Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Shroud of Turin Message-ID: Date: 18 Apr 91 07:23:41 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton Lines: 45 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu OFM writes... >[Just as I have to ask Protestants to have respect for what Charles >Williams call "the way of affirmation of images", I'd like to say that >I find "the way of rejection of images" to be valuable as well. I >guess it's an emphasis on ear rather than eye: the church with nothing >in it that might distract from the proclamation of the Word, that >allows no images (except on Sunday School walls, for some odd reason) >so that the worshipper talks directly with God in prayer. I >udnerstand that this is a vision that is repellent to those accustomed >to visual cues, but for those raised in the tradition, the simple >Colonial church, with no ornamentation or pictures, evokes God's >presence. --clh] (I love your Sunday School observation!) Back many years ago I discussed icons/statues etc. with a Roman Catholic friend. He suggested that I view them as "visual aids" to help worshipers visualize and focus on that which could not be seen. I can accept that. Icons and the like still are not right for me, but if contemplating a statue helps you to come into union with God I won't take your statue away. Similarly, I suspect this is why we have paintings on the walls of the Sunday School. Children need something to grab hold of and build concepts around. Waving your hands and saying God is everywhere is confusing for most adults, let alone your typical 5 year old. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of people with a distinct feeling that God is an old man with flowing white hair, and a stern expression sitting on a cloud. ;-) It's been my experience that as the grades progress, the number of "visual aids" on the walls decreases. Is your experience similar? My pastor this last Sunday brought one of her favorite paintings for use in the sermon. It shows Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus with two disciples. As she pointed out, the painting isn't historically accurate, it shows Jesus and the disciples walking down a shady lane in a forest of maple trees. The key, is that the painting communicates to an audiance who can identify with a shady forest lane. It communicates the peace and calm the disciples may have felt walking with Jesus. Tom Blake SUNY-Binghamton