Monthly Archives: December 2007

Second Sunday of Advent (A)

08 Saturday Dec 2007

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once offered these words of reflection,

Despite the fact that all to often people see in the church a power opposed to any change, in fact, the church preserves a powerful ideal which urges people toward the summits and opens their eyes as to their own destiny. From the hot spots of Africa to the black areas of Alabama, I have seen men and women rising and shaking off their chains. They have just discovered they were God’s children, and that, as God’s children, it was impossible to enslave them.

The church preserves a powerful ideal which urges people toward the summits… When we are Church at its best we realize that this ideal is neither of our own making nor of our crafting. We neither own nor control this message, in fact, as its servants we realize that we have been entrusted with it solely in order to be good and wise stewards (of whom there will be an accounting one day). This ideal – the proclamation of being sons and daughters of God – is not a hope invented but rather a hope received.

John the Baptist throughout his life and proclamation knew this distinction and it was based on this awareness that he condemned the religious authorities of his day who lived on the illusion of controlling the way to righteousness. John knew the source of the Kingdom – it did not lie within the control of the religious establishment nor did it lie within himself and his own charisma – it lay within God’s action and God’s movement. The Kingdom was grounded in God’s prerogative. “I baptize with water … the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire…”

The season of Advent invites us to recognize the true source of the “ideal” that we hold and proclaim as Church. It is not a hope invented but a hope received. If it were invented then we would be the most pitiable of people. God has chosen to move specifically within human history. God has come to us. Only in the realization of this amazing truth is it possible to sing, “Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.”

The recognition of hope received though does not lessen the responsibility on our part as Church. Isaiah’s prophecy and description of the Anointed One also contains within it our mission as Church as well. As we receive; we are to proclaim. As we know; we are to live.

They had just discovered they were God’s children, and that, as God’s children, it was impossible to enslave them.

Hope received, not invented, is the Advent proclamation and it is the source of the beauty of peace.

I have seen men and women rising and shaking off their chains – they discovered that they were God’s children.

A note on terminology

07 Friday Dec 2007

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Some people have asked about the use of the term “write” in relation to the drawing and painting of an icon.

The term “write” is used because an icon is considered to be an expression of visual theology. So, this being the context, it is correct to say that one is “writing” an icon. (This is much to the chagrin of my brother John – the journalist and writer.)
Further, through the medium of image and symbol not only does the icon express great truths of our faith but it also brings one into a living encounter with those truths. It can be said that it is just as much the icon that observes us as it is we who take in the icon.
Here, a key distinction in perception might be helpful. In standing before an icon a person is not viewing a static, passive object that one then assimilates by his or her own powers – similar to reading a textbook in order to solely draw out what one needs to know. In coming before an icon one is fundamentally entering into an encounter and a dialogue with a reality that is active and present and that has something to say and teach what we need to hear.
In iconography the active agent is not just the viewer – it is also the icon itself. The icon invites one into the openness of a dialogue between a person and the eternal.
Theology is the dialogue between the soul and God who has fully and definitively revealed Himself in Jesus Christ – the Logos, the Word “made flesh” – and who communicates Himself to us through our senses, our conscience and our reason. Jesus is the primary and fullest image (icon) of God the Father. “He (Christ) is the image of the unseen God, … for God was pleased to let fullness dwell in him.” (Col. 1:15, 19). The theology of iconography springs from the incarnation – the choice of God to become en-fleshed. All this being said; when one paints an icon, one is “writing” a theology of God and salvation – a theology that has its roots in nothing less than the incarnation itself.

The Ordinariness of it All

07 Friday Dec 2007

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The scene portrayed is actually quite common. It is nothing really extraordinary – two friends embracing. The spectacle is repeated each day in a thousand different ways and contexts. It happens at airports, in driveways, at parties – to mention just a few contexts. In fact the occurrence is so common as often to be overlooked and passed over by the bystander.

But for the ones within the embrace, in whatever setting, there is found a deep joy and communion of heart.

There is a deep tenderness and understanding in this specific encounter between Mary and Elizabeth. It is, I believe, a silent moment. The very foundation of the world has been shaken and these two women know it. In fact, they are at the very epicenter.

The world rushes by – not even noticing these two women in the embrace. What is so special about it? It happens all the time. What the world fails to see and what these two women know is that everything has changed. The world and all its structures has been turned on its head.

A new communion has been established between God and us, and therefore, between me and you.

I have just seen that if one traces the outer edges of the two halos and carries the tracing down to where the arms cross then the image of a heart is drawn.

Mary’s choice for Hope

06 Thursday Dec 2007

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Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is found only in Luke’s gospel. The passage begins after Gabriel’s announcement and Mary’s “yes” to God’s will and it concludes with Mary’s great canticle and her staying for three months with her cousin (Lk. 1:39-56).

Mary decides after the angel’s departure to set out to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hills of Judah. Some scripture translations add “in haste” as the descriptive.

The decision is no light matter. The journey would have taken four days. A young girl (14 or 15 years old) walking alone would have been quite vulnerable. The journey certainly had risks and would have been a fearful thing to contemplate. But Mary’s decision to go brings out an important dynamic in the life of Christian faith.

Simply put, Mary makes the choice for hope and not for fear. Hope here is not naive, unrealistic optimism but rather a virtue given, a gift from God that is acted upon. Hope is the choice to trust in God’s promise and to live by God’s promise.

