Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

   O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
          you discern my thoughts from far away.
  You search out my path and my lying down,
        and are acquainted with all my ways.
   Even before a word is on my tongue,
          O LORD, you know it completely.
   You hem me in, behind and before,
          and lay your hand upon me.
   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
          it is so high that I cannot attain it.

   Where can I go from your spirit?
          Or where can I flee from your presence?
   If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
          if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
   If I take the wings of the morning
          and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
  even there your hand shall lead me,
          and your right hand shall hold me fast.
  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
          and the light around me become night,”
  even the darkness is not dark to you;
          the night is as bright as the day,
          for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

  Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my thoughts.
  See if there is any wicked way in me,
          and lead me in the way everlasting.

                     Psalm 139:1-14, 23-24

I can be hit and miss with my daily scripture readings, using the common lectionary as my guide. Just the same, I often come upon passages that are not only quite familiar, they are akin to old friends and sources of comfort going back decades. Sometimes they evoke powerful memories. 

The past few days the Psalm selection, including today's, has been a portion of Psalm 139 which I used in many funerals, including one at the beginning of this year. I have largely left the "hatch, match, and dispatch" world of ministry but a sad circumstance with neighbours led me back into this role. A few days before Christmas the mother of the household found her unconscious son in his basement bedroom due to a drug overdoes. While the paramedics responded quickly the doctors soon ascertained that his brain function was gone. 

I offered to go to the hospital to support the family as they said farewell and organs were harvested. Then I led the service in a packed chapel, many of the people there young and likely searching for meaning. This passage seemed so appropriate. His mother summoned the courage to speak and did so with honesty and tenderness.

All of this came to mind vividly as I made my way through the verses.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Goldilocks and the Two Kayakers

                                                  Mist, not smoke, while paddling on the Moira River 

 I never had golden locks and now I have few locks at all, other than on my chin. Ruth did have long blonde hair but it is inclined to silver now.

Nonetheless we had something of a Goldilocks moment yesterday after a disturbing weather week. There was sweltering heat and humidity for a few days followed by an eerie sky and air quality warnings for a couple more due to wildfire smoke. On Thursday morning I checked the AQI and was puzzled that the scale of ten offered no clue about the current conditions. It turned out that the poor air quality was off the chart, although it came down to a still dangerous level during the day. I did a minimal amount of outdoor work with a mask on.

Friday was our Goldilocks opportunity -- not too hot nor too smokey -- before today's rain. After two days of delaying our outing we headed out early to paddle on the Moira River north of Belleville, a readily accessible spot. We were essentially alone for more than an hour, enjoying a reasonable summer temperature and clear skies. 

We have paddled this stretch many times and yesterday we travelled northeast a few kilometres to the rapids where there is an eagles' nest we have been watching for months. During a couple of recent visits we've made out the head of at least one eaglet on the nest with a parental bird close by, distinguished by a white head and black body. Yesterday there were two young ones by the nest and both flew to a bare branch nearby where they just hung out being eagles. 

This was a quiet thrill and we sat for at least ten minutes watching. The bonus was that we were in a little eddy just below the rapids, surrounded by the trees of a small island in the  midst of the rapids. As we sat there were swallows and waxwings chirping and flying close at hand, perhaps annoyed that humans had invaded their territory. And there was the music of the water flowing across the rocks. This short time was blissful. 

                                                      Tariff-free Wildfire Smoke in New York City

We don't want this to be the new reality, seeking out an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors amidst extreme circumstances we never experienced when we were young. We are resigned to checking apps to determine whether we can venture out and be safe. We have grandchildren who attend a wonderful day camp each summer, slathered in sunblock, but this past week they had days indoors because of the wildfire smoke. 

On the same day the President of the United States fatuously threatened Canada with tariffs if we didn't manage our forests better. Other Republican legislators chimed in with their bluster. No matter that there are plenty of wildfires in America, including one that leveled a portion of Los Angeles, and that Trump has claimed that the climate emergency is a "hoax." Who will awaken us from this ungodly nightmare?  

