Christ and Christo



Over the River (Project for Arkansas River, State of Colorado) Christo

Matthew 18:15-20

“Moreover if your brother sins against you..."

When I first heard of the environmental artist Christo, some years back, I was offended. I assumed that his name was an attempt at self-aggrandizement or sacrilegious humor by appropriating a name similar to the messianic title of Jesus. It turns out that its really just the guy's real birth name. He was born Hristo Vladimirov Yavachev (Христо Явашев) and "Hristo" (or it's English spelling "Christo") is just a popular Bulgarian shortening for "Christopher." That being the case, it turns out that I am an idiot. #Hooray!!! I took a perceived offense and used it as an opportunity to exercise judgment. It was judgment that was based on suspicions and not on facts. It was religious judgment but not specifically biblical judgment. It came from my personal cultural-religious reservation to bearing the name of Christ... in spite of being surrounded by people named Jesús, Christopher, Christie, Christian, Kristen and so on.

Christo, the artist, is used to controversies and being judged based on perceived offenses. For the past 22 years he has been embroiled in a controversy surrounding one of his works over the Colorado river. Let me clarify this a little further, this isn't a controversial artwork that he created 22 years ago and is still feeling the backlash of... this is a piece that he wants to create. For the past 22 years he has been proposing a grand work of art over the Colorado river to the communities surrounding the Colorado river. Like most of Christo's works it is an environmental piece that involves wrapping and covering to highlight some natural or preexisting beauty. He wants to drape six miles of the river in a translucent fabric in a work that he has entitled "Over the River." After this long suffering process Christo is not discouraged. In fact he describes the trials and protest as "invigorating." In a 2013 article he told the Denver Post:   

"We are enjoying that. We are not masochists, but we are enjoying the communication with so many variety of people. Usually the art world is a small club of professionals. Here we are exposed to an enormous relation of meeting so many variety of people"

The worshipers of Christ have much to learn from the words and works of Christo. In Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus Christ discusses offenses, judgment, misunderstanding and community in the religious environment of his followers. Or to phrase it in a more contemporary theological way, dealing with Sin in the Church. Interestingly Jesus doesn't refer to it this way. He was familiar with and used words like "church" to congregation of believers but he describes this group in more intimate terms in this scenario. Christ does not say "if a fellow church member sins against you" or even "if another one of my disciples sins against you." Jesus says "if your brother sins against you." Christ sees those who follow him as a family, the most intimate form of community. Therefore church discipline of sin must take the form of restoring the family and encouraging its health. Dealing with offenses and sins amongst believers must be something that is life giving. It must be a communal beautification effort. In the words of the artist Christo, it must be "invigorating."


Over The River shop signed print, Christo

Art by Committee

“...go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector..."

Along this 22 year attempt to construct the "Over the River" project, Christo has meet his accusers several times over. These meetings are not just held between artist and those who are offended by the project. On the contrary, Christo invites out the whole community to these forums. This pushes the idea of art created by a committee to art created by an entire community. Everyone participates in the planning process of what is or is not to be created. And why shouldn't they? This work is going to be more of their possession than Christo's, once he is finished creating it. So when Christo comes to these forums he comes with plans and sketches in tow. The naysayers may think that they are condemning his plans to a shelf but Christo treats their criticism as critique that will fine tune the work that will eventually be created. Twenty years of discussion have proven that he is in this for the long haul, because he can foresee the beauty that all will behold in the end. The beauty of community creation is what Jesus is describing in his how-to-manual for dealing with sins and offenses. First Jesus advises that the offense be discussed on a person to person basis. If a problem continues past this stage then Jesus sketches out the rounds of community involvement to pursue in remedying the problem. We are left with plan that on paper looks like an ever widening set of concentric circles with a single offense between two believers at the center. It may initially look like these encircling groups are condemning the sinful brother but a further reflection reveal that they are actually helping him create his life into a masterpiece. Christ's circles of Church discipline and Christo's planning forums do the same thing: they take a problem and seize upon the opportunity that it reveals. One brothers offense against another does not just reveal his personal sin (we can assume that we all have those) but it also illustrates the support network that surrounds him. If he wants to view it as judgment then it is judgment... but if he has a heart open to repentance and a mind willing to understand opportunity. then this group is a family here to nurture his growth. In forgiving him and aiding in his development the Church grows as well into the facilitator of good works that it is called to be. Church discipline can be church development if we can foresee the beauty at the end of the struggle.

