Friday, March 4, 2022                                    (today’s lectionary)
Another art museum
Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast. Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
In downtown Austin yesterday the traffic was blaring and constant around the University of Texas campus. Construction was everywhere. Getting to Blanton Museum of Art, free on Thursdays, took patience and perseverance. But the weather is warm, so we took a few hours to gaze, for the second day in a row, on beautiful art.
I preferred our experience on Ash Wednesday. At the church gallery’s entrance, a plaque reminded me of a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince: “Beauty is achieved when there is nothing to add, and nothing to take away.” In those moments, eternity flashes into the present moment. Suspended from thought, I just AM. This experience of beauty seemed available at the church. It eluded me at the Blanton.
But I did “hear” the anguished cries of God, asking us to stop ignoring each other and discover the joys of the three verbs of Lent: pray, fast and give. And I felt in my bones how much I avoid God’s voice, and the voices of others crying out in the wilderness of City. So much easier just to get back home as soon as possible, and feed the birds:
 Birds Come
Birds come to my yard,
a large number and variety of birds,
at all times of the year,
in all kinds of weather.
They come because I planned and worked
to make available what they want and need…
sources of water, places to build nests
and all sorts of natural, nutritious food.
I suppose I could offer the same hospitality
to God and to people, but
everyone knows birds are safer. – Clarence Heller
It seems that God wants little to do with our genuflecting if we are not bending our backs to help others with their labor:
This is the fasting that I wish: release those bound unjustly, untie the thongs of the yoke, set free the oppressed and break every chain.
Through Isaiah, God says the same thing four different ways. “Let my people go!”
Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and homeless, clothe the naked when you see them and DO NOT turn your back on your own.
A large part of Blanton is dedicated to modern and contemporary art from Latin America, Europe and the United States. After half an hour or so, I asked Margaret, “Is there any modern art which constructs rather than deconstructs?” Much of the art was angry, self-righteous, and aggressive. I recognized the feelings from days gone by in my life. For me, too, it’s always easier to point out what’s wrong than to find and follow what’s right.
But following what’s right is all there is. Life flows through me and in the end, I am at peace.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed. Your vindication will go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
We saw two of our favorite Blanton paintings later on, one of David and the head of Goliath, another of St. Jerome reading his Latin translation of Matthew. We sat before a number of paintings depicting the life of Mary. And we took a different route home.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer. You shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
(Isaiah 58, Psalm 51, Amos 5, Matthew 9)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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