwell in Him.    

 

What's The Point Of It All?



Vanitas, Pieter Claesz 1625

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 & 2:21-23 

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

Today you've probably engaged in a few discussions about where you were on September 11, 2001. You may have even replaced your Facebook profile pic with an image of the Twin Towers or posted a memorial message to your status. At home, at work and at school, today was a day that everyone reflected on that sad day twelve years ago. Like many I remember where I was and what I did when I heard the news. I remember what I did for the rest of the day. I also remember the day after and how we said that everything had changed. We've said that everyday since then. In the immediate days surrounding those acts of terrorism I remember other acts of kindness, acts of heroism, acts of selflessness, acts of patriotism, acts of fear, acts of prejudice, acts of confusion and acts of regret. The acts of regret were probably the most curious. It seemed like it affected those geographically closest to New York the most. Yes, there were two other regions that felt the attacks of September 11th but New York seems to stand out the most because New York is America's crown jewel. New York is the capital of the world and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center represented the currency that oils the wheels of the whole mechanism. The acts of regret were a mixture of penance, reflection and bewilderment. It usually came out in questions about the value of what we had spent our individual lives doing. Questions like "What's the point of it all?" Everything that we had worked for was now in shambles. Our achievements were extinguished: caught up in a puff of smoke and ash. When we are confronted with death (and death on a mass scale) it causes us to consider our own mortality and assess our activities.     

I've mentioned before that I'm an Evangelical. Evangelical isn't really a specific definition but a catch all group for Contemporary Theologically Conservative Protestants (I'm not part of the political part of this group and I can vary in my theological conservativeness) who believe that the Gospel must be spread. Evangelicals can be pretty fire & brimstone when discussing judgment and life outside of Christ, but once you jump aboard the Jesus train its pretty smooth sailing (Sorry, I just mixed my metaphors there). We can be pretty positive in our worship and if we do discuss the hard times that we may face it is usually with a positive spin. We'll throw in a "weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning" reminder. This is a positive thing because you don't want people to be feel that their isn't hope. I respect anyone who ties to encourage others in their hard times. But sometimes life can be pretty tough and people should be allowed to have their sad moments. Their is no crying in football, but there is in the Church. Sad days are important. Historically Christianity is a religion of both feasts and fasting. There is much celebration but there are also times to remember things that are hard to find a bright side to. There is a time and a place for mourning. A bright side is still there in the end... somewhere. There are some sad days that make you rethink everything that you've ever done (dumb or smart) and ask "What's the point of it all." That is the reason for the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes is a sad book. King Solomon (King David's son) is attributed as the writer. I sometimes wonder if he needed medication when writing this book. Yes, I understand that may sound disrespectful to say that about a book of the Bible... but seriously, have you read it? I mean, have you read the whole thing (it's fairly short)? Try reading it all. All books of the Bible should be understood in their context and Ecclesiastes is definitely at the top of that list. It doesn't have a flicker of a bright side until the end. Solomon was very rich. As the son of a king he was born rich . The kingdom of Israel grew under his rule and he built the temple at Jerusalem, so he also knew success. Solomon was known to be very wise and was honored as such in his own lifetime. Then there was the women: he reportedly had 700 wives and 300 concubines. There wasn't much that Solomon doesn't possess. Yet at the twilight of his years he pens Ecclesiastes. He looks at his life and asks "What's the point of it all?"

