Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Sermon

The rock band Switchfoot have a song called ‘Meant to Live’ which articulates the sense which, I suggest, we all have that there must be more to life than we are experiencing now. They sing:

‘We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

Maybe we've been livin' with our eyes half open
Maybe we're bent and broken

We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life’

The singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn expresses the same sense in a song called ‘More not More’ when he sings:

‘There must be more...
More songs, more warmth
More love, more life

More current, more spark
More touch, deep in the heart

More growth, more truth
More chains, more loose’

Christianity is about the something more of life. We believe that there is more to life than the material, more to life than just the visible and we express this through signs and symbols. So, bread and wine is not simply wheat and grapes or food and drink but is also the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself was a physical being – a human who could be touched and felt – but was also more by being, at one and the same time, divine; the Son of God.

One of the ways in which we express this sense of there being something more to life is through the Arts. When we make art – whether that is literature, performing arts or visual arts – we are essentially following what Jesus did when he made bread and wine into a symbol of his life and death; we are using something known to us to make the invisible visible. This happens most powerfully when the symbol connects us to something real; if Jesus had broken bread and shared wine with his disciples and said this is my body and blood but had not then died, we would not celebrate communion today. We celebrate using the symbols of bread and wine because they connect us with the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection and all that that opens out to us. When something visible and tangible connects us to the invisible reality of the divine that is what we call a sacrament and, at its best, that is what art can do.

During my sabbatical I heard Rev. Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields talk about the way his church using the Arts. He used a description of Jesus as prophet, priest and King, which he took from the writings of John Calvin, to illustrate how the Arts reveal the something more of life. Prophetic art holds a mirror up to society and asks, ‘Are you proud of what you see?’ This kind of art can create a vision of what society could be (the kingdom of God) and then brings home to us the painful gap between this possibility and our present reality. As a result, prophets and prophetic acts are often shocking.

Priestly art takes the opposite approach. The poet George Herbert wrote that when we look at glass we can either see ourselves reflected (like a mirror) or we can look through it to see the heavens. Priestly art gets us seeing beyond the stars. Through priestly art the ordinary stuff of life speaks or sings of the divine.

Kingly art, Wells suggested, is about glory; the glory of God and, through that, the glory of human beings reaching their full potential in God. Kingly art is art which stretches us by showing what humanity can be when we reach our full potential. 

The art made for churches often succeeds in doing all these things and that is why it can impact and change our lives. However, there have been periods in the life of the Church when the Arts haven’t been fully appreciated and understood and when artists have felt disconnected from and disillusioned with the Church.

The beginning of the twentieth century was just such a time. Modern art looked, sounded and felt very different from the art that had traditionally been made for the Church, meaning that the Church avoided using modern art while many modern artists were excitedly exploring new ways of creating art and couldn’t see any connection between what they were doing and the styles of art which the Church continued to use. As a result, there was a whole segment of society – artists and art lovers – that were not being impacted by Christianity.

Fortunately, there were some visionaries both in the Church and among modern artists who made it their life’s work to reconnect the Church with modern and contemporary art. The visits I have made during my sabbatical have been to places where they worked or had an influence.

 

My concern in making this story the focus of my sabbatical has been to encourage the Church to value, learn from and tell the story of what these people did. In my ordained ministry, particularly through commission4mission, I have seen the value of promoting and publicising the artworks which churches have commissioned. Art competitions, exhibitions, festivals, talks, trails, walks and workshops all bring new contacts to the churches that use them and build relationships between those churches and local artists/arts organisations.

Telling more fully the story of the engagement which the Church has had with modern and contemporary art, as I am trying to do using my sabbatical, can impact people in these ways and contribute to the wider mission of the Church. Ultimately, though, it brings me and others into contact with art which speaks powerfully and movingly of the Christian faith and informs the spirituality of those who see.

Next Sunday I will be leading an Evening Service at St Peter’s Chapel in Bradwell which will be a celebration of the Arts and during September I will share some of the artwork and other resources that I have found during my sabbatical in the Evening Services at St John's Seven Kings.

As we use the signs and symbols of the Arts to reflect in this way on the something more which Christianity reveals to us – the divine in the human, the invisible in the visible – we have the opportunity to become walking, talking, living works of art ourselves. Through the way we live and act we can be signs and symbols of the divine. As the singer-songwriter Keith Green sang:

“We are like windows, stained with colours of the rainbow,

Set in a darkened room, till the bridegroom comes to shining through,

Then the colours fall around our feet, over those we meet,

Covering all the grey that we see,

Rainbow colours of assorted hues, come exchange your blues,

For His love that you see shining through me.”

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Keith Green - Stained Glass.

Jesus: Priest and King

On the basis of one appearance in the story told within the Old Testament (Genesis 14. 17 - 20), Melchizedek has generated a huge amount of press over the years. Some people have thought he was Shem, one of Noah’s sons, others have thought he was a divine being or an angel, still others have argued that he was an archetype of Jesus or the pre-incarnate Jesus or, even, Jesus himself.  

