Day 28 - Growing, building, fitting together

Windows in the West by Avril Paton, 1993, Kelvingrove Art Gallery Glasgow

On January 11th 1993 at 5.30pm, a sudden heavy blizzard hit Glasgow. It only lasted ten minutes but everything was transformed by a soft blanket of snow. The following morning it was all gone. The snow forced people to stay inside. What is irresistible about this large-scale painting is to peer into the windows and see what everyone is doing. There are young children playing, folk peering at the snow outside, a cat about to jump on a table and a party. The artist, Avril Paton, lived opposite this building in a flat high up, so over time she got to see folk from her window. She says that all the people depicted are real people. She has even inserted herself into the party as she used to visit that particular flat.

I like the title ‘Windows in the West.’ It is obviously the West End of Glasgow, but it also shows something of life in the West. Is this building a community or is everyone in their own window or box? There are all these contrasts; togetherness and isolation (I wish the party could spread through the whole building!), the permanence of the stone building and the impermanence of the fleeting snow (will the residents be permanent or are we all inevitably passing through?).

Paul writes to the Church in Ephesus;

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Here is a picture of togetherness in Christ where no-one is a stranger. I wonder if our congregations reflect Ephesians 2:19-22 or Avril Paton’s painting? Maybe all our fellowships are works in progress. This is a snapshot in time - hopefully they all got to know each other better in the days to come. Our congregations and households of God are still growing, building, fitting together into what God would have us be.

Lord Jesus,

We don’t want to be behind our own windows - peering out.

We don’t want to be in our own boxes as we come to worship and then go home again.

Help us look towards one another and do the hard work of building genuine togetherness.

Give us all the grace, generosity and at times mercy that we need.

Lord Jesus, make your home among us. Amen.

Suzanne Nockels