Art of the Sabbath

The Sabbath. The In-Between. The Day in which the world waits with baited-breath for something else, something different, something new. A Day of rest, comfort, solitude, meditation, and, often, worry. It is the Day that leaves us wanting so much more than we can ever have and realize how little we have.

This is where we live. We live in the Sabbath twixt the Comings.

I read an article today about how art moves us, as humans, to recognize the pain of what we lost on Friday to the joy of what is gained on Sunday. Yet, art only means something when it's on Saturday, the Sabbath. This article goes into detail about different forms of art, music, movies, books, etc. and how they can focus on the suffering darkness of Friday. These forms of art reveal the depth of human immorality, depravity, and the Fall. Other forms of art (used here to express the above-mentioned list) can focus on Sunday, often leaving a sense of faux-joy and a longing for the inexpressible. But it is on Saturday that art moves us past the suffering of Friday into the joy of Sunday. It is on this day that we move beyond this mortal life and slip past the veil into a realm unknown.

This is the purpose of art: to call out of us that longing for the other side of the veil of life. It, unlike what Oscar Wilde may believe, does not exist for its own sake. To believe this is paramount to saying a tree grows for its own sake. A tree grows because that's what trees do. They grow. And in doing so, they provide shade, oxygen, shelter, wood, and a billion other things for which they were designed. Art is the same: it exists to call out of the soul the very thing that causes us to long for the life we know is ours right beyond the veil of this existence.

Just in case you didn't catch it, I'm a little obsessed with this idea of the Veil. That's because I believe that all that separates us from the next life is a Veil. A Veil cloaks our vision so that we don't see the Realm of Spirit. A Veil keeps us interested in this life and its trappings. A Veil keeps us focused on ourselves. To move past the Veil is to recognize that there is another Place that is more Real than this one. It is to focus on Truth and Life, following the Way and living in Hope. To live beyond the Veil is to live Life like it was meant to be lived. To live beyond the Veil is to see past ourselves and see He Who Made Us.

Art moves us past the Veil. For a sweet, eternal moment, art moves us to a place that we can see that there is Something more Real and inexpressible than we could ever dream.

Art of the Sabbath moves us from Friday to Sunday. It is our companion on this long Day's journey. And it makes the walk so much more bearable than we could ever know.

Thanks be to God, for He is the Artist.
Amen.