On our paddle back downstream we saw some of the "usual suspects" of our outings, blue herons and kingfishers and a green heron. I looked over at one point and saw that Ruth had her arms upraised in prayerful gratitude to the Creator. We do this often when we are outdoors, a brief intentional act of thanksgiving for Creation. I hope we have plenty more opportunities to do so. 

The Odyssey & the Golden Rule

 

What to do on an afternoon when going outside will sting your eyes and choke you on wildfire smoke? Go to a three-hour film, of course!

That's what we did yesterday, watching Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Oppenheimer is a hard act to follow and The Odyssey doesn't quite measure up but it is a powerful film. To be fair, how do you convey one of the great mythological stories of human history in just three hours. Nolan manages to fit in the big ticket moments including the Trojan Horse, The Cyclops, The Sirens, and a whole lot more. The encounter with the Cyclops is harrowing, as is Circe turning Odysseus' crew members into swine. 

What I wasn't expecting was that in the first few minutes King Odysseus, powerful leader and sojourner, speaks of xenia, the Law of Zeus, which is essentially described as "do to others as you would have them do to you". If this sounds familiar, it is a version of the Golden Rule expounded in most religions and taught by Jesus. 

After Odysseus returns from his epic journey after many years and reunites with his queen Penelope he muses again about this Law and concedes that he has failed to live up to it in many ways.

I really don't know if this is part of Homer's Odyssey or an addition by film-maker Nolan. Either way, it feels as though it is inserted into the narrative rather than enhancing it to any degree. And Odysseus does a fair amount of slaying after his epiphany. 

In the film Odysseus visits Hades and encounters those he has known and have died, including members of his crew. I wonder if Homer meets Jesus in the afterlife? It may not be the same Homer in the image below. 

We're glad we went to see The Odyssey, even though Ruth chose to close her eyes through some of the gore. I'll do some reflecting on it in the days ahead. It would have been spectacular in an Imax theatre.

Iranian Christians in Peril in the US

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 

Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem.  And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  Parthians, Medes, Elamites...

                                                     Acts 2: 1-9a NRSVue

 A couple of days ago I wrote about the release of an imprisoned Chinese pastor and the plight of the millions of Christians in that country.

We should also be aware that there are Christians in peril in Iran, an Islamic state. Christians represent a  relatively small part of the population -- 300 thousand to half a million. There are records of Christians in Persia/Iran from the first century onward, as attested in the story of Pentecost,  The Parthians and Medes and Elamites were devout Jews from ancient Persia who converted to Christianity. The modern day Iranian Christians are a persecuted minority, especially those who have converted from Islam. 

We hear daily about the senseless war between the United States and Iran and the Trump administration rhetoric about setting the Iranian people free from what is an evil regime. Yet there are recent reports that the US is considering deporting Iranian Christian asylum seekers back to their country of origin.

According to the Washington Post: 

Iranian converts to Christianity and political dissidents from the Islamic Republic who sought asylum in the United States made detailed allegations in new court filings, claiming that U.S. immigration officials gave details of their asylum claims to Iran’s government in a bid to ease their deportation back to the country they fled.

At least six Iranians said they were visited in immigration detention facilities by Iranian officials based in the United States who knew details from their asylum cases and used the information to put pressure on them to agree to be returned to Iran, according to the allegations. The alleged disclosure of their asylum claims puts their lives in peril if they are returned home, the Iranian detainees stated.“

I have been identified to the very government I ran away from for my life by the U.S. government,” one asylum seeker wrote in a sworn declaration.

The American government denies this but if true, what kind of madness is this? It would seem that the xenophobic efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of people from the US sweeps away just about anyone. 

The Bayeaux Tapestry Invades Britain

 

Ten months ago I wrote a while ago about the plan to loan the Bayeux Tapestry, a 900-year-old embroidered cloth depicting the Battle of Hastings leading to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 to the British. It was created by nuns in Canterbury, England, but never displayed there and has its own museum in France. The survival of this 70-metre long work of art is something of a miracle. 