Wrapped Reichstag, Christo

The Governing Assembly

“...Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven..."

The Over the River project is not Christo's first go-round with controversy. One of his more famous works at the Reichstag building was seething with latent controversy prior to its revealing. But that is ironic, isn't it? Since Christo works are not revealed but rather a wrapping, framing, covering or concealing of an existing thing. The argument was not Christo's wrapping per se, but rather the thing that he chose to wrap. The Reichstag was the seat of German government based in Berlin. In the latter twentieth century government still carried a lot of historic baggage in the German context. But the Reichstag building did not represent the shameful days of the Nazi's Third Reich or the East/west German division of the Cold War. The Reichstag represented a unified Germany. According to Wikipedia:

"Reichstag is a German word which in political terms means Parliament but directly translated is Diet of the Realm or National Diet or Imperial Diet."

So in effect the building houses the governing assembly of the German people. Construction of this building began after the unification of all of the independent German states into one federal republic. It was completed in 1894 and the assembly governed there until 1933 when it burned down under suspicious circumstances under the Nazis. During the post-World War II era of a divided Germany, Michael Cullen, a Berlin historian, approached Christo with a dream project. He asked Christo to wrap the symbol of Berlin's unified, glory days as a beacon of hope for the people. The idea was a dream because its realization was nearly impossible in a divided Germany. Yet the situation on the ground was much different 24 years later. Germany was now unified and the literal wall of separation between its people was torn down. The unified government approved Christo's wrapping of the Reichstag. There it stood, a symbol of the efforts of all of the German people to unify and grow past the sins of the past. It was wrapped, almost as a present to future generations of Germans. When the art exhibition was over, Christo would loose the wrapping that bound the building and symbolically release it from the sins of the German past. Jesus Christ has an art project that he wants to perform on earth. Like Christo, Christ's creation deals with a wrapped object of consideration. Yet Jesus reveals in our Scripture reading that it isn't the wrapping that he is interested in. The object has already been bound in the sins of its past. Jesus Christ is interested in the loosing part where the bound objects are unbound and loosened from the sins and offenses that have wrapped them. Like Christo, Christ is an artist that does not work alone but rather works with a community of laborers. By now you may have realized that the object that Christ is unbinding is the object of his affection: you...and me...and the lost of this world. Christ has designed this great work and it has been approved by the government of Heaven, and you may be thinking that "he did it all on the cross." You would be right to think that. He did everything on the cross, saving the part that he called his followers to do. After Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, Jesus professed that he and the other disciples had the power and authority to forgive sins. Now this is not a controversial statement to those of you readers who come from Christian traditions that teach Apostolic Succession. You believe that the Disciples/Apostles passed down the power to forgive sins to the bishops over the ages who pass it on to priests. But to those readers, like myself, who come from groups that do not teach Apostolic Succession, you may be thinking "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Ironically, this is what some said of Jesus when he proclaimed sins forgiven. Now, I know what you are thinking. Yes, Jesus is different because he was God and anything he says counts as God speaking. Then what about his commissioning of his disciples to forgive sins? Is not that God's call to his children? I suspect that our problem is not with what the Scriptures say as much as it is with the dangers of Church government. I understand. Like the German government, Church government has been guilty of some fairly shameful sins over the millennia. Yet Christ says here that the sins that the Church forgives will be forgiven by Heaven. God's government in heaven and God's government on earth seem to support each other. So one must ask, why did Christ legitimize the Christians' "Reichstag"? He legitimized it because it is the assembly of his unified kingdom. God does not legitimize individual leaders per se but he legitimizes the mission of the church. The church is his "ekklēsia", his assembly of called out ones that governs the distribution of mercy. love and forgiveness. Christ did not just call Church leadership to forgiveness but rather all of his Church. When the Church and its leaders fail to do this, then they are no longer the Church. The Church is not called to be wrapped in it's own sin but rather to loosen the burdens of sinners. We labor with Christ to reveal the beauty hat has been wrapped up for to long.    

Christo and Jean Claude

The Art of Relationships

“...Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven..." 

I have been misleading you somewhat up to this point. Christo never makes his artwork alone. And no, I am not referring to the overall community that he consults I its conception. Before her recent death, Christo created every project with the artist Jean Claude. She happens to also be his wife. These two conceive an art project together, work out their creative differences and agree upon the great work that they will bless the world with. There is a simple yet powerful  beauty to cooperation. Av life of cooperation, peacemaking and community is more beautiful than one can describe. There is something about relationships that mirrors the Divine's work in creation. In the previous section I discussed Christ giving the Church the power to forgive because it is just part of the bigger picture. God works in relationships. God uses the illustration of an intimate relationship, a marriage, to illustrate this point. In the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures it was the story of the marriage between God and Israel. The New Testament centers around Christ and his bride the Church. But maybe you don't like romantic relationships. God also used other intimate relationships to describe His work o Earth. He describes Himself as a "Father" and Jesus as God the "Son" because the Son proceeds from the Father like our salvation proceeds from the Creator. He describes us as his "children." And when it comes to strangers, Jesus describes them as our "neighbors." And when opening Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus describes our enemies as our "brother." God wants to do something amazing here on Earth. But it involves you and others...and those others are your enemies. If you and your enemies can move past your distance and enmity into a relationship and intimacy, there is a miracle to be wrought. When you agree to forgive, to love and to move from strangers and enemies to neighbors and brothers the God of Heaven will grant you that forgiveness. Your sins are forgiven by the blood of Jesus but the repercussion of your sins are forgiven by the ones that you have sinned against. When you make piece with your brother you create a work of unmatched beauty. The sins that bound you are loosened and the picture of God's work with Mankind is paralleled. 

Christo by Annie Leibovitz

The Revealing

"...For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Christo and Jean Claude wrapped islands, valleys, trees, motorcycles, couches, buildings and yes, even people. Even though this may seem like the least controversial, because the only one who needs to approve it is the artist and the person that is wrapped, it may be the most dangerous. Wrapping bodies is what we do to dead people. Mummies were wrapped. Wrapping bodies of the living is dangerous because the living need to breath, move and not be bound. Who would surrender to be wrapped by the artist? The artist himself would! The image posted above is a photograph by Annie Leibovitz of Christo himself. It is a self portrait on two levels: it shows who the artist is and it shows what he does. This portrait simultaneously tells us about the creator and his creation. Jesus Christ found himself in this very same situation. The post-crucifixion body of Jesus was wrapped. And at that moment Scripture reveals a portrait that tells us about the Creator and his Creation. It tells us that the Creator identified with the predicament of Creation. The Son of God took upon the sins of the world and surrendered to death in solidarity with creation. The tow, the Creator and Creation were unified in the saving act of this God-Man, Jesus Christ. Peace was achieved between these two warring parties because Jesus lay in the midst of them, wrapped in the shame of the cross and the grave. Yet he rose to new life and ascended to the right hand of the Father, but still mysteriously remains with us in a sense. He dwells with us in his Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit dwells in us when we abide in his name. We abide in his name when we practice the acts of forgiveness, mercy and love. We abide in God's grace when we abide with two or three others that were once our enemies and God's enemies and break the bread of friendship. When we dwell in Christ, Christ dwells in us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us corporately. So the challenge is for us to reveal what is wrapped up in us. If we are no longer bound by sin then we are bound together in the love of Christ. We as the body of Christ must unwrap this love and lose it on the world. When we see sin-sick souls around us that are wrapped in bandages from their spiritual scars then we are called to nurse them into spiritual health. The church is a hospital for sinners. It is a place where we give life and energy to each other and allow God's power to make us become more active and lively. in the words of Christo, the Church of Jesus Christ is "invigorating."