There are two other references to Melchizedek in the Bible. The first is in Psalm 110, a Psalm about a King who is also a priest in the priestly order of Melchizedek. The second is a lengthy passage in the letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 7) arguing that Jesus is the Priest-King in the order of Melchizedek spoken of in Psalm 110. 

The writer to the Hebrews suggests that Melchizedek and Abraham represent two different types of priesthood. Abraham represents the priesthood for the people of Israel which is formed while they wandered in the wilderness after being freed from slavery in Egypt. The tribe of Levi became the priests for the people of Israel who supported them by giving the Levites a tithe or tenth of what they grew or earnt.

Melchizedek, though, represents a different order of priests. He is both a King and a Priest and his priestly order is seen as being superior to that of the Levites. This is because he blesses Abraham. In scripture, as in the culture of the time, the one who blesses is always superior to the one who receives the blessing. So, the priest Melchizedek blessed Abraham, who was to be the father of all Israelites including their priests, the Levites. Therefore, the priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to that of the Levites. In addition, Abraham gives Melchizedek a tithe which is a way of acknowledging Melchizedek’s priestly office.

It is important for the writer to the Hebrews to be able to suggest this because he wants to show his fellow Jews why Jesus can be regarded as a priest even though he didn’t come from the tribe of Levi. More than that he wants to show his fellow Jews that the time for the Levitical priesthood has come to an end. The Levitical priests were for the people of Israel but Jesus is a priest for all peoples everywhere. The Levites were human beings who died and their priesthood ended but Jesus is eternal and is a priest forever. The Levitical priests had to continually offer sacrifices but Jesus made a once for all time sacrifice of himself on the cross.

So the writer to the Hebrews is saying that Jesus is the ultimate priest-king. He is the one that the example of Melchizedek pre-figures. He is the one about whom the Psalmist is writing in Psalm 110. Now that Jesus has made the ultimate sacrifice, there is no need for any other sacrifices or any other priests.

This is how the writer to the Hebrews actually puts it:

“The matter becomes even plainer; a different priest has appeared, who is like Melchizedek. He was made a priest, not by human rules and regulations, but through the power of a life which has no end. For the scripture says, You will be a priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek. The old rule, then, is set aside, because it was weak and useless. For the Law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we come near to God ...

Jesus, then, is the High Priest that meets our needs. He is holy; he has no fault or sin in him; he has been set apart from sinners and raised above the heavens. He is not like other high priests; he does not need to offer sacrifices every day for his own sins first and then for the sins of the people. He offered one sacrifice, once and for all, when he offered himself. The Law of Moses appoints men who are imperfect to be high priests; but God's promise made with the vow, which came later than the Law, appoints the Son, who has been made perfect forever.” (Hebrews 7. 15 -19, 26 – 28)

So all this, strange and confusing as it is, is a way of emphasising to us the unique significance of Jesus and his sacrifice:

“The priesthood of the old covenant was temporary, but Christ ‘holds his priesthood pemanently’ (7:24). Those priests of Old Testament times were themselves ‘beset with weakness’ and constantly exposed to the same sinful tendencies as those who came to them for help, but Christ was sinless (5:2; 7:26). The priests of former days offered the blood of goats and bulls, but Christ offered himself (9:13, 7:27). Their sacrifices could effect only a partial cleansing, nothing more than ‘the purification of the flesh’, whereas the sacrifice of Christ purifies man’s disturbed and guilty conscience (9:9, 13-14; 10:22). The Old Testament sacrifices were a necessary reminder of the seriousness of sin (10:3), but by Christ’s offering our sins can be taken away (9:26; 10:11-12). Constant repetition was an essential feature of the Old Testament sacrificial system, but Christ’s sacrifice was offered ‘once for all’ (10:11-12).” (Raymond Brown, The Message of Hebrews, Inter-Varsity Press 1982)

In this way the writer to the Hebrews also gives one helpful way of thinking about and reading the Old Testament:

“It is not simply a graphic account of God’s dealings with his covenant people over the centuries. Old Testament Scripture is essentially Christ-centred … it eagerly anticipates his coming, it describes his earthly ministry, vividly relates the precise circumstances and eternal benefits of his death for mankind, and looks beyond itself to the eventual fulfilment of its finest hopes. Its historical development, spiritual value and moral lessons are all fully appreciated by our author, but he comes to its arresting narratives as a man equipped by the Spirit of God to discern a further message. It is a book about Christ. The Son of God dominates the word of God in both Testaments. The marks of Christ are clearly impressed on all its pages for those who have the eyes to see them.” (R. Brown)

So, as we focus more specifically on the Old Testament readings in our services during 2012, let us be seeking to discern Christ’s shadow on the words we read and, like the writer to the Hebrews, see the significance of Christ and his sacrifice comparison and contrast with the stories of the Old Testament. Let us thank God for the once for all, absolute and eternal nature of Jesus’ sacrifice of himself and praise him for that he has become the Priest and King for whom Melchizedek was a model.

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Delirious - Jesus Blood.