In anticipation of the public display beginning in September at the British Museum there was a cloak and dagger transfer across the English Channel this past week, an act of great secrecy to ensure its safety. Who would want to do harm to such a treasure? 

There is great public excitement and even though tickets are about 60 dollars Canadian the first release of 65,000 sold immediately. What will be unique about this exhibition is that the entire length will be displayed at once. 

Last October I mused about the nuns:

Within the cloister, in a time when accurate news was scarce anywhere, did they have much of a sense of the broader drama they were depicting? We see photos of the smitey bits of the tapestry, so what were they imagining as they worked on these scenes of battle? Did they whisper their speculation to one another, with needles in hand, and were these considered "signs and portents" of biblical significance? God bless those anonymous nuns for such a remarkable achievement. 

Because it's Creation Time in the liturgical calendar I'll add that the sisters also included a vast menagerie of creatures, real and imaginary, on the margins of the embroidery. All God's creatures got a place on the battlefield...

There are 762 beasts of various kinds.  

It has been suggested, rightly so I think, that the Bayeaux Tapestry should be celebrated as an accomplishment of considerable imagination by women artists. I am interested to discover that there is a woman artist. Mia Hansson, who has spent the past decade creating a full-scale replica of the Bayeaux Tapestry. Amazing. 

Chinese Pastor Freed

                                                                                      Pastor Ezra Jin 

There is welcome news that Ezra Jin, a prominent Chinese pastor who has been in prison has been released. Christianity is legal in China but only in government controlled churches. The Roman Catholic church permits the government to have a say in who will be appointed as bishops, walking a fine line in terms of censorship. Some significant churches have been closed and the buildings demolished

China is definitely not a Christian nation yet a few years ago the government said that there were 44 million believers in the country, more than the population of Canada. Other estimates say there are about 130 million Christians with many unregistered worshippers. They assemble in house churches, although the government has been cracking down on these gatherings. 

Jin was part of a sweeping crackdown on Christians last October but he was allowed to leave the country for the United States. Jin's family speaks of his release as a miracle and thank President Trump and his administration for their intervention. Trump raised the issue of detained Christians during his visit to China. While I am reluctant to say anything positive about the president, this is welcome news. 

                                                                                     Jimmy Lai

Canadians are aware of the incarceration of Hong Kong businessman and journalist Jimmy Lai who has family living in this country. Lai is 78 and in poor health but his Christian faith sustains him. 

We can't forget these sisters and brothers in faith and the cost for them of living the gospel, including persecution and death. We need to be mindful of the plight of Uighurs in China, thousands of whom are held in labour camps with reports of forced sterilization. While Uighurs were historically Buddhist they are predominantly Muslim today. 

While Canada and other countries are cozying up to the Chinese thanks to US trade isolationism and tariffs the human rights issues remain. 

Sister Wendy, Hermit and Art Lover

 Do you remember Sister Wendy Beckett, the British art-loving Roman Catholic nun who was something of a media star amongst the nerdy set during the 1990s? She developed a TV series about art through the ages and presented her episodes with a surprising gusto despite a speech impediment. She surprised viewers with her enthusiasm for naked bodies, male and female, defying stereotypes about the prudishness of RC sisters. She was quirky and well known enough to be the source of parodies. I studied art history for my undergraduate degree but I found Sister Wendy a bit too effusive to become a big fan.

I only recently found out that she lived for many years as a hermit, adopting an ascetic and solitary life. She translated Medieval Latin scripts before pursuing the study of art. 

According to her Wikipedia bio:

She obtained papal permission to leave her congregation and to become a consecrated virgin and hermit. She began living in a caravan [travel trailer] on the grounds of a Carmelite monastery at Quidenham Norfolk, and her caravan was later replaced by a mobile home. Besides having received the Carmelite prioress and a nun who brought her provisions, she dedicated her life to solitude and prayer, but allotted two hours of work per day to earn her living.

