(The Nationalist, c. November 2001)
For centuries artists marvelled at Michelangelo’s magnificent painting, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, of the creation of the world by God. One quality they especially admired was the gentle warmth of his colours – nothing loud or brash – but quietly subdued. Art critics spoke of Michelangelo’s “restraint” and said it was one of the signs of the true master.
Then, about twenty years ago, work began on cleaning the painting. After all, several centuries of dust, condensation from human breath and smoke from candles were bound to have had an effect. That was when it was found that what gave the painting its “subdued” character was nothing more than the long-term accumulation of dirt. When cleaned, the paintings were alive and fresh, with strong, bright, vivid colours – very different from before. A lot of art theory had to be jettisoned in the face of the new reality.
It strikes me that what happened there was an image of what could happen in the church. It has accumulated a lot of mess and dirt over time; it has become weighed down by structures, institutions, practices and attitudes that prevent people from seeing in full clarity and colour what its message is. What is it? What is meant to be the defining characteristic of the church? Jesus told us: ‘By this will all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’. (John 13.35)
To love others is the easiest thing to talk about and the hardest thing to do. It has nothing to do with liking them. It’s not a matter of emotion but of will. It means being able to say, ‘I don’t like Bill or Mary; but, despite that, I will treat them with the respect due to them as human beings, I will care for them, do what is for their good, and build them up in any way I can’. That is what love is; it goes further and digs deeper than the mere compatibility of personalities that is involved in simply liking someone.
Making the world into a civilization of love begins with me, now, in this place. It starts when I try to make myself into the kind of person that I think the rest of the world ought to be. Removing selfishness and self-centredness from my life and replacing it with selflessness and other-centeredness would let God’s creative grace be seen in its full colour.