Letter from Archdeacon of Dudley

Driving to church one Sunday morning recently I heard areport on the radio about slow art. Not something I had consideredbefore, but I discovered there is a Slow Art Movement, and a Slow Art Day (6April this year), with a mission to help more people discover for themselvesthe joy of looking at and loving art.

Henry David Thoreau said, Its not what you look at thatmatters, its what you see. The idea of looking slowly is to make discoveriesand experience creativity in new ways. Statistically visitors togalleries view art masterpieces for an average of just 17 seconds, which isperhaps unsurprising in our fast-paced, sound-bite society, and this movementis seeking to challenge that, to slow people down.

This made me wonder if we might do well to embrace slowprayer this lent, and slow reading, and slow looking. Elizabeth Barrett Brownings oft quoted words remindus of the need to look slowly:

All of earth is crammedwith heaven.
And every bush aflame with God.
But only those who see take off theirshoes.

What do we see each day?

Do we see Jesus in the face of others? Do we glimpseanything new in a familiar Bible passage? Would we have recognised theMessiah for who he was when he was presented in the temple as the elderlySimeon and Anna did, or would we, like the remainder of those about theirbusiness that day, simply not have noticed? Would we have pushed throughthe crowds to touch the robe of Jesus, or simply passed the throngs by,assuming the rabbi was another rabble rouser? Do we see, and take off ourshoes, because we are on holy ground, or do we miss opportunities because wedont look slowly enough? Do we take time to make discoveries which bring usjoy and make us love God more?

Lent is an opportunity to embrace the discipline of slow,that we might see Gods glorydisplayed in the face of Christ. (2 Cor 4:6) We might choose to take insome slow art too!