Still Life painting is a polarizing genre of Art: either you like it or you don't see the point of it. If you like it then it is probably because it matches the new couch you bought (that needs something to hang above it). If you don't like it or see the point of it then you are probably why so many artists paint bowls of fruit on tables with clock, wine goblets, violins and a random skull in the middle (like dinner at Ozzie Osborne's house). That isn't always the table spread in all of these painting but it is in many. You have a few of those items in the painting "Vanitas" by Peter Claesz. Vanitas or Vanity is also the name of the sub genre of still life painting that it resides in. There have always been paintings that are purely about objects (even if they are painted for an art student's exercise) but Still Life painting as a major art genre really took off after the Northern Renaissance. It is mostly due to the Protestant Reformation. For much of Protestantism's history, there has been existed a current of iconoclasm (a religious resistance to using images). This is due to a certain interpretation to the second Commandment that doesn't consider that the ancient Israelites are commissioned by God after the ten commandments to create certain images (like those on the Ark of the covenant). The second commandment doesn't prohibit the creation of images but rather it prohibits the worship of them. So in reaction to the Catholic Church's abundance of images, many of the seceding Protestant movements shied away from even biblical imagery. Most of their ornamentation was focused on design and architecture. There is one exception to this (specifically in the Protestant countries of Northern Europe and that was illustration of the Proverbs (and Ecclesiastes was lumped in with them since it is a similar type of literature). The funny thing is that most protestant areas didn't put a full scale ban on imagery in paintings, but rather religious imagery (which could include Greek and Pagan imagery)... something that could be worshiped. You were free to have pictures of your grandparents, nature or still life. So still life became an ornate way to symbolically represent the Proverbs, Psalms, an occasional Gospel parable and passages from Ecclesiastes. Vanitas/Vanity paintings were all about Ecclesiastes. Like the Old Testament book the paintings discuss the seeming vanity of everything when one considers the fleeting nature of it all. Gorgeous displays of riches and feasts will reveal (on further inspection) that the ripe fruit is actually decaying... like our bodies eventually do. Beautiful candelabras will feature candles which are spent, melted and in the process of extinguishing... like our possessions, achievements and mortal lives will soon do. The paintings feature precious golden watches juxtaposed next dry skulls to remind us that in time we all meet the same fate. The skull is an aesthetic tool called a "momento mori", which is Latin for "remember you will die." Vanitas paintings preach our own fragile mortality to us in the midst of our possessions and youth. They whisper "from dust you came and to dust you shall return." They remind us that all of our possessions of pride are pure vanity... in the end they mean nothing. Vanitas asks us "What's the point of it all."

I hope that this especially Emo blog post hasn't been draining on you. With every entry I honestly do try to get at the heart of the text through my image selection and writing. I feel that Ecclesiastes can be a very somber search for purpose in the seemingly meaningless life of the author. It reveals the elephant in the room: the fact that even religious people get depressed. As I stated earlier there is at least  one glimmer of hope in this book. It comes at the very end (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

It appears that the author does see hope in two things: fearing God and keep His commandments. By "fearing" God he means a combination of respect and reverence. Reverencing God and keeping His commandments can actually be combined into one charge. This charge is what Christ says was the greatest of the commandments. The greatest of the commandments because it captures the principal of all of the commandments: loving God and loving our neighbor (as ourselves). I'm not sure if Solomon understood it this way but Jesus surely did. The true hope that we have in life is love. Not the love of our accomplishments, possessions or sexual conquests (remember we're referencing Solomon) but love of our Creator and His creation. These creatures that He created include our family and friends but also strangers... and enemies. It is love that makes it all make sense. The love of God our father and all of His children. That is what I am remembering this September 11th. I am remembering to love. 

