My daughter, home from Pittsburgh, asked me to go to the Salvador Dali art exhibit at the High Museum the other day. (You remember Salvador Dali don't you...pointy moustache and melting clocks?) So I went. I went because she asked me to to go. And I went because I have this nagging memory of somebody saying that ministers should attempt to be interesting people. We should be able to talk about the real world that real people live in. We should not bore people who invest an hour or so a week in hearing what we have to say. I'm embarrassed to admit that I failed in the my attempt to become a more interesting person. I am a cultural illiterate. I don't have the slightest idea what Salvador Dali was trying to get across to the rest of us.
Now and then I would recognize something. Among the melting clocks and other strange images, I would catch a religious symbol here and there. What I didn't understand is how they fit into his view of the world.
So I left the exhibit not much smarter but a bit more sympathetic toward people who after hearing what I have to say don't have the slightest idea what I'm trying to get across. They recognize something here and there, but don't understand how that makes sense of their world. I don't believe I'm as weird as Dali, but Christian faith is a way of looking at things that is at its heart more art than science.
No easy answers here. Just the recognition that seeing things differently takes time. And that those of us who wish real people to see the world through the eyes of faith need prayerful patience.
3 comments:
Thanks for this fresh look at our faith through uneducated (in the faith) eyes.
You have to admit it was pretty fascinating and bizzare! Love you daddy:)
I went to see Dali and I felt the same way! I found myself briefly looking at the art while Jeff was easy behind me taking his time.
He totally sees it differently than I did. But then again, he pays attention to detail a lot. Thanks, this made me feel better. :)
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