Brueghels

       I am not an art history expert.........not even remotely close, but recently I have enjoyed art and what can be spoken through it. So when my off day fell on another cold and rainy day I decided why not spend the afternoon meandering through the Belgian Royal Fine Arts Museum? The museum itself was gorgeous and separated into both ancient and modern art areas. And as I said, I am not an art expert so I cannot adequately explain what was displayed. But in the modern art galleries there were lots of impressionist painting and in the ancient art galleries lots of medieval and Renaissance religious paintings. Sometimes I felt like I was walking through the Bible in paintings (and it was rather interesting and sometimes humorous to see various depictions of Jesus and other Biblical characters).
       What I found most interesting was that many of the Biblical scenes were contemporary to the time they were painted. The artists chose to place many of their Biblical scene in their contemporary world with European towns in the background and their characters dressed in 15th century fashion. So trying to make Jesus and the Bible relevant to the current culture is not a new phenomenon.
      My favorite of these types of paintings came from Belgian artist Pieter Bruegel and his son Pieter Brueghel II. Bruegel senior was known for his Belgian peasant scenes and many of his paintings made me think of the Richard Scary's books I read as a kid because there was always so much going on. My favorite of these paintings was "Census at Bethlehem" (see below)

And then this sequel "Adoration of the Magi" done by Pieter Brueghel II

     What made these two painting stand out to me wasn't that the Pieters chose to depict the birth of Jesus in a Belgian town in the winter, but how the artists depicted the hustle and bustle going on throughout the entire scene. Jesus is coming to this town town and is present among the peasants and they don't even know it. They are occupied with their duties, with hauling water, with snow ball fights, and with watching little children slide down frozen canals. They don't even care or notice that Jesus is with them.
     Emmanuel-God with us. Isn't that what we say and celebrate at Christmas? Yet even though I know that God is with me and that Jesus is alive and living and active in me through the Holy Spirit I realized that I often live life like these Belgian peasants. I go about my day as usual occupied by the daily activities forgetting that Jesus is right there beside me ready to be worshiped and adored and ready to just be with me. How often I lose sight of this marvelous reality. So thanks to those Belgian Brueghels I was reminded of the simple but incredible truth that God is with us.