Uncovering Joy: Tales of Everyday Urban Spirituality (23 0f 24)

Uncovering Joy - What Catches Your Eye 

“Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step....” 

(Here Peter tells the whole story of his adventure in Joppa)
“When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:1-4, 18) 

It must be spring break. Lines of students - clusters of students - packs of students are being led up the grand, stone stairway to the main doors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Remarkably patient security people inspected the bags and offered a word of thanks. Without an agenda in hand I had to catch my breath and decide where my journey in this great museum would begin. 

Everyone in the cavernous entrance hall seems to be ready to take off in different directions. That’s how people are. It is quite a piece of art in its own way - to see how people choose to move through the centuries and cultures. Within the masses of young students there were a number of well-dressed and well-appointed adults who walked as though they were quite familiar with the ways and spaces of the museum and as much at home as one can look dressed in such fine fabric and etched make-up. 

Lately my eye has been drawn to bright mixes of colors that are able to awaken my senses and brighten up my outlook on the day. On this day I set off through rooms of sculpture and carvings from Africa and the South Pacific. These rooms were obviously not the choice of most of the people in the museum - the rooms were uncluttered and wide open. I gave myself the freedom to read about the places from which these delicate pieces were created. After hearing about the recent earthquake in Chili, I now saw just how vulnerable so many people would be if a Tsunami of great force had rippled across the Pacific. A great numbers of islands are scattered east of Australia and the many dots in the middle of this wide expanse of water was difficult to put in perspective. Adding to my amazement was the fact that from each island there was a culture of people that could be quite distinct and the distinction could be seen in the way art dressed up their essential objects of everyday life. 

Months ago I watched a video on the human genome project sponsored by National Geographic. The project said we all come from one people - one tribe. Through DNA testing, they have charted out the journey of their storytelling. From one people - we have a diversity of looks and customs and ways to find meaning and purpose and worth. 

Looking at all the island in the south Pacific the theory of this project all seemed quite possible. Over time, things change and bend and move and separate. Something new keeps entering into the picture. Even as now I look around the room in which I am writing, we are like a museum of living art often unable to see the world as another might see it - but longing to do just that. Not only have we changed and keep on changing - so does the planet. Most often, we do not even know what will happen in our individual lives - how can we see how the earth will bend and move and separate and make something new even though we have set borders and boundaries and claimed ownership for this place and that place? 

I eventually wandered into the museum’s display of modern art. Just as some people consider some pieces of modern art a display of chaos, this first room was just that - chaos. Upon a second look, the chaos was just a cover for how we each have an eye for this or that. Everyone was moving and pausing and turning in random fashion within the room. One elderly woman sat at the edge of a bench gazing at one specific piece of art. She was definitely engage in that painting even as folks brushed by through the space between her eyes and that canvas. I was pulled toward two pieces at the other end of the room. I visually played with them as is often my way of entering into a picture - drawn into just a piece of the whole. A young woman next to me was looking at the same paintings. She had a camera in her hand and so did I. She took a wide angle shot of each of the whole paintings. I drew very close and focused on one portion of the whole - caught up by the vivid colors. She looked at me like I was a bit odd; we each melted back into the chaotic art work of patrons moving in what appeared to be some kind of swirling madness. Then again, we each were being led by our own vision and intentions. 

It is not difficult to remember that people will go off in different directions. Most often we benefit from our diversity of actions and choices. People who wander through art museums may be quite conflicted by the kind of art that suits them. That which pulls one person through the rooms of modern artists may also be that which pushes them from the lighting used by a classic Dutch artist. Then again two people wandering through those rooms of modern artist may fly through one room only to linger in another - both loving modern artists - both loving only a certain expression of one particular type of art.

I find that within the grand mixture of people in a city - like art in a museum - means that there will always be something that pulls us away from one line of thought or action. We can try to keep our eyes fixed on the surface of things - that which initially attracts us - but as we do that, so much more is missed. There are so many reasons that our eyes wander and we begin to take in sights and experiences we would not choose if we were left up to our own view of life. Like a gallery, the streets and restaurants and businesses and neighborhoods in cities beckon us to look up and let our eyes be caught up into the strange and sometimes peculiar and odd other. 

It takes flexibility to begin to appreciated a work of art that does not fall within categories of art that have been a part of our own world view. It also takes time. The time is needed to help us see with new eyes and hear the story of the piece of art or the culture in which the art is produced. It is then that we see the nuance - the perspective - the cultural bedrock that comes to life in a piece of art. There have been so many times when I would move quickly through one room of a museum on my way to the room that fits me best. To be quite honest, I still do that. Then again, a return visit to a museum helps me walk more slowly and see the art I have been walking past on my way to another room. 

I do not move easily between one room of art and another - some transition time is usually necessary. Such time as this is also needed when I find myself entering the lives of others who are at first only seen as strangers. There may be something odd about “them” - something different - something that may be so very subtle. At times, whatever may be different is able to move me in another and new direction - that’s fortunate. That which is avoided becomes that which is to be removed or that from which I remove myself. In the realm of being God’s people, this movement away from those who are seen as different becomes a part of the brokenness that divides and separates and restricts life. Traditionally we call that sin. It is not easy to walk into a new room of art and learn about the character and style of the artists. It is not easy to walk into a room of people who are not what I have come to know and begin to learn about the character and style of those who differ from me. 

In the Church we say that the power of the Holy Spirit is that which gives us a nudge to check out the other room - the other person - the other culture - the other, no matter what our first impressions or biases may try to  tell us.  This Spirit tickles us into taking a look - so that we will be handed the opportunity to be caught up into a new vision for life. I find that the people around me are like strange pieces of art. Sometimes I simply remove myself into another room. Then again, it only takes a bit more time to step into and begin to learn what makes up that work of art - called you. Just as I was standing in front of a painting alongside a young woman and we each had our way of venturing into the work of the artist, we each need to move into that which we do not know in ways that may be quite different. What is most important is that we move - we enter into the art - we enter into the lives of those around us. That movement takes deliberate action. In our storytelling, the Spirit nudges us and pulls us into experiences that not only catch our eye but they also create connections that we never anticipate. 

Urban spirituality becomes a life that is willing to lean into the other room and take a look and find out what catches our eye. At first, nothing may grab us - we may even be repulsed. Then again, day after day we are thrown back into the diversity of God’s artistry. Some things seem so different we cannot wrap our minds around how these differences can be overcome - or if we should even think about overcoming them. It is then that we find ourselves on a rooftop in Joppa being introduced into a life that is strange and odd and even forbidden. The Holy Spirit moves us into and through those times that we might see it all within a new perspective. It is then that our eyes begin to see all things in a new light. The Church in Jerusalem had to be pulled into another room of God’s creativity. The adventures of Peter offered the others permission to look again and to see the expansiveness of God’s rule and the artistry that invites us to come and see and bring an end to the many ways we attempt to be islands to ourselves. 

TRRR