A Long Week...

I've spent most of this week in Holland at a SA Training Leader's Conference - hence the lack of blog activity. In the spare time I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through Henri Nouwen's The Prodigal Son - Nouwen's honesty, insight and love of art was fascinating and inspiring. I had lots of time before my flight and was able to spend some good time and company with friends in a rather soggy Amsterdam - we ended up in the Rijksmuseum.

Something happened to me - I think largely due to Nouwen's work on Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. I fell in love with what I have always felt was fusty ... art. I looked with new eyes at the artist's interpretation of scripture. My favourite being Rembrandt's Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem - it captured my mood of last week perfectly where I was in such a bad mood it made me laugh!! Being so close to such valuable, having watched too many Harry Potter films it was as though Jeremiah was about to look up and say "you got a problem...!"

Before you think I have gone all cultured - I went and asked - in the best art crtics voice I could muster- the guide where the Van Gogh wing was...!

"Van Gogh sir....?" with a very snooty 'oh no' inflection to his voice.

"This, is the Rijksmuseum.... no Van Gogh here...!"

And here I was thinking that Rembrandt was so yesterday...!

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I found an interesting Art Concordance/ Index here

Comments

jsi said…
I keep a small copy of this Jeremiah in my Bible. Very poignant to visualize how he felt about what he needed to say on behalf of God.
Nouwen's work can be so open, so vulnerable - it is always an insghtful journey to read his books and understand its impossible to read them without inserting yourself at one point into each chapter.
10:02 AM
IanH said…
Hey Gordo -
Do you remember me talking to you about a picture by Gaugin called Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, and a conversation about Gatekeepers that I had with my friend Howard? Well, I did the sermon on Sunday, invited him to hear the Live Version and he came! No great conversion story yet, but you never know...
Ian H.
4:35 PM
Gordon said…
what were the key things to look out for? I just looked at the picture - it is an interesting perspective - I think the angel is winning!
11:12 AM
Gordon said…
Jessie - you are right Nouwen's vulnerability is compelling
11:14 AM
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