Today’s #LentArt post is a drawing of “An Old Man Praying” an early, and deceptively simple piece by Van Gogh, a man for whom faith was an important formative influence, as the son and grandson of Dutch Reformed pastors who for a brief period considered ministry as a vocation. Whilst working in London in 1876 he was involved in a number of churches particularly in the East end, and it is thought that he preached his first sermon in what was then Richmond Methodist Church. This drawing was dated to around this period.
I say it that it is a deceptively simple piece because those who know more about such things tell me that it is more than a quick sketch in that he used pencil, brush and ink to achieve the finished image, using a grid system to achieve an enormous amount of detail. Commentators have noted the exaggerated sense of isolation in the drawing, perhaps reflecting Van Gogh’s own personal feelings during this time of deep turmoil, revealed in his letters to his brother Theo at this time. This turmoil took a major toll on Van Gogh’s health, and after returning to the Netherlands for Christmas holidays he was not able to return to London. The drawing was put up for sale by Sotheby’s in London in 2016 with an estimated value of £300,000, but ended up selling for over £1 million.
I was drawn to this picture after reading the passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)
In this difficult period we may, like the man in the drawing, or Van Gogh, feel isolated and alone, beset by what Paul refers to as “the dominion of darkness”. The established means of fellowship and support are perhaps denied to us, and there are many who will not even have access to this post and the social media that many of us are now using in a new way to keep in touch and support one another. But one ancient spiritual tool remains available for all of us to use: prayer. Prayer to a God who is always “online” for one another. Prayer is, like this drawing, deceptively simple, and easily dismissed or disregarded by the more “sophisticated” in wider society, but its power is beyond any human capacity to comprehend.
I am particularly struck by the fact that this is an old man in this picture as many of those on my congregational list are older, and indeed older people are at greater risk both from this virus, and of becoming isolated because they don’t have the same multiplicity of means of staying in touch with others. But here is this old man modelling the discipline of prayer. And perhaps in this challenging time some of our elders may be a resource for the church that we can employ better, praying for us as we seek to live up to what it means to be God’s holy people in the kingdom of light in this time of darkness.
Let us not stop praying for each other… (whether or not you do so like this old man is dependent on the state of your knees… other postures for prayer are available…)
PRAYER (based on the prayers for last Sunday in David Adam’s “Radiance of His Glory”)
Father God, creator of light,
we remember before you all our brothers and sisters
giving thanks to you for our shared inheritance in Christ
and the blessing you have brought to us through each other.
May we continue to uphold each other before you
Although we are apart
Keeping us safe from the darkness without and within
Jesus, Light of the world,
scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds.
We pray for all who walk in darkness,
all who do not know your love,
all who are unaware of your light.
We pray that your church may shine as a light in the world
Even, and especially, in these times when we cannot meet together.
Bring all peoples to you who are the true light.
Show us how to reach out in mission
When we cannot easily go out.
Jesus, Light of the world,
scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds.
We pray for all who are caught up in works of darkness,
those who misuse your world,
those who have no respect for people or their feelings,
those who deal in wickedness and vice;
those who capitalize from others’ misery and weakness.
May a new awareness conquer their blindness,
a new vision dispel their darkness.
Jesus, Light of the world,
scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds.
Lord, open our eyes to the hurt we cause by our own blindness.
forgive our judgmentalism and our stubbornness.
May the brightness of your light bring new openness to our hearts,
new joy to our homes, new love to our relationships,
deep peace to our frightened and fractured communities.
Jesus, Light of the world,
scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds.
We pray for all who are physically blind, for all whose sight is failing.
We remember all whose minds are darkened by fear or guilt,
all who are beset by dark deeds of the past.
We pray for the healing of the past
in our lives and our communities.
We pray for all who are consumed by hatred
or by desire for revenge.
Jesus, Light of the world,
scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds.
We praise you for all who have entered into a fuller vision of your glory in heaven.
We pray for those that mourn their loss,
That you might grant them a sense of your presence in the absence of their loved one,
Bringing them comfort in their loss
so that they may not sorrow for the departed
but rejoice in their new found freedom.
Jesus, Light of the world,
scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds.
May we continue to walk in your light, as children of light,
Our ears open to your word and our hearts to your love
Though him who is the Light of the World.
May the Christ who has conquered darkness,
bring light and joy to and through our lives;
and may the Love of of our Lord Jesus
the strength of God the Father and the peace of the Holy Spirit remain with us.
AMEN
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