I
have never been the kind to enjoy an afternoon at the art gallery. It’s
not that I don’t like art—I really do—but more that I don’t understand
it very well. Of course the fact that I am red-green color blind
probably doesn’t help my cause too much, but it seems that what excites
artists, what stands out to them, does very little for me.
One of
those funny little memories of my childhood involves a day visiting the
Art Gallery of Ontario with my aunt and uncle. Both of them are artists
and both of them love visiting art galleries. Hour after hour we would
walk into a room with paintings hung on every wall. I would do a quick
survey, glance at each painting, and then go to the middle of the room
and grab a snooze on the little padded bench. Meanwhile, my aunt and
uncle would walk slowly, they would take a long look at each painting,
they would look at it from different angles, they would express joy and
delight at the technique the artist used, at the colors he chose, at the
detail he included—the light falling upon an object, the careful
brushstrokes, the shading, the precision. The three of us were in that
art gallery together, but one of us had a very, very different
experience from the other two.
I thought of my aunt and uncle and I thought of that art gallery as I read Paul Washer’s new book The Gospel’s Power and Message.
There is something in my nature, I think, that wants to glance instead
of linger. I get restless quickly, I look for a moment and then move on
to other things. I have come to see that it is often better to linger,
that certain things can only be seen and grasped by that long and
dedicated study. And this is exactly what Washer does in his book.
The Gospel’s Power and Message
is the first of a trilogy from Washer, three books together titled
“Recovering the Gospel” that take a long, deep look at the gospel.
Washer begins in a slightly defensive posture, showing how the gospel
has been reduced, neglected, and attacked in so many
contemporary churches. Continue at Tim Challies
