Weekly Devotions

Dear members and friends of Big Canoe and Highland Lutheran Churches,

Christianity has been the single most important factor in the development of art and architecture in the Western world. A few hours in any major art museum or a journey to the most important European cathedrals will be sufficient to demonstrate this claim. Often details within Western art are incomprehensible without retrieving stories and ideas from the Bible or the history of the Christian church. Entire books have been written, for example, to help people interpret the great cathedrals of the world, such as the one at Chartres, just outside of Paris, with its intricate sculptures and carvings and heavenly stained-glass windows.

Even non-Christians may wonder what early Christians were doing when they had images painted on catacomb walls, or what Michelangelo was trying to depict on the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel, or what Eastern Christians were trying to reveal through their church mosaics and icons. What is conveyed through Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece (connecting the dying Christ with those who suffer illness), or Caravaggio’s “The Calling of St. Matthew” (tying together the Christian notions of “new creation,” vocation, and discipleship), or Rembrandt’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son” (one of the best paintings ever about love, forgiveness, and reconciliation)? You can easily track down pictures of these paintings online. Of late, I’ve been struck by the beautiful art that adorns both Big Canoe and Highland Lutheran Churches. Perhaps you’ll take a moment sometime soon to look more closely at the stained-glass windows and the altar artwork in these two churches.

The history of Christianity shows that Christians have been divided among themselves over the visual arts. Some have highlighted the importance of the visual arts to convey theological truth, only to be countered by others who decry all such visual creations as “idols” that are contrary to the prohibition on “graven images” (Ex. 20:4). Certainly, some early Christians, influenced by this Jewish prohibition, have been “anti-image,” yet other Christians borrowed classical forms, such as the figure of Apollo, to depict Jesus as the Good Shepherd or as a wise teacher. Later, in the eighth and ninth centuries, a serious conflict arose in Eastern Christianity over the use of visual images (“icons”) to depict Christ and individual saints and martyrs. During those two hundred years, it seemed as if the whole Eastern Roman Empire (“the Byzantine Empire”) was embroiled in a controversy regarding the proper use of symbols and images within the church! This controversy, which occurred in a context that included Jewish and Muslim criticism of all images, led to serious reflection on the mystery of the Incarnation and what that implied for visual art in the church.

Eventually most Eastern Christians accepted the use of images in the church. In their view, an image or icon is not an idol, nor is it identical to that which it represents. It seeks to make visible that which is invisible. It does so because of the scriptural teaching that the eternal Son of God is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). In other words, since the invisible God has made himself known in and through the material, visual Jesus, it is appropriate to use visual images to depict the realities of Jesus Christ, his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. This same premise is behind the introduction of stained-glass windows in gothic-style church buildings—and in churches such as Big Canoe and Highland!

While John Calvin and other Protestants have attacked the use of images within the church, Luther and Lutherans have generally allowed stained-glass windows, wood cuts, sculptures, and other visual arts to convey biblical truths within their sacred spaces and within their published versions of the Bible. Calvin strictly insisted that the Mosaic prohibition on “graven images” is a separate commandment, while Luther taught that it was merely an example of how one could break the First Commandment. For Luther, visual art is not inherently idolatrous; it could be used for good purposes within the church, to depict important biblical stories and truths.

Near the end of his letter to the Philippian Christians, the apostle Paul provides a biblical basis for the Lutheran view of visual art: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8). Perhaps more than any other verse in the New Testament, this one has reminded Christians that they, too, should be concerned to uphold what is “good, true, and beautiful.”

During Advent this year, in our midweek Advent services, we will examine some representative examples of Christian art that depict themes connecting with the birth of Jesus our Savior. We will explore the deep connection between “the Word that became flesh” and “the Image of God in Christ.” I hope you will make time to join us on those three Wednesday evenings.

In the meantime, see you in church!