This week is a pretty awesome one. I get to spend part of 5 days at the Portland Art Museum, one of the most peaceful places I know. As a docent* I can get 5 people in for free every day this week. I was so excited to share the beauty of this place, I invited everyone I knew and got a lot of interested guests. There are more openings to join me – click here.
The museum is a place where we can learn about another culture, where we can learn about ourselves, and where we can bask in beauty. It is a place of peace. By this I mean it is a place where we create space to be touched by something outside of ourselves. It is a space where we can nurture our souls. As a new start pastor it is crucial that my life and work intersect with peace like this. My work is informed by how others are being spiritually fed, it’s informed by my own spiritual well being, and it is informed by encountering new people and new places.
This past week has been a difficult one. Gun violence, islamophobia, hate filled rhetoric, fights with my kid, the pressures of work, and the grey skies all have made it hard to find peace. I’m thankful to have a place like the art museum where I can be comforted, provoked, and enlightened.
If you need me in times like this you can probably find me in front of the painting below, which is my current favorite on display. I encourage you to take a few moments to really look at the work. To imagine what it sounds like there, what it smells like. Take a moment and let yourself rest here, in the gentle night of a Venice of long ago.
May you find peace in the places in your life where beauty & challenge meet.
* This fall I became a volunteer docent at the museum. I’m spending a year training and learning ever Monday. After this first year I get to continue learning at our weekly lectures and I get to lead school and public tours of the museum. I became a docent because I love art, I get to meet all sort of new people, and I am continuing to learn lots of new things. My training as a docent has huge applications to the work I do as a pastor and widening my network is part of the discipleship model of SFC.
-Eilidh
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