A TERRIFYING GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN

(Post by: Madie Hobbs)

Why is it, do you think, that Christians of the West often believe themselves above the pursuit of creativity? Why do so many think the pursuit of beauty is somehow beneath them?

This is a question that has churned within me for quite some time as someone who has more divine encounters with Christ through many things which have no direct tie to Him than I do with sermons on a Sunday morning or through histories of the Church fathers.

While I enjoy strictly spiritual lessons and pursuits, I have often felt forced to ask myself if this inclination makes me less deserving of the title “Christian” than others. 21^st century Christendom would certainly have me believing it does.

But why?

This is the true question constantly spiraling in my mind, and all the more so since I began reading a book about the spiritual value of famous works of art. The kind of works that are displayed at the Louvre for millions to encounter, many of which were crafted in private secrecy.

The book explores mainly the lives of the artists who created these works. Men like Michaelangelo, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt. All men with often troubled and tortured pasts who created works which appear painted or sculpted through divine inspiration. Works which I believe have resulted in more sanctification than many of our small groups today.

What strikes me most about these works is the way in which they once shaped entire generations of Christians but are now seen as nothing more than corroding stone or paint on canvas.

Did you know art was one of the main forms of evangelism in the 15-1600’s for many of the poorer classes of people who were illiterate? They could not read Scripture for themselves, so the church often commissioned painters like Caravaggio to craft pieces depicting common biblical stories in such a way that people might experience them despite having never understood the words on the pages of their Bibles. This went so far as to be introduced into their places of worship when Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, depicting what heaven looked like even as earthly worship continued and what those who have gone before us experienced with God.

These works are beauty incarnate depicting the values of truth and goodness in a method which is translatable to humanity even while in the midst of fallenness and sin. These works inspired revolutions, revival, and reunion with the Divine all throughout human history. These works were seen as valuable enough to be saved from wars, protected from thieves and vandals, and worth millions of dollars to preserve.

Yet now, Christianity apparently believes these works, or new ones which inspire beauty, to be obsolete to the “real” message of Christianity. Fallen men created them and they are therefore now worth nothing. So, we house our worship in buildings morphing faster and faster into something more akin to a factory than a cathedral, and wonder why no one beats their fists against the doors for just a glimpse of the beauty created by the Divine.

We focus so much on goodness and truth we neglect the beauty which brings them to life. Which makes them applicable to the human experience so often wrung through with pain and darkened landscapes we can scarcely see the end of.

As I have walked through times of questioning, of agony, of doubt, I have been made to feel as though finding Christ within the pages of fiction, through a work formed with a hammer and a chisel, through stories formed with one intentional brush stroke after another, somehow makes me less than Christian.

But what if this is what we are lacking, which then allows for questioning, agony, and doubt to arise in the first place?

Being able to see Jesus in places where someone else thinks He has no business being, might just be what saves our souls. It might also just be what saves Christendom from mediocrity and impersonal religion. For rest assured, Christ is waiting around every bend, waiting for you to see that His presence is made available to you in the exact ways you need it to be.

If you are experiencing a time of darkness, a time of meaninglessness in your faith, as I have, I challenge you to evaluate how much beauty is allowed in your life. How much do you pursue the work of Christ through those who are fallen, just as you and I are? Perhaps our revelation will not come through shallow sermons and small groups focused more on enabling rather than convicting.

But I think this is rather a good thing. Let us tremble before a terrifying glimpse of heaven before we ever buy into a softer way to hell.

“This is where beauty is so essential. The pursuit of beauty requires the application of goodness and truth for the benefit of others. Beauty is what we make of goodness and truth. Beauty takes the pursuit of goodness past mere personal ethical conduct to the work of intentionally doing good to and for others. Beauty takes the pursuit of truth past the accumulation of knowledge to the proclamation and application of truth in the name of caring for others. Beauty draws us deeper into community. We ache to share the experience of beauty with other people, to look at someone near us and say, “Do you hear that? Do you see that? How Beautiful!””

~ Russ Ramsey, Rembrandt is in the Wind