The Pursuit

Praying Hands, campus of Oral Roberts University, Leonard McMurray 

Luke 11:1-13

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;  and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Prayer... pretty uncontroversial religious topic, right? Everyone does it. Everyone agrees that it is an important spiritual practice. It's also simple to do: just close your eyes, kneel, clap both hands together like Birdman and start talking to the Big Guy in the Sky. Well, some stand... and some raise their hands... and an occasionally some don't close their eyes... but despite the differences the end result is that you talk to God. But what do you talk to Him about? And how do you talk to Him? Prayer actually can be a complex subject... it can also be controversial. Sometimes Art can reveal the story of how simple things can be more complex than we think. How seemingly safe things can be controversial. Art is made in a historical context and Religious Art is created in a theological context. That is the background when you should consider when viewing the mammoth sized bronze statue "Praying Hands" by Oklahoma sculptor Leonard D. McMurray. It can be found in the middle of the campus of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma... but if you clicked on the link that I provided for McMurray's bio you will notice that it is listed as being located at City of Faith Hospital... and that the title of the sculpture is "Healing Hands." And so the story begins...
Oral Roberts was a massively influential 20th century travelling evangelist and televangelist. His influence is second only to that of Billy Graham. He started off with tent revivals that drew thousands as it travelled across the globe. At the same time he began a radio broadcast, direct mail campaign and then later brought his ministry to television. It is reasonable to argue that Oral Roberts pretty much invented our contemporary conceptions of the televangelist and the mega church. Oral Roberts can also be understood to be one of forefathers of Prosperity Theology/Gospel. Even though Word of Faith movement preachers like Kenneth Hagin trace its roots back to the earlier theologian E.W. Kenyon, Oral Roberts was key to its introduction to television airwaves and consumption by American (and worldwide) Protestants. Oral Roberts was also vital to the mainstream public acceptance of Pentecostalism in general. You can feel the impact of Oral Roberts when you tune into contemporary televangelists (and even local preachers) and hear them say things like "seed faith" and preach a message promising that God will financially bless believers based upon their giving to His church (thirty fold, sixty fold and hundredfold). I remember when I got a chance to visit Nairobi, Kenya in 2009 and saw as many mega churches and billboards promoting prosperity preachers as I had seen in new Orleans, Detroit, Atlanta or Los Angeles. The fact that this particular brand of Pentecostalism (and Protestantism in general) is the one that is most readily accessible to television viewers worldwide shows that Oral Roberts' impact cannot be overstated. Oral Roberts was so successful that 16 years after going into full time evangelism, he was able to open his own university. Oral Roberts University drew thousands of Fundamentalist Protestant Christians of all stripes. In 1977 Roberts stated that the Lord had instructed him in a vision that he was to build the City of Faith Medical and Research Center. It was designed to combine the power of prayer with the power of medicine. Nothing strange about that... a lot of Christians feel that the Lord is leading them to do certain tasks and some, like Joan of Arc, report to have been commissioned in a vision. The problem came in 1987 when Oral Roberts reported that God told him that if he didn't raise $8 million in a year to keep the hospital open that he was going to die... Yep, that happened. He also announced that God told him that the medical center was going to cure Cancer. So Oral Roberts' viewers got scared and he raised the money. But the medical center still closed eventually in 1989. Oral Roberts did not die in 1987 but lived until 2009 (age 91). And it is currently 2013 and cancer still exists.

After losing the medical center and leasing it out for office spaces, the Healing Hands statue was moved to the campus of Oral Roberts University and renamed "Praying Hands." Please don't take this blog entry as a "take down" piece of Oral Roberts. These are just historical facts. Our faith cannot ignore history but it must be informed by history. I apologize if you are a fan of Oral Roberts and this has offended you... but truth be told I am a fan of him too. I totally disagree with his Seed Faith teachings in that their focus on material wealth conflict with the teachings of Jesus, but within that he also allowed some form of the Gospel to be heard by those who wouldn't have heard it before. Hopefully they were able to read between the lines. I actually have extremely fond memories of waking up every day as a child of 4 or 5 and watching his son's (Richard Roberts) televangelist broadcast from Oral Roberts university. His theme on every show was "God can turn your life around." He even had songs that he sang about God turning your life around as he stood with a long microphone and crisp blue suit a la Bob Barker. I would watch these shows and then go up to my dad's fellow preacher friends and tell them "God can turn your life around!" Their eyes would glow and they would smile as they exclaimed "That boy is gonna grow up to be a preacher-man!" Still today I can run into older preachers in New Orleans who will tell me "You know when you were just a little boy I remember your first sermon: "God can turn your life around."

