What is the vanishing point in a work of art?
One of the breakthroughs in an artistic development was the discovery of the vanishing point. It is the unseen dot that all the straight lines head to in a picture. Is what makes s picture drawn in two dimensions take on a three-dimensional look. We see things in the foreground that appear closer (because they are bigger), and things further back smaller, because they have to fit within those narrowing lines as they head to the ‘dot’. Artists will use this vanishing point to give the picture a depth and reality it would never have without it. And even though it is never seen, it is the most important technical part of the painting, because everything else and revolves around is orientated to that vanishing point.
Once, on a retreat, a young woman told the story of her vanishing point. She was stressing over some papers and some tests that had to get done before Thanksgiving break. It finally got to her. So at about five in the morning she calls her mother at home, even though she knows she will see her in just a couple days. And she goes on and on and on about her problems. And her mother just listened to her. And was so present to her.
What she did not know is that her mother had been up all night caring for her father who had been diagnosed with cancer and had come home from his first chemotherapy that afternoon. They had decided to wait till she gets home from break to tell her. And for the past four hours before her daughter called, her husband had been throwing up, and she had been caring for him. So while her mother and was having perhaps one of the worst nights of their married life she made the choice to be so present to her daughter. Once home, and finding out ‘the rest of the story’, she said “it was the most loving thing that I had ever known. I knew, both her love, and Jesus’ love in that phone call. And I knew that I would spend the rest of my life trying to live into what I had known from my mom that night.” It became the vanishing point of her life. And everything that would follow from that day found its direction and it’s meaning from that experience.
So too for Peter, James and John on that mountain. The glimpse of Jesus in his glory becomes the vanishing point in their lives. When they see Jesus so clearly upon that mountain, they get a glimpse into his glory. Fulfilling the law and prophets, they understand for a moment who Jesus was, not just in himself, but for them. In the conversation they hear, they recognize the term EXODUS – the journey from slavery to freedom – and they understand that Jesus is discussing that exodus, his passage that would lead to his self gift upon the cross. Intuitively, like the young woman on retreat, they knew that their lives would be forever different, forever wrapped around the vanishing point who is Jesus. The cloud and the voice seal the deal. This is my CHOSEN son. Just as God had chosen Israel to leave Egypt, so, he chooses Jesus. And by extension, the three disciples. It became the vanishing point, the focus of the work of the rest of their lives.
This week our scriptures invite US to become aware of the vanishing point in our own lives and story. In the broader picture, we hope and trust that the general focus of our lives is always Jesus. I’m sure that most of you could tell me about transfiguration moments, about the glimpses into how love has unfolded for you and set your feet on the journey of discipleship. But just like Abram was invited into a new covenant with his God, you and I are invited to new and faithfulness with our God this Lent. To be open to a new vanishing point where all of our energies are focused.
Our Lenten theme of Social Justice gives us plenty of direction for that journey. Specifically, I’d invite you to attend our April 15th evening – a hunger banquet – an experience of the distribution of wealth/food around the planet, starting at 6:30pm in our cafegymatorium. Deacon Patrick O’Toole from CRS will be leading the evening. A Sign up sheet is on the table in the gathering space. Sometimes, experiencing what so much of the world goes through can be a transfiguration moment in our journey.
It was a most amazing moment on that retreat weekend, when all of us saw through the one girl’s story a new glimpse into love. And is an amazing moments for the disciples, when they saw Jesus’ impending journey into love. Let it be an even more incredible moment for each of us when we see our journey into love – when we see the vanishing point of our own lives – the direction that the lines of our love must go to…