Leaving aside the distinction between a consecrated and unconsecrated virgin, this living arrangement and spiritual focus makes sense. There is something profoundly spiritual about contemplating art and spending time in solitude would lend itself to that vocation. For me connecting with art can be as powerful as any experience in a church or a cathedral. 

When interviewed about prayer Sister Wendy suggested that when we are moved by beauty, music, art this is a form of prayer, as is taking delight in sunshine. Amen!

Could a series such as hers be made today and become popular? I doubt it somehow, even though the 90s weren't that long ago. 

It's slim pickins' in our library for Sister Wendy books, otherwise I would explore her work. 

                                                                     Sister Wendy portrait 2002

Watershed Acknowledgement

 

                            

                                                                               Christi Belcourt 

We won't be in worship this morning but the service will likely begin with a Land Acknowledgement, a common practice now in many United Church congregations inviting those gathered to be mindful of the traditional lands of the Aboriginal peoples of our region. As some readers will know, I do wonder about including this each week but Rev. Isaac, our son, varies the acknowledgement in thought-provoking ways.

Lately I've been musing about occasionally employing a Watershed Acknowledgement, a recognition that the rivers flowing into the Bay of Quinte were important travel routes through the seasons for Aboriginal groups. The Trent, the Moira, Napanee and Salmon rivers all served this purpose through "time immemorial", a commonly used Indigenous phrase. One Sunday when I led worship I did invite the congregation to consider the Trent River as part of our acknowledgement. 

In these months we regularly paddle these rivers in both our canoe and kayaks. There are times when I am deeply aware of the Indigenous history and imagine that the Salmon River was once a source of abundance with a species fish which no longer make their way up this tributary. 

When we paddle we see an abundance of creatures, otters and bald eagles, deer and trumpeter swans. Even within the city we see a wonderful variety of birds as we cycle along the Moira, including black-crowned night herons and kingfishers.

Last week we were on a secluded stretch of the Moira north of Belleville and had a lovely but uneventful paddle until the last few minutes. Suddenly a pileated woodpecker and two young ones landed on a dead tree that had fallen into the river. We were immediately beside the parent who proceeded to feed the raucous youngsters. Pileated woodpeckers are more often heard than seen so this was an enchanting --watershed? --moment. 

We have this limited edition print by Order of Canada Metis artist Christi Belcourt in our home, and it is it's own Watershed Acknowledgement. 

                              The Fish are Fasting for Knowledge from the Stars --Christi Belcourt

Fire and Brimstone in 2026

                                                                      Wildfire in Spain, July 2026

And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimestone.  

                                 Ezekiel 38: 22 KJV

It is haunting to read and hear about wildfires currently raging in France and Spain, hardly the countries we think about for these conflagrations. A very wet late Winter and Spring caused flooding and lots of growth in forests, followed by intense and prolonged heat. This combination has created ideal conditions for fast moving fires. 

There have been double-digit fatalities in both countries and in Spain most have been tourists. Some have ignored warnings to shelter in place, walking and driving to their deaths. A British family in Spain spoke about friends perishing after they headed away from their vacation home to flee the advancing fire. It may be that some of these victims couldn't comprehend the severity of the threat. Authorities are challenged to identify the remains of those who have died.

We might describe these scenes as hellish or hellacious, words based on a perception of the place of eternal torment. It's been a long time -- more than half a century -- since I heard in person a "fire and brimstone" sermon, a threatening rant about being consigned to hell rather than enjoying the promise of heaven. These sermons are intended to frighten and forewarn people about the risks of losing salvation if they make the wrong choices.

The assumption is that we should "get right with the Lord" before we meet our Maker, but what about the here and now? One of the dubious advantages of waking very earlier is being able to listen to documentaries and interviews from around the world on CBC Radio. The other morning I listened to a re-airing of an Ideas episode from May 2024 with John Vaillant,,  as the guest. He wrote the brilliant and sobering Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, a book I've mentioned before.

