MARK J FISHER
  • Home
    • Keep-in-the-Loop
    • Purchase & Use
  • About
    • Artist statement
  • Contact
  • ART WORK
    • Art Work Archive
    • Art Blog
    • Greetings Cards
    • Sculpture
    • Pots & Older Paintings
  • Reflecting
    • Reflections >
      • Reflections Index
      • Sensing God
      • Spiritual Journey
      • Hope
  • Archive
    • Photo Images >
      • Photo Art
      • Nature
      • Street
      • Have fun!
      • Coast
      • Canals
      • Image Archive >
        • Graphics & Logos
        • We are Acocks Green
        • Shared Art Projects
        • Family Pics

Reflections

The Light Box

1/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
This image is over ten years old, but it is an image that regularly challenges my view of the Church.
The central tower of Laon Cathedral in France soars above the visitor, the height accentuated by the wonders of Gothic architecture, with fluted pillars taking the eye upwards to where the clerestory lights illumine what could be a very dark space. The light of God in Jesus Christ filling the darkness of our world is the clear message and, indeed, what it is all about. So what is that ornate set of iron railings doing?
In the cathedral it surrounds the altar, preventing tourists like me just wandering anywhere and particularly around this part of the church where in its daily liturgy the presence of Christ is focussed. It’s like a fence and reminds all too clearly of other church traditions where the Communion Table is ‘fenced’ – only open to those who are professed members of that Christian fellowship, or denomination.
In most traditions there is an uneasy dynamic that exists between teaching and understanding on one hand and a simple profession of faith on the other. Where it becomes the most awkward is when the Church becomes a barrier to people recognising Jesus Christ in their own lives. Is the Church a key vehicle for God’s light in the world and enable people’s sight to be drawn to it, as in the Gothic architecture, or is it the ‘guardian of the faith’, in which role the tendency is to restrict. But how can we restrict the God who is the creator of all that is and Jesus, the one who is the ‘saviour of all’?

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    These reflections, which are all personal to me, spring from many aspects of human life and experience. 
    In their variety the common thread is the place and action of God, who is present in it all. 
    Index

    Archives

    April 2022
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    January 2017
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    September 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    December 2011
    July 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009

KEEP IN THE LOOP sign up
Home
About
Contact
Mark J Fisher
Images and Reflections
  • Home
    • Keep-in-the-Loop
    • Purchase & Use
  • About
    • Artist statement
  • Contact
  • ART WORK
    • Art Work Archive
    • Art Blog
    • Greetings Cards
    • Sculpture
    • Pots & Older Paintings
  • Reflecting
    • Reflections >
      • Reflections Index
      • Sensing God
      • Spiritual Journey
      • Hope
  • Archive
    • Photo Images >
      • Photo Art
      • Nature
      • Street
      • Have fun!
      • Coast
      • Canals
      • Image Archive >
        • Graphics & Logos
        • We are Acocks Green
        • Shared Art Projects
        • Family Pics