We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Art

The Importance of Lazarus, Lent 5, March 26, 2023

In this last Sunday in Lent, Lent 5, March 26, 2023 we have the Gospel story of Lazarus. The story of Lazarus takes place in the town of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, were close friends of Jesus. After Lazarus falls ill, the sisters send word to Jesus, asking for his help.

When Jesus arrives in Bethany, he learns that Lazarus is dead and has been in his tomb for four days. (The King James version is graphic – “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” Jesus enters the tomb and performs a miracle, raising Lazarus from the dead. It was witnessed by Lazarus’s sister Martha.

The central message in the story is contained in Jesus’s words to Lazarus’s sister Mary when He says:“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25)

This story is both the culmination of Lent and a transition to Holy Week. Jesus separated himself from the devil in Lent 1 and then engages with Nicodemus, the Women at the Well, the man born blind and now the community around Lazarus. These texts from John are about revelation–the revelation of who Jesus is, the one sent by God, the begotten God, whose offer of life is in his presence and not necessarily delayed until his death. It deals with social issues – Jesus working with the pharisee Nicodemus and the “foreign” woman (the Samaritan) with the Woman at the Well, counteracting the prejudice at the time against Samaritans. Jesus counters false belief that the man born blind was sinful because of his condition. Along the way, it deals with man’s constant temptations and limits vs. Jesus as the source of light and eternal life.

The story of Lazarus goes a step further in leading us forward. The story of the raising of Lazarus is important, as it clearly demonstrates that Jesus was no ordinary prophet. Jesus has power over life and death. It convinced many people that Jesus was the genuine Lord and Savior. The resurrection of Lazarus also foreshadows the death and resurrection of Christ. He has returned to Bethany to restore Lazarus to life, in full knowledge that he will pay with his own life. It set in motion the plot to kill Jesus by the Pharisees and chief priests who were envious of His charisma and supernatural talents.
Thus it offers a transition to Holy Week.

In the collage from left to right we have Van Gogh, Guercino, Rembrandt, Caravagio and Giotto from the 1300’s to the 1800’s

Here are depictions of this story through art

Lectionary illustrations, Aug 13, 2023

"He said (to Elijah), ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence." – 1 Kings 19:11-12

"Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds… When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land,[a] for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” – Matthew 14:22-27

Van Gogh’s Sower and Stewardship


One of the best illustrations of the Parable of the Sower, this week’s Gospel from Matthew 13, is Van Gogh’s The Sower with Setting Sun from 1888. Look at it—a seemingly simple, rural summer scene of a farmer distributing seed. But look again at the composition and colors—the painting is unique in that the sower is almost overshadowed by the huge sun in the center and the ploughed earth.

Van Gogh had a special interest in sowers throughout his artistic career. All in all, he made more than 30 drawings and paintings on this theme. The sower in particular was a figure that Van Gogh saw in terms of representing the eternal cycle of agricultural life, of honorable endeavor and tradition, and symbolized these qualities to the artist.

Van Gogh studied to be a priest so his pictures often include religious themes. Color always provided a particular meaning for Van Gogh. Here, Van Gogh used colors meant to express emotion and passion. He assigned the leading roles to the greenish-yellow of the sky and the purple of the field. He painted the sun in his favorite color citron, a very intense yellow, which made up the sun and was used in pure form without being mixed. This is the color of God. The bright yellow sun looks like a halo, turning the sower into a saint. Here he has created a great orb of light, from which short precise brushstrokes radiate outwards so that the whole sky becomes bathed in golden rags

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Visual Commentary on Scripture –  In the Beginning, Genesis 1

Genesis 1:1–2
Revised Standard Version
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

This exhibition contains works of art by Giovanni di Paolo, Unknown artist [Paris], and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Go to The Gallery

Exhibition : The Lord is My Shepherd

This is from the Visual Commentary on Scripture, a web based museum on topics in scripture.

Click the link to to the exbhiti: The Lord is my Shepherd

The exhibit has a drop link (“Exhibition Menu”) to the scripture passage, commentary, an comparative commentary.

Most artworks inspired by Psalm 23 (or commissioned to illuminate it) prioritize either the pastoral side of the Psalm (as in the case of the Parma illumination) or the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ of Psalm 23:4 and its attendant imagery (as in the Stuttgart illumination).

1. Valley of the Shadow of Death, 1855, Salted paper print by Roger Fenton

2 The Parma Psalter, 13th century, Illuminated manuscript

3. Psalm 23, from the Stuttgarter Psalter, First half of the 9th century, Illuminated manuscript