Vaillant describes supercharged fires, including the massive blaze that overtook Fort McMurray, Alberta, which are so intense that they vaporize everything in their path. In Fort Mac homes burned so completely that even concrete foundations crumbled and lawn tractors disappeared. Somehow no one died but personal belongings and family mementoes were swept away. 

Vaillant contends that we live in what he calls the Petrocene — an age defined by the impact our dependence on fossil fuels is having on the planet. A new world of fire super-charged by the deepening climate crisis: "There's no such thing as a new normal. We are going into what I would call climate incognita, the unknown climate. And it's going to keep changing. And we're going to have to keep adapting and it's going to keep surprising us."

What struck me is his description of the emotional and psychological impact of these events on people, some of whom have lived through multiple evacuations. Even seasoned wildfire fighters are traumatized. He admitted that going through the transcripts of his interviews brought him to tears, and even speaking with host Nahlah Ayad brought back the emotion. 

Is this not "hell on Earth?, almost certainly accelerated by human induced climate change. Jesus didn't dwell on hell but he did invite us to live humbly and beware of hubris. We seem to be ignoring these directives. One person who survived a fire in Spain said that "you're left soulless." Those who who have ears to hear. let them hear", Jesus said. 

Queen James

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

! Corinthians 13: 11-13 King James Version

When I began in ministry some of my conservative Christian colleagues insisted that the King James Bible was the only truly God-inspired English version of scripture to use. By 2011, the four hundredth anniversary of the "authorized" version commissioned by King James 1st of England, also King James 6th of Scotland, I couldn't stir up interest among our ministerial, mostly evangelicals, to hold a joint service in which we celebrated the remarkable achievement the KJV represents. 

They would all be shocked and appalled to know that there is a book with the title Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King by Gareth Russell about the monarch's intimate and almost certainly sexual relationships with men, even though he was married to a woman. There is now a BBC documentary, Queen James, which explores the same historical theme.

It stands to reason that there have been LGBTQ2S persons amongst royalty in different ages and that their orientations would need to be explored with some discretion beyond the conventions and expectations of the time. 

This King James was a religious person who wanted to hold an ecumenical conference to address the destructive conflicts between Catholics and non-Catholics in the realm. He was a superstitious man who persecuted witches in Scotland in a horrible manner that was anything but Christian. 

He was something of a pacifist and his refusal to enter the Thirty Years War in Europe,  became a factor in him being dubbed ‘Queen James' because he was perceived as weak by his detractors. He was the target of Guy Fawkes and the infamous Gunpowder Plot and he narrowly escaped death. He was a patron of William Shakespeare. 

Verily I say unto you, doth this not all sound fascinating? 

BBC won't let me watch and the library doesn't have the book but I'm still intrigued. 

mes, 

John of John, Psalms & Sabbath Chains

 Then [Jesus] said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath,  so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

                                          Mark 2: 27-28 NRSVue

One of the most talked about novels of 2026 is John of John by Douglas Stuart. His debut novel, Shuggie Bain won the Booker Prize and some critics claim John of John is comparable. 

In the 1990s young John Calum returns to the remote isle of Harris after four years at art school on the mainland, essentially tricked into coming home by his stern father. The novel's title is explained when Cal is asked by an elderly passenger on the boat "Who do you belong to?" He replies: "John of John of Ian of Ian the Breabadair" — breabadair meaning weaver, a reference to his family's crofting heritage. Calum returns with long dyed hair and odd clothing, much to his father's chagrin. 

I won't go too deeply into what is a compelling story dealing with family secrets and long-standing tensions in a tight-knit and claustrophobic community. Harsh Presbyterianism is lurking in the background, almost another character in the book. John Sr. is a precentor in the dying local congregation, leading in the unaccompanied singing of the psalms in both English and Gaelic which are central to worship.

