As part of the Festival of the Arts in Dunedin, First Presbyterian Church(above) had in its grounds an installation by ‘Architects of the Air’ (Called a Luminarium, it cost many $’s to get it out here from England.) It is an interactive, walk through piece of art. Basically you walk through the various coloured rooms/domes and tunnels each with different colours –red, green, blue.. but the effect is in the PVC and natural light from outside. An amazing effect and experience, with ambient music in the background.
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The line took an hour to get us in… but that was part of it all for me… watching people line up, kids running about, climb trees and even try the walls of First Church. Overhearing comments about ‘patience’ and people express their frustration, humf and groan. Waiting… grabbing a coffee…waiting… you could sense the tension and frustration. People passing having been in almost came out with a serene look; ‘It was so peaceful’, ‘a wonderful experience’, one little boy came out and shouted over enthusiastically ‘It was great!’.
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So we entered the ante-chamber and walked in. It was a whole new world and we sat, we waited and enjoyed this odd space full of light. Under a dome of blue some girls had worked out that if you spun looking up at it then it made things feel even stranger. I confess I gave it a go and it was fun. There were little alcoves everywhere and people could be found sitting in them or lying down simply taking time to soak things in. Suddenly the world outside seemed to be forgotten, we had all been transported into a whole other world of light. No longer did you hear the moans, grumbles and bickering of waiting. Everyone smiled and had eyes wide open in amazement at this 'new world'.
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There was an odd contrast of this long line of people up into the church grounds and the spatial light experience they had placed right next to a place where I wonder what our experience of God is like. I mean that as the church at large, not simply First Church. How do we make space for people to experience the living God in Christ, in ways that allow their life experience to be transformed and on leaving have something longer lasting than what the luminarium clearly was for some? Again in mission we always seem to be in the ‘active’ mode, yet spatially I wonder how we create the sort of space and worship sufficiently.
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In 'Beholding the Glory: Incarnation through the Arts' (Ed.) Jeremy Begbie (Baker Books 2000) Chapter 1 by Trevor Hart exlores something of art's transcendence. He cites RG Collingwood who regards art as a work that exists firs in the artist's imagination and then the imaginations of those who appreciate his work. It never exists physically, but is an interplay between imagination and emotion. He then turns to Kant who sees it as a 'freeplay' between imagination and understanding. Whatever philosophical debates we may have, I find his 'escaping into another world (p12) helpful as he explores Kandinsky's view of art; for whom artistic creativity is a discernment of the true meaning of a world existing beyond the artist's subjectivity.
In 'Beholding the Glory: Incarnation through the Arts' (Ed.) Jeremy Begbie (Baker Books 2000) Chapter 1 by Trevor Hart exlores something of art's transcendence. He cites RG Collingwood who regards art as a work that exists firs in the artist's imagination and then the imaginations of those who appreciate his work. It never exists physically, but is an interplay between imagination and emotion. He then turns to Kant who sees it as a 'freeplay' between imagination and understanding. Whatever philosophical debates we may have, I find his 'escaping into another world (p12) helpful as he explores Kandinsky's view of art; for whom artistic creativity is a discernment of the true meaning of a world existing beyond the artist's subjectivity.
I like what Hart says here, 'in the epiphanies which art grants us through it's transfigurations of the commonplace, we know more than is presented to us at the level of the physical or historical.'
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I read today Colossians 3 "So if you're serious about living this new resurection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that's where the action is. See things from his perspective." (Peterson trans.) The Luminarium experience seemed to create a space of 'transfiguration' with that sense of seeing in a new way. I realise that we couldn't stay there, but it did highlight the need to pay attention to being alert to what is going on around Christ - I find that phrase interesting for therein is our mission. Not what is going pon around US, as we so often think and see, or around the church, but Christ! As we are early stages in mission on Highgate we need to be alert, look up see from Christ's perspective too. For me this means not rushing about being busy crowd pleasing, which I am all too easily tempted to do. I also think that it means exploring ways in which spaces of transfiguration, eschatological spaces can be placed throughout the community that 'transfigure the commonplace for people and offer an experience of God that causes people to look up and be transformed little by little as we go. Mmm! Lots to ponder.
transfiguration space
I read today Colossians 3 "So if you're serious about living this new resurection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that's where the action is. See things from his perspective." (Peterson trans.) The Luminarium experience seemed to create a space of 'transfiguration' with that sense of seeing in a new way. I realise that we couldn't stay there, but it did highlight the need to pay attention to being alert to what is going on around Christ - I find that phrase interesting for therein is our mission. Not what is going pon around US, as we so often think and see, or around the church, but Christ! As we are early stages in mission on Highgate we need to be alert, look up see from Christ's perspective too. For me this means not rushing about being busy crowd pleasing, which I am all too easily tempted to do. I also think that it means exploring ways in which spaces of transfiguration, eschatological spaces can be placed throughout the community that 'transfigure the commonplace for people and offer an experience of God that causes people to look up and be transformed little by little as we go. Mmm! Lots to ponder.
transfiguration space