Praying Hands, Albrecht Durer 1508

If you read this blog regularly then you may be aware that one of my readers, who is also a childhood friend, revealed that I am not a fan or Prosperity Theology. Jesus, John the Baptist and St. Paul were no strangers to calling out their theological opposition by name, but on this blog I find it useful to praise the good in various Christians than to harp on the bad (different strokes for different folks): I am a blogger and I see that as more of the job of a pastor or an apologete. The whole truth of the matter is that I watched a whole lot of Prosperity preachers in my formative years. In between viewing Brady Bunch episodes and playing basketball I would watch Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Rod Parsley (preaching as he spewed massive amounts of sweat and thesaurus research-inducing verbiage), Joyce Meyer and Casey Treat, It wasn't until I was about 21 that I started to see a clash between the Gospel of Wealth and the actual Gospel. It all just seemed like church to me... and I was a church kid. Plus they were just preaching from the Bible, right? People will only know the Christianity that they are exposed to. Which is why it is great that Bibles are in such a large circulation. Eventually people will think critically and read Jesus' words for themselves. That is where we are in today's reading in Luke 11. The Disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. In reading the Gospel we assume that all twelve disciples were grown Jewish men beyond the age of Bar Mitzvah. They had received the standard obligatory religious education. Are we to assume that in this training that they never learned how to pray? Not even Peter, the know-it-all? No. They knew how to pray. It seems that John the Baptist's instruction on his prayer to his own disciples on how to pray was something of note.Two of Jesus' own disciples were former disciples of John the Baptist. Did each rabbi teach a signature praying style? I am not sure but it is shown elsewhere that even though John the Baptist and Jesus agreed theologically they did some things operationally different with their disciples (like fasting and baptism). Being that Jesus' disciples trusted Jesus as the Messiah and not just another rabbi or prophet they checked in to get his definitive take on prayer. I realize that many of you may watch televangelist or attend churches where Prosperity Theology is preached. And yeas there are varying degrees of danger. My goal is writing this entry (and the blog) is that Christians (and non-believers) of all stripes will take an honest look at the Jesus of Scripture.

Jesus' response to the disciples answers the questions "How should we pray?" and "What should we pray for?" It is popularly known as "The Lord's Prayer" (because the Lord Jesus said it) or ("The Our Father Prayer" since it starts with those two words). It is not intended to be the only prayer that one can say (though it is a useful one) since the Apostles would later go on to say other prayers throughout the New Testament (depending on the given scenario). It appears to be a model prayer. It presents the important ingredients when communicating with God and maintaining a Christian mindset in general. The prayer can be broken into two sections: A) a primary focus on God, and B)a secondary focus on ourselves. 

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

The prayer opens up with a recognition of our familial relationship with the God of Heaven. Jesus is His Son, but through Jesus' sacrifice He has also adopted us as dear children. "hollowed" is an old school word for "holy." The last part of this section is a plea to The Almighty that his kingdom come and his will be achieved in Earth just like it is unquestionably done in His kingdom of Heaven. A monarch has unquestioned rule in his domain and the first act of asking in this prayer is not for our individual needs but of God's desires. It is the first act of faith, in that Faith is trusting that God's will is the best for our lives and world.

Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

When I stated that the second section is a focus on ourselves, I meant it in the collective sense. It is less about "me" and more about "we." Whether it is pleas for provision, forgiveness or spiritual guidance and protection, Jesus phrases everything in terms of "us." The Christian walk is rooted on community. Even if you are the only believer in your circle of friends or town their is still a community across land and time that you stand on as a believer. Maybe you came to belief through the reading of the Bible that was created by 1st century believers or maybe you heard about Jesus from the television broadcast of Oral Roberts. Either way we all grow in faith through our interaction with fellow Christians. We are all equal in our need for God's mercy. Jesus' prayer expresses that communal equality in his prayer. It is through mercy that we express our equality. Christ implores us to "forgive everyone who is indebted to us" and ask God to "forgive us our sins" based upon that. Jesus' prayer is for us to have communion: with God and with those around us. This community is His Kingdom. This kingdom's foundation is based on mercy and forgiveness.  And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;  and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