The result in the Gaelic speaking churches has been the beautiful, haunting, evocative sound of Gaelic psalm singing. Often considered a musical reflection of the surrounding environment, emulating the ebb and flow of the sea, Gaelic psalmody is an iconic symbol of the Hebrides – much in the same way that Male Voice Choir singing is symbolic of Wales. It is hard for outsiders to consider the possibility that this will not go on for ever as a musical expression of culture and faith.

There is also mention of putting the "Sabbath chains" in place. Puzzled, I did some research and discovered that the tradition of strict Sabbath observance on these Hebridean islands meant that playground swings and other equipment literally went under lock and key on Sundays, a day reserved for worship, rest, and presumably mind-numblng boredom. 

This brought to mind the friendly warnings I received as the new mainland minister when I took up duties in 1980 in several outport Newfoundland communities. Forget about using the canoe or the cross-country skis on Sundays that arrived in the moving van, hardly a temptation given that I had three services, morning, afternoon, and evening. No one would hang out laundry on Sunday or be seen berry picking. Shops were closed regardless of the religious convictions of the owners for fear of lost business. 

The biblical observance of the Sabbath was meant to set people free from relentless work. It was a powerful directive when the temptation was to relentless scratch out a living. The Sabbath was living, not a form of imprisonment. 

We both appreciated John of John, even though it a challenging story at times. 

The Legacy of the Group of Seven Painters

                                                                        Nellie Lake -- AY Jackson 

Yesterday was Group of Seven Day in Ontario, the recently established acknowledgement of these artists who exhibited together for the first time more than a century ago. They were vital to establishing a Canadian sense of landscape that broke from European conventions. Most of them had day jobs as graphic artists and art teachers as well as other roles.

The criticisms today are that they painted the natural world as though Indigenous peoples didn't exist, at least for the most part. In that respect they were still colonialist in their outlook. There were no women invited into the Group of Seven (actually ten), even though they admired painters such as Emily Carr. 

I continue to love their work, in part because we have spent lots of time in Group of Seven country. We took our canoe in a boxcar up into Algoma and paddled down the Sand River to Lake Superior. We have paddled into Killarney, and Neys and Algonquin parks, sometimes climbing to the spots where these artists set up easels. When I presented to the Lands for Life roundtable in Sudbury on behalf of Friends of Killarney Provincial Park in the late 1990s I showed several Group of Seven images painted in and around the park. 

                                                         Bay of Islands -- Franklin Carmichael 

For us these were spiritual experiences and always worth the physical effort as well as some terror in the midst of thunderstorms in remote spots. We loved their impressionistic perceptions of what they were viewing and their paintings enlivened our experience.

 I don't think anyone has written extensively about the spiritual and religious sensibilities of the eclectic Group of Seven as a whole, but I may just be ignorant. Lawren Harris, the wealthy benefactor of the group, was a Theosophist and this spiritual movement increasingly informed his work as the years went by. Certainly in that era organized religion could be constraining rather than liberating when it came to Creation and Creator.

The McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg was once devoted to Group of Seven artists and several are buried on the grounds. Now there is considerable attention to women and Aboriginal artists. The gallery did recognize Group of Seven Day and here is most of their social media post:

Happy Group of Seven Day!

On May 7, 1920, a daring group of artists known as the Group of Seven unveiled their inaugural exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) —launching a movement that would forever change the face of Canadian art. The Group—Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, F.H. Varley, Franklin Carmichael, and Frank (Franz) Johnston—were more than colleagues; they were friends, united by a shared passion to capture the spirit of the Canadian landscape. “The group of seven artists whose pictures are here exhibited have for several years held a like vision concerning Art in Canada,” wrote Lawren Harris in the original catalogue. That first exhibition sold just six works but drew more than 2,000 visitors, sparking conversation, controversy, and ultimately, a legacy. As A.Y. Jackson wrote to his mother: “It is attracting quite a lot of attention even if it is not understood.” Over time, the Group expanded, adding A.J. Casson, Edwin Holgate, and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald—holding eight exhibitions in total and shaping a new vision for Canadian art.

