Some years ago I read a book called ‘Written In My Soul’, a series of interviews with some of the most well-known singer-songwriters from the 1950s onward, and was struck by the extent to which these great artists – Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison and others - felt that their songs were given to them in moments of revelation, that their songs were already written and ‘came through them as though radio receivers – without much conscious effort or direction.’
As example, Neil Young said, ‘My best work just comes through me. A lot of times what comes through me is coming from somewhere else.’ Similarly, Dylan has spoken of songs coming through the writer and cited Van Morrison’s ‘Tupelo Honey’ as a song that had always existed and Morrison the vehicle through which it came. In his interview Morrison confirmed that that was the only way he wrote songs; the only way he could write.
This happens to artists too, not just to musicians. I recently reviewed the retrospective of sculptures by Isamu Noguchi which is currently at the Barbican and was fascinated to discover that Noguchi viewed spirituality as a flow and artists as those who ‘come with less obstruction’ to this flow. He viewed inspiration as something flowing from a spiritual source and thought that the way to create great art was to open oneself more and more fully to that flow.
To my mind, these are experiences of the Holy Spirit coming, although it is not always recognised as such. The Spirit comes and makes connections, bringing clarity, making sense. That is not just something for artists, or even for preachers, it is something that can happen for us all and not just in major life-changing moments of revelation but also in minor everyday epiphanies.
It is also an example of what Jesus spoke about in today’s Gospel reading (Luke 21. 12 -19) when he said that his disciples would be called to testify but should make up their minds not to prepare a defence in advance; for he would give words and a wisdom that no opponents would be able to withstand or contradict. Just as the musicians and artists mentioned experienced, we too can open our lives, hearts, minds and spirits to receive inspiration and ideas from the Holy Spirit.
How can we experience a similar openness to the flow of the Holy Spirit in our own lives? Jesus makes two suggestions in the block of teaching to his disciples of which today’s Gospel reading is an extract. First, he says be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life. The cares and trials of life can distract us from a focus on God and his coming kingdom. When they weigh us down by clouding our view, they prevent us from looking to God and receiving from God. Similarly, Isamu Noguchi wrote that to be open to flow, artists try to ‘overcome barriers’ such as ‘habit and convenience and fear and accommodation’ or ‘barriers of the self and what everyone thinks about art’.
It is not that Jesus wants us to ignore the trials and tribulations of life, however. In this block of teaching, he is clear that his disciples will encounter all sorts of troubles in the near future. What he wants for them, however, is that they look for signs of the coming kingdom of God and contemplate those prayerfully because, as they focus their hearts and minds and spirits on those things, they will become attuned to what the Spirit is saying to them in the midst of the troubles they face.
What Jesus was commending to his disciples in unprecedented times where there was no script or instruction manual that could be followed was improvisation. He knew that he was going to leave them (as happened at the Ascension) and that he would then send the Holy Spirit to them (as happened on the Day of Pentecost). The Spirit will teach them everything and remind them of all that Jesus had said to them and the result will be that they will do greater things than him.
To understand this more fully, it’s helpful to reflect further on the artistic practice of improvisation. When actors improvise, it is in the context of a wider story within which they create a new story that fits within the wider story. When jazz musicians improvise, they begin with a musical theme that they develop in new directions before returning to the original theme in order to conclude. In both examples, those improvising need to be immersed in the wider theme or story in order to be able to improvise in ways that make sense within that wider theme or story.
As Christians we have become part of the story of how God relates to human beings and his creation by bringing into being the kingdom of God, with the story of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension being the best expression of that wider story. It is as we immerse ourselves in that story through prayerful contemplation of it, that we allow it to begin shaping our thoughts, ideas, reactions and responses to life and in this way become open to the prompting, movement and flow of the Holy Spirit within.
This is what prayer, bible reading, and other spiritual disciplines are seeking to achieve in and through us. That we begin to inculcate in our lives the life of the kingdom by acting in ways that mirror the activity, attitudes and ethos of that kingdom. In this way we open ourselves to the spirit of that kingdom, the Holy Spirit which animates all those who seek to follow Jesus.
We need to turn away from our natural human inclination to focus on ourselves and our issues and ills, in order to focus primarily on Jesus and the kingdom he brings. As we do so, not only do we increasingly allow the attitudes and actions of the kingdom of God to fill our heart, mind and spirit so that they begin to come readily to mind amongst the opportunities and challenges of daily life, but we also attune ourselves to hearing and responding to the promptings of God’s Spirit as it helps us improvise on the kingdom of God within our lives. In these ways, we too can experience what Jesus taught in today’s Gospel reading, what his disciples experienced in their lives and ministries following the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit first came to them, and what artists of all kinds also experience in terms of inspiration, through an often unconscious but nonetheless spiritual openness to what is beyond them.
Jesus calls us to prayerfully contemplate the signs of his kingdom that we might receive words and a wisdom that no opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Van Morrison - Haunts of Ancient Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment