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Every Wednesday morning, we here at the Nordic Church have a coffee morning. I say 'coffee morning', but actually it's a buffet spread of cold and hot snacks and lots of cakes. We have a raffle and chit-chat, and since I've been here we've also revived a little meditation/presentation moment, an Andakt, prepared by yours truly. It's a short, couple of minutes, little 'speech' I give on a theme, religiously or spiritually inspired, like a short sermon... but different. Not everyone who attends coffee mornings is church-going or even believing, so I draw on a broader array of topics, while still mainting my own Christian view on the matter.
What follows is the Andakt I used to introduce myself and to re-introduce Andakt itself (and do some Ghent tourism promotion at the same time) the first week I came here. It was titled "Art which inspires".
I thought perhaps people might find it interesting enough to read about... if so, do let me know, and I'll put up other ones as well...
What inspires us? Truly inspires us or moves us, even to tears? Which
objects, buildings, musical compositions, performances or works of art give us
those goose-bumps, that feeling of awe and gratitude? When do we recognise 'a
gift'? When do we say to ourselves: Someone has truly been touched from above!
Someone touched them and gave them that little bit of extra something
In the Roman Catholic
cathedral in Ghent there has for centuries been kept a very precious and
renowned work of art; its known as The Ghent or Van Eyck Altar Piece, The
Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Het Lam
Gods... Its techniques are so intricate that reflections and movement seem
to be really jumping off the oil canvas: water drops bounce back up from the
water surface theyve just hit; light hits objects at just the right angle; the
realism of precious stones and luxury dress is breath-taking; among the myriads
of faces, no two are the same
Books, theses and documentaries could fill
entire libraries on describing it.
Its a work of art that since its completion in 1432 by two brothers,
Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, has caught the imaginations and devotion of millions
through time and space, and around the globe. Its history is a chequered one
and reads like a detective story, including iconoclasm and religious feuds,
invasions by foreign troops, deportation by Nazi soldiers, storage in a salt
mine, and even the theft of one of its panels... still missing to this very
day. Its the stuff of legends and just as it has inspired the devout, it
unfortunately has also inspired the crackpots and the conspiracy theorists.
Last year the Flemish
government decided to mount a restoration project that will last five years.
Teams of experts are currently and painstakingly uncovering, layer by layer,
the original colours and more. Shadows where earlier those were not visible,
the 3D effects of the tiles on the floor or in the statues, more details in
facial expressions and jewellery, and so on... The breath-taking intricacy and
realism are just getting more and more overwhelming with each new part and
panel restored.
Reporters have dubbed the operation een
engelengeduld,a patience of angels; a very apt title for such an
enterprise involving such a work of personal religious fervour. As if that
little bit of extra somethinghas been passed down through the centuries and
was inherited by those lovingly working on its restoration, directly from the
original artists.
Though its not my
personal favourite when it comes to religious Christian art, it still inspires
me, it moves me, it makes me proud of my city. I'm astounded and moved by the
sheer patience, not just the patience it took to create, but also to restore,
to appreciate and the emotions it still instils.
I truly believe God's inspirational Spirit has had a hand in the production and history of this exraordinary altar piece. I believe the creative force of the God, who made Heaven and Earth, still creates today, just as it did in the 15th century, and inspires artists and public alike.
23-01-2013, 00:00 geschreven door jojanv 
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