Deuteronomy 30.15-20: Choosing

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life... (Deuternonomy 30:15-20) Two choices. Who wouldn't choose life? Blessings are much better than woes. But it usually doesn't work that easily, does it? Somehow when two roads diverge in a wood, yellow or otherwise, there isn't always a sign that says, "Don't want woes? Take the other way!"  Sometimes the way to woes seems more enticing than the way to blessings. Or maybe we imagine that the way to woes will eventually curve around to blessings, because look how pleasant this way looks. The choice is sometimes harder that it might seem.

The moment of choice is sometimes characterized as standing at a crossroads. With multiple ways to go, which will you choose?

Image from ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads. Courtesy of Netflix.

Blues musician Robert Johnson (b. 1911) wrote, sang, and played the blues, though not very well at first. Playing for tips on street corners, Johnson sought out musicians like Son House to teach him how to play. In the early 1930s, Johnson disappeared for about a year from the juke joints and house parties that were home to music and musicians playing the blues. When Johnson reappeared, his playing had unnaturally improved. And the legend arose: Johnson had gone to the crossroads* and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play and sing the blues better than anyone. And he did. By all accounts that midnight choice at the crossroads led to the skill and fame that were promised, but it didn't solve Johnson's problems. Not by a long shot. In 1938 Johnson became a member of the 27 Club.

Life or death. Blessings or curses. Prosperity or adversity. When you stand at the crossroads, which will you choose? Who will you choose?

* Two different crossroads are identified as the site of Johnson's bargain: the intersection of Hwys 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, MS, and the intersection of Hwys 1 and 8 in Rosedale, MS. 

This week on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook, a contemporary photographer takes a look at people at a crossroads. (Yep, those are stormtroopers...) 

For thoughts on I Corinthians 3:1-9, click here.

New Indexes

Finally! There may be some adjustments still to make, but we have been working on a scriptural index for Art&Faith Matters posts. If you look above the date of this post you'll see tabs for Hebrew scripture, Christian scripture, and the liturgical calendar. The scripture tabs are self-explanatory. The calendar tab is for posts that may look at a particular day in general (multiple Gospel versions of Jesus praying in Gethsemane, for example).

We hope this will be helpful for you.

I Corinthians 2.1-16: The Mind of God...Maybe

Who has known the mind of the Lord? asks Paul. (I Corinthians 2:16) Paul's question follows comments about wisdom - God's wisdom - and human understanding. Paul's phrasing seems to imply that no one has known the mind of God, though, he says, we have the mind of Christ. How could we human creatures possibly know the mind of God, or imagine that we, with our limited human understanding, could possibly think to instruct God. However, it doesn't stop people from wondering about the mind of God.

Michelangelo Buonorroti. Creation of Adam. Fresco. 1508-1512. Vatican: Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo Buonorroti might be one of those people who was wondering. We're used to seeing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes. The hands of Adam and God reaching out to one another have inspired movie posters (think E.T.), coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more. But recently the question as been asked if we've been missing a message left by Michelangelo all those centuries ago.

Does the Sistine Chapel ceiling show us the mind of God? Or at least the brain of God?

Here's a brain.

Do you think the flowing pink fabric behind God is designed and placed in such a way that it echoes the shape of the brain? We know that Michelangelo studied anatomy by dissecting corpses when he was as young as 18. Corpses of criminals were allowed to be dissected, and the artist reportedly received cadavers from the hospital at the Monastery of Santo Spirito in Florence, Italy. He also received special permission for additional anatomical study of cadavers. He probably knew what the brain looked like. Is this the artist's way of letting us see the mind of God active in the days of creation? 

We do see the mind of God in creation, as we see the mind of any artist in the works they produce. What does the creation - here, the creation of human beings - tell us about the mind of God? 

If you want to read more about this idea, search the internet for Michelangelo and concealed neuroanatomy.

For thoughts on Isaiah 58:1-12, click here.

For thoughts about salt in general (not specifically the Matthew passage), click here.

For thoughts on Matthew 5:15-16, see Art&Faith Matters on Facebook.