Angelic Choir, Burne-Jones, St. Paul Within the Walls, Rome |
For decades now, when I have felt bored or sad or troubled or angry, when I have any sense, I pray…but also I read a book, or listen to it as I walk. I watch a movie. I try to get to an art gallery. And in the book, or the film, or the paintings, I forget my troubles.
Is this idolatry? I know Christ is the ultimate answer, that God is the sea in which the river of my life will find rest.
But just as YES is a great theological word, the word in which all God’s promises end in Christ, so too is AND.
Yes, Jesus is balm and the panacea for our spirits.
But Art too is a staff that helps us bear the ills of life
Art is the spark
From stoniest flint
That sings
“In the dark
And cold,
I’m light.”