Thoughts After the Sermon

Last week I had the opportunity to preach on the story in Genesis 32:22-31 that recounts Jacob wrestling with God.  I have often found myself thinking of this story when I am up in the middle of the night unable to sleep because of something stirring in my spirit.  I know I am not alone in remembering this story in those restless middle of the night times, or in other moments of struggle in life.  As I was preparing to write my sermon I was reading all sorts of blog posts and commentaries on this story and finding many different angles from which to look at the story.  What direction would my sermon take?  I realized that this is generally the case with preparing a sermon.  A lot of time, energy, patience, and research goes into preparing to write a sermon. During that time of preparation you start to get an inkling of what direction it is going and then, when the actual sermon comes together, it can take a totally different path than originally expected.  I am never quite sure if the sermon becomes what it does because that is the message that is somehow the right message for the week (and context) at hand, or if it is simply the result of necessary editing in the creative process.  Whichever the case, the end result generally leaves me with a selection of outtakes and idea scraps on the cutting room floor that continue to bumble around in my head and heart feeling unresolved or perhaps sowing seeds for future sermons. 

This past week was no exception.  In particular I am left with some lingering and unexplored thoughts on a painting by Paul Gauguin in 1888 entitled: Vision After the Sermon, or Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.  

Paul Gauguin | Vision After the Sermon | 1888 | Scottish National Gallery

As an associate pastor I have the opportunity to preach once a month, so shortly after preaching my sermon in October, I immediately started thinking about preaching in November.  As I often mention, I like to be on the lookout for connections between art and theology and I have had a good time in the past finding ways to incorporate visual art or art technique commentary into my sermons.  I haven't taken the chance to do that in my recent sermons so I thought perhaps November would be a good time to bring an art example back into the sermon.  I mentioned this to Becky, my personal librarian, and once I had nailed down the text I was working with she started looking for some visual images to help inspire me.  The image above is one that she found and sent to me in my time of exploration and sermon preparation.  As is prone to happen, the sermon took a different course and didn't end up including any references to this piece of art, or any other this time, but I am still pondering it after the fact.   

I really like this painting for several reasons.  First, it is not a traditional representation of the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel.  Typical images of this story are bold and predominantly feature the interlocked bodies of Jacob and the angel, either with or without clothing and usually in a moment of intense struggle, both of them (or at least Jacob) with muscles bulging from the strain of the intensity of the match.  There is a lot to be gleaned from those types of representations of this story and I am certain I could spend time learning from them, but this image is such a strikingly different approach that I am drawn to exploring it this week.  This image is bold in a different way.  It is bold in color, composition, and content.  

At the forefront of the image we see a gathering of people, mostly women with head coverings, praying together.  The women's head gear looks familiar to me, as if these are a group of conservative Mennonites gathered together and my heart warms at the thought.  I am innately drawn to images of women in head coverings because it reminds me of the historical tradition in the Mennonite church of women wearing head coverings as a symbol of commitment to their faith practice.  While I am grateful that my current Mennonite community does not place primacy on that practice, there is familiarity with the idea of head coverings (including memories of my grandmothers and great-grandmothers in a variety of graceful and yet utilitarian head coverings) and so I am drawn into the image, eager to see what is going on with this group of people gathered together. 

It is only off in the distance that we catch a glimpse of the wrestling match. There is a distinct contrast between the bright white of the head coverings in the foreground and the deep red that leads our eyes over to the two figures wrestling in the corner of the composition. This painting is not solely about the struggle between Jacob and the angel, this painting is about human response to the story. Gauguin himself did not see this painting as representational of a real scene, but instead considered it an abstract painting saying, "for me in this painting, the landscape and the fight exist only in the imaginations of the people praying after the sermon." This then is not a painting about Jacob at all, but is instead a painting about us reflecting on the story of Jacob wrestling with God and praying for insight and meaning in our own lives.

This is another reason I like this painting, for me it speaks to the experiences available to us when we spend time with scripture and story reflecting on it and opening ourselves up to finding meaning and insight.  This is what is involved in preparing to write a sermon, spending time with scripture, letting it roll around in one's head and heart, looking at it from different angles, while also using it to look at the outside world in different ways.  I am always surprised by what I experience when I sit with a scripture, a thought, or poem for a period of time because inevitably things come to the surface in my living that surprisingly relate to it and allow me, or challenge me, to approach those things in new ways.  This is why I believe that scripture is a living word, because it is something we can actively live with and when we do, it actively engages us back transforming our thinking and vision and living with us.

I know this is part of the reason that there always seem to be leftover thoughts after writing a sermon.  There are so many ways to live and scripture can speak to all of those ways in different times and with different voices.  In a sermon, the focus is narrowed and only a small bit of the insight available is able to shine through in that moment and the rest is left for another time or another place.  It is a gift for me to be able to have the opportunity to sit with scripture as part of my work life, but it is also something I do outside of sermon writing as part of my personal faith life.  The ability of scripture to impact our living and thinking isn't only something for preachers to practice and then tell others about during sermons, it is an opportunity available to everyone, all the time.  As a preacher, one hopes that a sermon may inspire a moment of reflection or insight here and there, but it would be just as exciting for me to know that people around me are getting and taking the chance to sit with scripture on their own, seeing things around them in new ways and letting it inform their living in unexpected ways.