Yellow
“Yellow is not my favorite color. But now that I know the story of Vincent van Gogh, I have come to value yellow differently. This famous Dutch painter, sadly, tossed away the truth imparted to him in his Christian home and sank into depression and destruction. By the grace of God, as he later began to embrace that truth again, his life took on hope, and he gave that hope color.
“The best-kept secret of van Gogh’s life is that the truth he was discovering is seen in the gradual increase of the presence of the color yellow in his paintings. Yellow evoked (for him) the hope and warmth of the truth of God’s love. In one of his depressive periods, seen in his famous The Starry Night, one finds a yellow sun and yellow swirling stars, because van Gogh thought truth was present only in nature. Tragically, the church, which stands tall in this painting and should be the house of truth, is about the only item in the painting showing no traces of yellow. But by the time he painted The Raising of Lazarus, his life was on the mend as he began to face the truth about himself. The entire picture is (blindingly) bathed in yellow. In fact, van Gogh put his own face on Lazarus to express his own hope in the Resurrection.
“Yellow tells the whole story: life can begin all over again because of the truth of God’s love. Each of us, whether with actual yellows or metaphorical yellows, can begin to paint our lives with the fresh hope of a new beginning.”
- Scot McKnight,The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others
God, who made the colors, made us all in the same way to see yellow as a warm color just as blue is a cool color for all of us.
Is not it profoundly interesting that a famous painter used the very warm color created by our God to express the hope of God’s love–”Christ in you, the hope of Glory”
Sagebrush, you must be a left-brained modern. Nothing wrong with that. But us pomo-right-brained people find this very profound.
Isn’t it cool that God shows himself through logic and art?
Thank you for this blog and the preceeding one.
After my string of miscarriages in 2003, a friend came over and painted my bathroom bright yellow. It was amazing what that one gesture did for me. It wasn’t just a color; it spoke into my soul the hope and warmth McKnight describes. I’ve also become something of a sunflower freak — I fill our house with them every spring. The healing that can be derived through God’s very creation warrants a deep study…maybe even a graduate level class. God created Coldstone Creamery, too, you know.
I like it
It seems like whatever work you are in, God finds a way to let you express your faith and hope in Him. Just in doing what you know to do. It is an attitude that shines through. When your story gets told, it will be your way of telling the Good News.
Jon,
It seems that your right brain misread my post. Read it again slowly and you will see that we agree!
Van Gogh left the Dutch Reformed Church after his contract was not renewed in a miner’s village. He sold almost all that he had to live like his parishoners. That did not sit well with the establishment.
All his life, he painted poor people because he was drawn to their existence with sympathy. My biggest hope is that the return of yellow and faith to his work was fully mirrored in his life. He was a remarkable painter and viewer of life.
THIS ROCKED MY FACE OFF!!! Thanks, Mike! You know…my email still works.
Sagebrush, you’re right. Should have slowed down. Great thoughts.
Unfortunately, the iconoclastic aspects of our (the Churches of Christ)movement have deprived us of the inspiring and enlightening contributions that art has made and can continues to make in our lives and in our worship environments.
I once lamented to an elder in my congregation my disappointment that when an rather ill conceived piece of stained glass was removed from the baptistry it was not replaced with a work worthy of the space.
He remarked that his presence in the worship center was all the decoration that was necessary. I wanted to vomit.
Just as our movement is re-thinking some of our ill conceived paradigms, I suggest we take another look at the ways we decorate our worship spaces; even to the point of calling them “sanctuaries.” As in “When two or more of you are gathered together in my Name, I am there with you.” If we are. like Moses in the presencce of the burning bush, in the presence of God, is the space not holy and therefore “sanctified.”
When I look around and see only artificial light, synthetic carpet and pews made from recycled materials, artificial flowers; etc., I can only wonder if our worship and lives in Christ are themselves often not an artifice themselves. Even the grape juice is a substitute for wine, yes, the alcoholic stuff that would have been used in the 1st century.