THIS IS THE CHURCH of the Church of the Transfiguration in Uglich, Russia. I visited here in the summer of 1996, a few years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union: a gray, low-clouded, wet day. The neglected church was dirty-white then; the five cupolas on the roof appeared black. So I was delighted to stumble on this recent photograph of the church now restored and alive again.
Cupolas (onion domes) are stylized candles, imaging a people who are on fire with the love of God ~ whose worship is spirit-warmed, genuine and intense. But it's the choice of yellow for the walls that really delights and interests me. Yellow is the color which signifies the diffusion of wisdom.
But what's wisdom? First what it's not:
Now, this Uglich church is yellow. Does this mean all wisdom is found inside? I must be careful of words like all, because a bomb-blessing bishop isn't wise. Preaching which is a history lesson, lecture or harangue isn't wisdom. But God's Word contains wisdom. The liturgy contains wisdom.
Yellow ~
located-on-the spectrum between
green and orange ~
a singing canary
a #2 pencil
a New York taxi
summer squash
sunflowers
a rubber duck
American Cheese
corn on the cob with
butter
dandelions and daffodils
sunshine on my shoulder and
golden rod
egg yolks
ripe lemons and bananas
the Yellow Pages and
newly hatched chicks
school buses and...
this over-the-June-moon church
which calls
wake up to God's bright ideas!
But what's wisdom? First what it's not:
- Wisdom is not something I study to get - like a diploma.
- Wisdom is not having pithy, problem-solving things to say.
- Wisdom is not granted automatically just because I'm old.
- Wisdom is not to be confused with what politicians, retired TV generals, news-desk and radio-entertainment-talk-show-folks have to say.
- Something is not wise just because it sounds mysterious or eastern.
For those of us who are on this side of theological scholarship:
- Wisdom realizes that anything I know is a gift from God.
- Wisdom realizes the highest knowledge is the knowledge of God.
- Wisdom realizes that anything I know is simply a little step leading me towards knowing God.
- Wisdom marvels at the knowledge behind creation.
Now, this Uglich church is yellow. Does this mean all wisdom is found inside? I must be careful of words like all, because a bomb-blessing bishop isn't wise. Preaching which is a history lesson, lecture or harangue isn't wisdom. But God's Word contains wisdom. The liturgy contains wisdom.
Yellow ~
located-on-the spectrum between
green and orange ~
a singing canary
a #2 pencil
a New York taxi
summer squash
sunflowers
a rubber duck
American Cheese
corn on the cob with
butter
dandelions and daffodils
sunshine on my shoulder and
golden rod
egg yolks
ripe lemons and bananas
the Yellow Pages and
newly hatched chicks
school buses and...
this over-the-June-moon church
which calls
wake up to God's bright ideas!