Jesus follows the prayer up with an illustration and an explanation. The illustration is a lesson in persistence. It is the story of two friends and the one friend finally giving into the other friends demands. In this story God is the giver and we are the demander. Now you could take away from this story that God will give you anything that you ask for in Jesus' name... but He won't. Yes I know that Jesus says that He will in the Bible, but look at the overall context of the quote. What Jesus said is true, God will do anything that you ask... but not in the way that you may be thinking. God will do anything that you ask as long it is in line with His will. God will not fulfill your request to become God. God will not answer your pleas to do evil to your neighbor. God will not do anything that contradicts His Word (it's like a really tightly worded legal contract). So you may be asking, "What about when the Apostle St. John says that he wishes that we "would prosper and be in good health'? Isn't that a Divine promise of Health and Wealth?" No. Consider the Apostle Paul. He was a great missionary for the cause of Christ and wrote the most books in the New Testament. he also appeared to have some sort of medical crisis (or some other type of trouble). He reports that he prayed to God three times to remove it and God didn't. God replied that " My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Again I state that true faith is trusting that true faith is trusting that God's will is for the best... whatever that may be. In Christ's story about the persistent friend t is useful to focus on two things: A) If we and God are parallel to these two friends then that means that faith in God denotes friendship with God, and B) The friend's request was not for his own needs but for those of another friend. He was not asking for himself but he was asking so that he could serve others. God's kingdom is about community. Now there is nothing wrong in praying about your own needs... their is actually much that is right about it. However, there is something wrong in only praying for your needs. It displays an underlying problem of only caring about oneself. It is similar to talking on the phone with someone who only talks about themselves the whole time. It is important that we engage in intercessory prayer (praying for the needs of others). This also leads to us to thinking about others outside of prayer. We become transformed into a less selfish person. A person that engages in prayers that they can be transformed into a better help, servant and blessing to others. Because the Harvest is ripe but the laborers are few.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread^[d] from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Jesus' explanation after the persistence illustration centers around the pursuit element of prayer. We are told to ask seek and knock. It may seem very similar to Jesus' message in the Gospel of Matthew, however there is one key difference at the end. I would naturally advise fellow Christians that prayer is not as much about asking as it is about praising and thanking God. here did I get that from? I don't know... I just heard it in church somewhere and it just sounded right. I would give this advice to develop prayer practices that are non-materialistic and self centered. It would go with my inclinations to steer clear of anything that resembled Prosperity Theology. But if I am to utilize The Lord's Prayer as a model of prayer structure and the accompanying verses as advice about prayer, then it appears that Jesus thought that much of prayer was about asking God for stuff. It's not necessarily that we are asking but it is what we are asking for, who we are asking for and why we are asking. It is easier for me to accept the "Ask, Seek, Knock" idea if I think of it in reverse- Those who don't ask naturally don't receive. Those who don't seek naturally won't find. Those who don't knock naturally won't have the door opened for them. So then the question begs itself:"Who then will receive, find and get the door opened for them?" The answer is obviously, "Those who ask seek and knock." Those in the pursuit. But herein lies the key difference between Jesus' telling of this lesson in Matthew and in Luke: the thing that is received, found and opened. It is the thing that Jesus refers to as his Father's gift: the Holy Spirit.



Praying Hands, Leonard McMurray

That which we receive in all of our pursuit is God. The answer to all of our needs is in God. Not to say that we do not need food, love, money, shelter, health care, etc. I understand those things: I am not a hippie who lives in the mountains. Those things are provided by God and with them God gives us the perspective on how to value those things. God provides us the proper insight on how to relate to Him as a loving Father who provides for us. God instructs us on how the currency of His kingdom is mercy and forgiveness and we should spend that capital freely amongst our neighbors. God empowers us with His Holy Spirit to stay strong in the face of sin and temptation. Have ever noticed that the popular prayer stance of kneeling with closed eyes and clasped hands is often acted out in films when actor wants to convey extreme begging and pleading to another character? Its a comic illustration of desperation and need. That is how prayer is with God. We may be His children now but we remember a time before He adopted us when we just slaves to sin. And at the end of the day we still have nothing outside of what He is gracious enough to give us. We humbly kneel before His throne as beggars. The only confidence that we have is our one possession: God's listening ear and caring heart. So it is with weathered hands and humble spirits that we point our requests heavenward and make our requests known to a gracious King and mighty God that we have come to know as our Father.