In many ways, I believe – as we come to Advent in the year 2007 – we live in a culture and a context ruled by (and manipulated by, I might add) the mechanics of fear. “Terrorists on the outside, “illegals” on the inside.” Mary’s choice for hope and not fear is a witness to us. It points out a different way.

(By the way, I hate the phrase “an illegal” that is being used to describe a whole grouping of people – a human being made in God’s image is never an “illegal”. Human dignity is determined not by any country’s mandate but by God-given inalienable rights that our own country’s Declaration of Independence speaks so movingly of. I think that the fear-mongers in the media and society who toss this term around need to re-read their own country’s founding documents.)

The mechanics of fear choke, stifle and ultimately kill off all life. The opposite of fear is not bravado and strength, rather it is hope. To choose hope is to step away from fear and to make the choice to trust in God. It is the choice to live by the vision of the Kingdom of God that is inaugurated by the coming of God’s own Son.

At the very beginning of the gospel – before all the disciples time and again do “not get it”, before the religious authorities misunderstand, before the political rulers fear – Mary understands what is beginning to unfold and she sings of it in her canticle.

At fifteen years of age, Mary setting out on a four day journey shows us a different way – the way of hope.

The Cartoon

05 Wednesday Dec 2007

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I am not a trained artist in any sense of the term. Although both my father and mother drew and painted when they were younger. I remember as a young boy watching as my mother drew flowers and people’s faces – maybe an interest was gained through this. (A hope I have during my time here at the university is to take some drawing classes.)

Right now I copy the icons that I write – either I print them off of the Internet or photocopy them from a book. Once I have the copy I use tracing paper in order to sketch out the cartoon. I trace the lines, the tilt of the head, the movement of the hand all from the original.

I have been told that in iconography this is legitimate and accepted. There is no copyright being infringed upon – this helps to calm my scrupulosity. Through tracing one learns to write as an iconographer would write. Your own hand learns to move as the hand of an iconographer’s would across the board. The very discipline of tracing reminds one that we receive from those who have gone before us even when they are unknown to us. I do not know who originally wrote this icon of the Visitation that is my source but I am now learning from her or him. In fact in the tracing of the icon I am listening to what the original iconographer has to say about this particular moment in Scripture. I am standing with the iconographer and together we are reflecting on the mystery of the Visitation.

Advent itself leads one to a recognition of and gratitude for all the unknown people who have preceded us on the journey and from whom we have received the beautiful gift of faith. Advent calls us to remember and even stand with all those generations who yearned for and awaited the coming of the Messiah. They were the ones who learned to read the great promise in the words of Scripture and build their lives centered on the hope of the promised Savior – the unknown Simeons and Annas. Advent further helps us to remember and again stand with all the generations who have lived since the great Christ event – all the unknown people who have formed and lived what we in turn have been given and entrusted with. All these unknown people teach us how to write our own lives as Christians.

Iconography demonstrates that in faith and probably throughout all aspects of life we may not so much invent on our own as we 1. receive, 2. enflesh and, in turn, 3. pass on.

To whoever wrote this icon of the Visitation, “thank you”.

Place and Space

03 Monday Dec 2007

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The place of writing an icon is important, at least it has become so for me. On the surface with paint tubes, brushes and papers strewn everywhere the place can appear to be nothing more than a cluttered mess. In fact though it is a place of prayer and reflection – a place of encounter between one human soul and that which is much deeper and more true – the Divine.

My icon writing “place” is a drafting table. A gift given by some friends a few years ago. Currently the table occupies an area in my office at the Catholic Center looking out the front windows. Sitting at the desk with the blinds open I look straight out onto the front porch of the house and beyond that onto Locust Street. I many ways – I have come to realize – I look out onto life. Across University Parkway from campus with well kept sidewalks, beautiful old houses (large and small) and large shading trees the tree streets neighborhood is very inviting to many people.

So far during my first five months at this residence I have seen a July 4th parade pass by (replete with children on tricycles and even a fire truck with flashing lights) and a Halloween costumed group of revelling, college students walk by – to the next house party I assumed. Everyday I see college students ride by on bikes going to a from campus. I have seen whole families out for a stroll and have even witnessed a grandmother pulling two infant grandchildren in a red wagon. Couples hand in hand, young and old, find the trees streets to be a very inviting place to stroll. And always there are children either carrying book bags or baseball bats…

A few days ago I looked up from my desk in order to catch the sight of a gust of wind moving a swirling cloud of fall leaves down the street. “The Spirit blows where it wills…” I thought.

Place is important – where God has put us at this moment, at this time in our lives. Wherever this may be, God has us here for a reason. For me, my place is now the Catholic Center at ETSU in Johnson City, TN. – my hometown, being close to family and ministering to this community.

I also hold that the move to make a space for God is also important because allowing God a space sanctifies the place we happen to find ourselves occupying. Whether “making space” means setting aside fifteen minutes a day to pray, making a prayer corner in one’s home (and using it) or having a drafting table to write icons on – the space allows God in. The space allows God to touch the movement of our lives and to bless it.

Mary and Elizabeth – the two women embracing in the icon of the Visitation – allowed a space for God in their lives. They let God in and they knew joy for it.