There are times I wish I were back in seminary, in the seminary of today. No one person could encompass the variety of courses and experiences in only one three years course of study. It was difficult to choose between a course in ancient Christian art and one in the theology of the Reformation, but since they were offered at the same time, you had to make a choice.
Now Yale offers a course in iconography, the art of contemplating the deeper meanings of an icon, something that probably baffles most of us. The Henri Nouwen Chapel at YDS has a modern icon of the return of the prodigal son, a parable that Nouwen loved and often held up as the model of reconciling love.
After the Lent in our lives, a time of darkness and often despair, this parable offers us a new way to see our relationships with God and each other. As Vasileios Marinis wrote, we experience art for the emotional surprises it offers us, the spiritual entry points it offers, and the ambiguities it raises. Lent is such a time to use art to open ourselves to such experiences, pointing the way to the promise of hope and reconciliation.
Prayer for the Day
Moving toward the middle of Lent, O God,
We still feel the chill of the night air;
Feeling the darkness and despair about us, O Lord,
We want to have Easter before its time.
Give us more than patience and impart to us your wisdom,
Teaching us to wait for the healing power of time.
In the name of the One who heals all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
I’m interested in these [medieval] themes as a historian of culture, but some of these ideas create a lot of anxiety with people today and are not very helpful. I say, just read Matthew 25.. All you need to know about the afterlife in Christianity is found in that chapter.
Vasileios Marinis, Professor, Yale Divinity School
Art enables us to lose ourselves and to find ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and writer (1915-1968)
The Lord has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:11