Art to Heart Call to Worship

Flemish School: Cognoscenti in a Room Hung with Pictures

©2002 by Jeff Dugan

We don’t know the name of this artist, but we do know he liked to show off.  That’s why he painted this picture.  It’s not enough for him to create a single masterpiece.  He wants us to know that he can paint every masterpiece in the museum.  If a painting can inspire us, this guy wants to change our lives.

But it’s not just a monument to the artist, it’s a celebration of the arts and sciences that flourished in Holland’s “Golden Age.”  Every painting, each of the scientific instruments, and each of the scholars is a tribute to the great achievements of mankind, and the promise they hold for the future.  Everything points the same way.  Everything, that is, except the monkey in the window. This is the artist’s way of making fun of the scene inside the window.  He celebrates intellect and accomplishment, but points even more strongly to the truth that lies both behind and beyond what man can accomplish on his own.

As we worship today/tonight, we will see how God can use the works of man to inspire us and to tell us about Himself.  But we do not worship what men and women can create, even the most brilliant and gifted artists of all time.  Today, as always, we come to encounter the One who is the Truth behind and beyond and amidst all we experience and all that exists.