Burial At Sea



Ophelia, John Everett Millais

Colossians 2:12-14

...buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Many cultures and subcultures throughout history have practiced burial at sea. If not the actual sea then the closest body of water (this includes flushing your goldfish down the toilet). Maybe you've seen films featuring a Norse Viking ship burial. Or maybe you've read about Hindus immersing the ashes of the deceased in the Ganges River. Obviously the Navy is the military branch that practices sea burial the most often. You may also be aware that many Christian groups allow for burial at sea. But what if I told you that all Christians (minus Quakers) experience a watery burial? If you are considering becoming a Christian you may be presently preparing for that specific ritual. The ritual of a waterborne burial that I am referring to is the rite of Baptism. It may sound strange to describe this Christian introductory ritual this way but that is exactly how St. Paul refers to it in the second chapter of his letter to the Colossians.

It is with great excitement that I introduce art from the Pre-Raphaelites to this blog. This art movement produced some of the most subtly beautiful depictions of humans and nature ever put on canvas. The Pre-Raphaelites were a coalition of painters, sculptors, art critics and poets founded in founded in 1848 by John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (or as I refer to them Kelly, Michelle and Beyoncé) to create beautiful music... I mean painting. The Pre Raphaelites goal was just what their name states: they wanted to bring art back to a time "pre-Raphael." They wanted to wash off some of the influences of certain academic and compositional concerns of later Renaissance and Mannerism. It was part of an effort to find an earlier, purer painting. This art may seem academic and detailed to contemporary viewers but it was all a campaign of un-learning: an attempt to regain a lost innocence in Art. The Pre Raphaelites concocted something new, different and beautiful. As one of the founders of this movement Sir John Everett Millais' paintings embody all of the aesthetic triumphs of the Pre-Raphaelites. As one of these Englishmen with re-focus on the greatest era of European painting, he turned his gaze to creating a painting that illustrates the greatest writer in the English language: William Shakespeare. Millais' painting Ophelia is a masterwork that honors the intensity of naturalistic painting, illustrates the narrative detail of Shakespeare's tragedy(Hamlet) and displays the complexity of Ophelia's anguish. The anguish that led Ophelia to commit suicide by throwing herself into a river.

It is with great trepidation that I attempt to discuss Hamlet. My mother-in-law (who I am friends with and occasionally reads this blog) is an English teacher who has devoted many years, movie tickets and conversations to the subject of Hamlet. So I'm probably risking good standing with my in-laws by exposing my amateur grasp of this great play. Hopefully they give me credit for linking the Wikipedia article (because you can trust eveerything that Wikipedia says... Right?) So the following is my synopsis of the play. Hamlet was the son of the King of Denmark (his father was also named Hamlet so I guess that makes the main character Hamlet, Jr.... or Hamlet F. Baby). Hamlet's father was slain and appears to his son (as a ghost) and tells Hamlet that he must avenge his father's death. To add to that the slain King's wife (Hamlet's mother, Gertrude) has been deceived into marrying his murderer... who happens to be his brother Claudius... who is now currently serving as the King of Denmark (this script was originally written to be a telenovela). Hamlet is overtaken with a zeal for vengeance. Hamlet has a lover/girlfriend/courtier named Ophelia. Blinded by rage Hamlet mistakenly kills her father (mistakenly thinking that he was Claudius). This leads Ophelia to madness and she later plunges herself in water to take her life. Eventually tragedy begets tragedy and in the end everyone is dead (like the end of The Departed). Strangely enough the story of Christ has a parallel with the tale of Hamlet.

