Looking at lent through art

"Man of Sorrows," Albrecht Durer

It probably makes for bad theology to say that a picture is worth a thousand words. After all, Christ, the very center of Christianity, is called the Word. Spreading the Gospel is done via language. But on the other hand, Christians have always used art to express and teach aspects of the faith, and Jesus is also called the exact image of God.

Christianity has made much of sacred art, filling churches and public places with images of Christ and His followers engaged in the various events recorded in Scripture. Jews and Muslims do not have the equivalent of crucifixes or manger scenes. Things like our stained glass window depicting Jesus praying in the garden would never appear in a traditional mosque or synagogue. In Jerusalem there is a large, modern statue of King David playing the harp, but his nose and some fingers are missing. It was defaced not by Israel’s enemies, but by devout Jews who consider it a violation of God’s law to make such a graven image. And of course we all know from the news about the objections of Muslims to any depiction of their prophet. Those religions usually use symbols and designs rather than representational art. So even though Jews, Muslims, and Christians claim to be Abraham’s offspring, typically only Christians would paint a picture of Abraham.

Sure, there have been Christian groups called “Iconoclasts” who have rejected the use of images in churches. For example, many of the Swiss Reformers (the fathers of modern Protestantism) painted over sacred art in churches and smashed beautiful statues on the theory that they amounted to graven images forbidden by the Bible. But Lutherans and most Christians generally have never fallen for the error of Iconoclasm. Our churches historically have featured plenty of statues and paintings depicting the great people and events of the Bible and Christian history.

This Lenten season our midweek services will look at some great Christian art in order to better understand the classic themes of Lent, like temptation, sin, sacrifice, and atonement. Hopefully this series will help us connect those high theological concepts with our regular, concrete, flesh and blood lives in Munster in 2015. Please plan to attend.

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