Thinking About Thursday

I love learning things. Like getting my mind blown and having the pieces scatter all over the place and then struggling to pull it back together. Thursday's class did that for me.
First of all there was the quiz, and Leeper's beautiful rendition of the southern baptist voice.
Then there were the films. They. Were. Awesome. As in like I was totally full of awe watching them.
The power of the first film, of the people carrying their burdens and the sound of the homeless singing his heart out. Then there was the gorgeous shot of Bill Viola's of the Ascension. My jaw hit the floor. Watching it at first, I was pretty confused, trying to understand where the light was coming from and whether we were under water. I was struggling to try to wrap my mind around what we were looking at. And then the person came up and it was so. painfully. slow. But it was so progressive and moving. And even though the picture was moving slowly, it only made my mind move faster and faster as I began to understand. It was so simple yet so complex, and I find so much more beauty in that than in a lot of full length films today. The image of the cross and the idea behind the minute of film was so subtle but then again it was screaming at me. 
Finally, there was Mako Fujimara's art in the Four Holy Gospels. I have always always always admired those who can express themselves through contemporary and abstract art. My mind is just way too controlled and logically wound to free myself enough to do something so amazing. I admire him not only because he can pull of the style so beautifully, but also because of what he was facing. He was creating modern art for some of the most important words ever recorded. He was tying the art world and the Christian's world together. That idea intimidates me enough to turn right back around and run far, far away. But his courage and drive for this project was incredible, and the fact that he pulled it all together in one, big, beautiful piece was truly a gift from God. Mako was able to do what I dream of doing someday: bringing God into this reckless and broken world we live in, and I admire him for what he did.