Six Group of Seven grave markers -- Michael Canadian Collection

The Devotion of Johannes Vermeer

  Do you remember the film Girl with a Pearl Earring with young Scarlett Johansen as a quiet but alluring servant girl in the household of the 17th century painter Johannes Vermeer, played by Colin Firth? There was a lot of repressed passion as the servant becomes the model for what is perhaps the artist's most famous painting -- not a lot of his work survives. This speculative storyline makes for an okay movie but not a great one. 

A new book titled Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found by British art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon  paints a very different picture (please forgive me) of this painting and the life of Vermeer. Graham-Dixon draws on the extensive research of American economist John Michael Montias, who in the 1980s introduced economics into the study of Golden Age Dutch painting,

The premise is that Vermeer was a devout Christian and that most of his paintings can be traced to the patronage of one family who belonged to a small Christian sect. 

Kate Taylor interviewed Graham Dixon for the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago and here are a few paragraphs from her article (my apologies for the cut and paste):

 “Once you realize that all the paintings were painted for one house, owned by these profoundly idealistic, highly meditative Christian people, the pictures just make so much sense in that context,” Graham-Dixon said in an interview during a recent visit to Toronto. “In 20 years, everyone will be thinking that this is essentially the truth about Vermeer.” 

The first crucial piece of information was that the family owned two-thirds of Vermeer’s output and, at Pieter and Maria’s death, that art was inherited by their daughter, Magdalena. She died prematurely aged 26 – perhaps in childbirth – and her husband inherited the art. In turn, it was passed to his father, who finally auctioned it, scattering it to the winds about 20 years after Vermeer’s death in 1675 at age 43. 

Graham-Dixon speculates that Vermeer's The Music Lesson shows a religious gathering.

The Remonstrants were a pacifist group who objected to the Calvinist notion of predestination, believed in good works and freedom of worship, and argued that Catholics and Protestants, who had just fought the bloody 30 Years’ War from 1618-1648, should unite in their shared Christian faith.

“All the terrible atrocities and deaths and murders of the past 80 years, that’s now over, and these people believe that their message of tolerance will land on fertile ground. They actually believe that they are on the brink of world peace.” 

Dutch women were relatively independent in this period, compared to other European women, and the Remonstrant women delved further into their beliefs, founding a splinter movement known as the Collegians. They concluded that anyone could have a direct relationship with God and so dispensed with ministers in favour of meetings to discuss scripture and moral behaviour, similar to the Quaker movement in Britain. 

The further speculation is that the subject of the painting was young Magdalena. 

I enjoy a good romance but I find this line of thought quite meaningful. There is a luminous quality to Vermeer's work unlike virtually any other artist. Was it his attempt to capture the glow of fervour in this family and their fellow believers? Open this photo in gallery:

                                                                       The Milkmaid -- Vermeer

C'mon In, The Water's Fine!

 1 Out of deep, unordered water God created land and life;

world of bird and beast, and later, twosome people, husband, wife.

There is water in the river bringing life to tree and plant.

Let creation praise its giver: there is water in the font.

                                        Voices United 453

It occurred to me yesterday that even though the United Church and other mainline/old-line denominations state that they have two sacraments this is the official stance rather than the liturgical reality for many congregations. Most churches still celebrate communion on a regular basis, but the same can't be said for baptism. There are lots of congregations that don't baptize anyone in the course of a year. Closing churches sell off their "holy hardware" including baptismal fonts. 

How things have changed. When I was ordained in 1980 I immediately began baptizing lots of infants --reluctantly. At that time a newborn was still registered by a clergyperson, harking back to the days when most babies were born in their outport homes rather than in a hospital and supposedly everyone was Christian. So, in order to receive the "baby bonus" a child had to be baptized and registered by a church. This made me a civil servant, sending in the forms and receiving fifty cents for every one submitted. I found this an appalling misrepresentation of the meaning of baptism.