Is anyone surprised at this point that I am making comparison between Christ, Hamlet and Ophelia? If so then you are probably a first time reader of this blog. Maybe it's actually more of a contrast... but I honestly do see a connection between those three when I read Colossians 2:12-14. Follow my reasoning for a minute... Jesus was the son of the King of Heaven. His Father (God) is eternal and made revealed to Jesus that he must embark on his own mission to give his Father's gift of eternal life. The eternal King's wife (Israel, Jesus' motherland) has been deceived into being led by the killer of his prophets. This is where St. Paul's reasoning in Colossians steps in. Jesus' ministry was marked by opposition to Pharisaic legalism. It's actually what got him killed. St. Paul (who was a former Pharisee) held the same opposition to the overt legalism in Christianity. Through many of the blog entries concerning Paul you have seen his letters to churches around the Mediterranean arguing against the claims of the Judaizers (ancient Christians who argued that all followers of Christ, Jewish and non-Jewish, must practice all of the Law of the Old Testament). This included male circumcision and other practices included in the 613 Mitzvot of Scripture. Paul and Jesus never argued against the practices of Jewish law (they both were circumcised, fasted, attended synagogue and temple, celebrated the Holy Days, etc), rather they argued against being obligatorily enslaved to them. The commands of the Law, like the Sabbath, were made for Man not man for the Sabbath. They are spiritual aides to lead one to focus on the goal, which is God and godliness: they are not the goal in and of themselves. To put these practices on those that are not required to is to make these spiritual aides a spiritual burden. Like Hamlet, Jesus was overtaken with a zeal inspired by his Father. But this was not a hunger to exact vengeance but a longing to show mercy. He desired to show mercy to all, free and unfettered by religious practices that become misunderstood. So that brings us to Ophelia. Like Hamlet, Jesus also had a lover and future bride. Her name is Ecclesia... don't get all scandalized on me, Ecclesia is the Greek word that refers to The Church. It means "the called out ones." Like God was married to the people of Israel, Christ waits in expectation for his beautiful bride in the Church (all gathering of all believers over the ages, both Jewish and Gentile). Like Ophelia, Ecclesia has plunged herself in water ending her life. When we as the Church plunge ourselves into the waters of Baptism we do so not as an act of suicide but to attain new life. St. Paul writes in Colossians that we are "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." Baptism represents our identifying with Christ in his death and resurrection. We symbolically die in our sinful nature and rise to new life in Christ. Just like Hamlet, in the end everyone dies... but Jesus rose from the dead. proving that we have hope of eternal life in Christ

Baptism is not magic. Water Baptism only works if we are also baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now I know that there are a few different understandings in the Christian community of the concept of being "baptized in the Spirit." I am not referring to tarrying until a miraculous act (like speaking in tongues) occurs to prove that the Holy Spirit resides within us. Even though I have the utmost love for my Pentecostal and Charismatic brothers I do not believe that this is the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Christ promised to all believers. John the Baptist, like many other Jewish prophets and rabbis, practiced the Mikveh (think Jewish baptism). He became the most popular practitioner of this rite. John the Baptist practiced water baptism as a sign of repentance. Upon seeing Jesus, John announced him to be the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not personally perform baptisms (he had his Disciples performed that rite), however Jesus' sacrificial death is what allowed the Holy Spirit to come into the hearts of believers... all believers. Some believers spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost and performed miracles, some believers acted as missionaries spreading the Gospel throughout the far territories of the Roman Empire, some believers fought as Abolitionists to end slavery worldwide, some set up convents, poorhouses and orphanages to care for the forgotten, still today some visit the sick in hospitals and feed the homeless, while others smuggle Bibles into oppressive regimes under the threat of death. Jesus baptized all of these believers throughout the ages in the empowering Holy Spirit and the evidence is their faith and works. True baptism (in water, in the Holy Spirit and in a change of heart) isn't just a religious bath: true baptism acts as a spiritual Luffa sponge... it scrubs off the old dead man and allows him to be washed away. Baptism allows our selfish, sinful past and spiritual coldness to be buried at sea.



Chill October, John Everett Millais