Seeking Through the Darkness
“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”
Jackson Pollock's "Number 1" (1948) presents us with what might initially appear as chaos – a dense web of drips, splatters, and swirls that seems to mirror the desperate searching described in Isaiah 59: "We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes." The painting's intricate layers of paint create a sense of depth that draws viewers in, much like Blind Bartimaeus's journey through darkness toward Christ's healing presence.
Yet within this apparent disorder, patterns emerge. Lighter colors break through the darkness, creating rhythms and movements that suggest a hidden order. This visual journey reflects the psalmist's progression from despair to hope in Psalm 13, moving from "How long, O Lord?" to "I trust in your unfailing love." Pollock's technique of allowing paint to flow freely while maintaining careful control mirrors our own spiritual journey – a balance between surrendering to divine guidance and actively participating in our faith journey. And indeed, “Number 1” was – as the name suggests, Pollock’s own break through: this is where he at last discovered his distinctive style, that would become his hallmark and define the remainder of his career.
The painting's all-over composition, with no clear center or hierarchy, speaks to the democratic nature of divine grace – like Christ's response to Bartimaeus, seeing and honoring the faith of those society overlooked. Through Pollock's revolutionary technique, we are invited to move beyond surface appearances, and towards deeper spiritual truths. We are invited out of a blindness which takes things for granted, and to a deeper, fuller, richer sight.
Let us leave the elementary doctrine … and go on to maturity.
-Hebrews 6:1
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Scriptures
Isaiah 59:9–20
Psalm 13
Hebrews 5:11–6:12
Mark 10:46–52
Rêverie
Claude Debussy's "Rêverie" offers a striking musical parallel to the themes of searching and discovery that pervade our Scripture readings this week. The piece begins with a gentle, questioning melody that seems to float in space, reminiscent of the psalmist's plaintive queries. Like the gradual dawn after Isaiah's darkness, or the sight that aligns on Bartimaeus’s freshly opened blind eyes, the composition builds slowly through subtle harmonic shifts and textural changes, creating a sense of emerging light and clarity.
The recurring main theme undergoes various transformations throughout the piece, much as our faith journey passes through different seasons of questioning and revelation. The dream-like quality of "Rêverie" doesn't suggest escape but rather a different kind of seeing.