Even after we returned to the mainland I presided at lots of baptisms, mostly but not all infants. It was not uncommon to have six to eight families lined up at the front of the sanctuary, several times a year. Keeping names straight was a challenge. 

As I look back I realize I never baptized anyone of any age by total immersion the way some denominations do such as the Baptists and Pentecostals. 

The past three Sundays Ruth and I have gone the immersion route, swimming prior to worship at North Beach Provincial Park in Prince Edward County. We were literally the first vehicle into this day park each week at 8:00 AM and for a few blessed minutes we were the only ones around other than staff. Yesterday we swam twice, first in Lake Ontario which was...bracing...then in  the lagoon on the other side of the sand dunes -- blessedly much warmer. 

While we didn't formally renew our baptismal vows there was a sense each time that this was a holy dunking. There is something about swimming, and particularly swimming in a lake or a river or an ocean that is sacred for us, even when it's cold enough to take your breath away. We both get in some actual swimming but we also lay on our backs to appreciate the birds and the clouds.

Each week we've felt enlivened, invigorated, as we headed on to the service at Trenton United. 

I realize as well that there are sections in Voices United along with hymns in other resources that are essentially dry-docked for a lot of congregations because baptisms happen so seldom anymore. There are plenty of good ones. Should we take the plunge and have a Baptism hymn fest from time to time, a reminder of the aqueous joy of the sacrament? 

Did Jesus and the disciples know how to swim?  I think so, even though there was the whole walking on water thing for Jesus and he was baptized in a river. 

4      I stand at the edge, lookin' down

too scared to swim, afraid I'll drown 

    give me the courage to journey on,

        River run deep, River run free. 

                        More Voices 163

Excommunicated!

 

Newly consecrated Bishops, from left, Marc Hanappier, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, Michael Goldade and Pascal Schreiber stand at the end of their consecration ceremony at the Society of St. Pius X seminary in Econe, Switzerland, on Wednesday, July 1. (Baz Ratner/AP via CNN Newsource)

Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communtion with other members of the congregation, and of receiving the sacraments..

How did I end up being a Protestant minister, a pastor of the United Church of Canada? What is the spiritual lineage of those of us who are part of a tradition that finds its way back to Martin Luther, the Catholic priest who hoped for reform and eventually broke from Rome? Perhaps we should say that the Roman Catholic church broke from Martin Luther and excommunicated him for his radical notion of grace. 

Most Protestant denominations and groups don't use the word "excommunicate" although they have processes to shun or disenfranchise members who don't adhere to their orthodoxies. Even the United Church has protocols to discipline or "defrock" errant members and clergy. 

This past week the Vatican and Pope Leo took the extreme step of giving the ecclesiastic boot to several clerics who have been ringleaders of a group of traditionalists who want to return to the Latin Mass that hasn't been used, officially, in more than sixty years. They resist other reforms as well. Despite attempts by Popes Francis and Leo to address the rebellious behaviour it came to a head this week. According to this CTV report: 

The Vatican announced Thursday that priests and members of a breakaway Catholic group that ordained four new bishops in defiance of Pope Leo XIV’s wishes are in schism and excommunicated. The Society of Saint Pius X, an ultra-traditionalist group, went ahead with the ordinations on Wednesday without papal approval and despite appeals from Leo to reverse the decision.

In response, the Vatican’s doctrinal office on Thursday published a decree saying that the four bishops are excommunicated, along with the two bishops who participated in the ordination ceremony. Excommunication means they are excluded from the sacraments of the church.

It added in an explanatory note that priests belonging to the society and lay members who “formally adhere” to the group are also in schism and excommunicated.

There have been Roman Catholic clerics who have been cautioned and censored in the past half century for expressing "dangerous" views on subjects including such as the ordination of women. Some of us Protestants might consider them progressive rather than a threat to church doctrine and order. This current bunch are regressive and often obnoxious, usually older men playing liturgical dress-up insisting that old institutional ways are Christ's ways.

We'll see how this develops.