Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Trinity Sunday and Rublevs Icon as childrens talk

trinityiconstylised200.jpg This is Rublevs Icon (Click here for a higher res (156K) copy). I had a go at using it for a children’s talk on Sunday. Would this piece of artistic theology hold 35 kids attention? It did, for about 10 minutes.


I want to show you a picture. A very old picture, painted about 600 years ago.
Much older than your parents or even your grandparents.

I want to show you a picture because
600 years ago not many people went to school.
Not many kids learn’t how to read and write.

And if you didn’t know how to read and write,
Then you wouldn’t be able to read a Bible.

So to help people understand God 600 years ago,
church ministers used to paint pictures
So that people who couldn’t read and write,
could still learn about God.

So, I am going to ask you to use our eyes; to look;
To think about what we can learn about God from this picture?

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Let me ask you some questions. How many people are in this picture? (Ans) Three people.

And can you see that all 3 people have got exactly the same circle, the same “halo” around their head. That’s the glow of God;

Now, these 3 people, what colours are they wearing? (Ans) 4 colours – green; brown; blue; gold. (Give out bits of coloured material to each kid that gets it right.)

Let’s start with blue. 600 years ago, blue was the colour people painted God. Blue was God’s colour.

How many of the people are wearing blue? (Ans) All wearing blue.

Three people, all with circle, halos around their heads. All wearing blue, the colour of God. So, the painter of this picture was saying that these 3 people are God.

What are the 3 people holding? (Ans) All holding a long stick. Exactly the same length.

Now, look at their hands. What hand is holding the stick? (Ans) Wave it for me. Left or right? Their right hand is holding the stick. All 3 right hands are holding the stick.

Now look at their other hand, their left hand, show me with your hand what that hand looks like? (Ans) All the left hands have 2 fingers pointing down.

So, using our eyes, we can see that the painter is saying that these people are the same; same halos; same blue, the colour for God; same holding a staff in the same right hand; same pointing their fingers the same way.

Three people, who are God, who are all exactly the same.

Yet as well as being exactly the same, these three people are also different.

One person has green. Can you point out which one? (Ans) This side closest to us.

Green is the colour of spring, the colour of things that grow; That green person is the Holy Spirit of God – wants you, and this church, to be green and grow.

One person has brown. Can you point out which one? (Ans)Middle
Brown is the colour of dirt. That brown person is Jesus, who came to earth, put his feet on the ground, felt dirt between his feet.

One person is gold. Can you point out which one? (Ans) The side farthest from us. That person is God the Father. Gold because of beauty and God who created a beautiful earth.

And so the painter is using a picture to tell us about God.
That God is three persons
Spirit in green to help us grow
Jesus in brown walked in dirt.
The Father who created this beautiful earth.

And the painter is saying that Christians do not worship 3 Gods;
Because these 3 persons are also exactly the same; all wearing blue; all with a halo, all holding a staff, all hands the same. Christians worship one God, who is 3 persons.

And in the centre is what? A table.

What’s sitting on top of the table? It’s a cup.

That’s to symbolize communion. Have bread and juice in a cup.

Now I need 3 volunteers; who will sit around this coffee table. (throw cloth over the volunteers; repeat)
Spirit in green to help us grow
Jesus in brown because he walked on earth.
The Father who created beautiful world

3 persons who exactly the same – All wearing blue; All with a halo, all holding a staff, all hands the same.

Christians worship one God, who is 3 persons.

And in the centre is what? (Ans) A table.

What’s sitting on top of the table? (Ans). It’s a cup. That’s to symbolize communion. Have bread and juice in a cup.

Now I need 3 volunteers; who will sit around this coffee table. (throw cloth over the volunteers; repeat)
Spirit in green to help us grow
Jesus in brown because he walked on earth.
The Father who created beautiful world
3 persons who exactly the same – All wearing blue; All with a halo, all holding a staff, all hands the same. Christians worship one God, who is 3 persons.

But one side is empty. Any guesses who could sit here? (Ans) Any person who is looking at this picture. It could be you, or me, or any child, or any adult.

This painting is inviting us to sit at God’s table. Not to be scared of God. But to enjoy eating and talking with God, around God’s table. Which is what prayer is. Talking to God, like you’re at the dinner table. This is what it means to be a Christian. Any person, welcome to sit and talk with God.

So there we are. There’s a lot we can learn about God from this picture.

Now I am going to invite you children to leave. And I am going to invite the adults to continue to think about this picture.

This picture is painted by a Russian, a man called Rublev. And so this painting is called Rublevs Icon. Icon is a word that means “window onto God”. This icon is designed to take us into the Mystery of the Trinity.

God is three and one; three persons; one substance, one in shared love.

I love the eyes. The way that Jesus, in the middle, has his head bowed to the Father, the one in gold. I love the way the Father is looking at the Spirit, the one in green. I love the way way the Spirit is bowed, looking at Jesus.

There’s a sense that you can draw a circle, between the three; A look of love that flows around and around between the 3 persons of the Trinity.

So the Trinity is not something to think about and puzzle over; how can 1 be 3 and 3 be 1. Trinity is something to worship, to look, and to feel our hearts wonder and be blessed by seeing the flow of God’s love.

In Russia they used to say that a “theologian/God thinker” was not someone who just thought about God with their head. A theologian/God thinker was someone who had loved God head and with their eyes, who allowed themselves to be caught up into the flow of God’s love.

And so we look at this picture,
And we imagine ourselves invited to seated at that table.
To imagine ourselves standing inside the flow of God’s love.

Let’s take a few minutes of silence.
Imagine yourself invited to that table.
Imagine yourself taking a seat.
Imagine yourself in the Trinitarian flow of love.

What is God saying to you? What might you be saying to God?

Posted by steve at 09:43 AM

5 Comments

  1. Excellent. Thanks Steve. I learnt something too, and will take some time to imagine myself invited to the table…invited to listen.

    Comment by Paul Fromont — June 13, 2006 @ 10:13 am

  2. Wow – i never knew there was so much in it – where’s wally meet’s theology – well done Steve.

    Comment by michael — June 13, 2006 @ 2:40 pm

  3. One question – any idea what is in the cup??

    Comment by michael — June 13, 2006 @ 2:43 pm

  4. Steve, thanks.
    Having never really had anything to do with icons (and I am learning lots about them now).
    I am beginning to see how the artwork that was put into the churches was so important.
    And, is it possible to use this?
    Thanks again.

    Comment by themerryrose — June 13, 2006 @ 3:59 pm

  5. cheers steve, really nice reflection.

    Comment by gareth — June 21, 2006 @ 1:41 am

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