April 1stFrom The Desk of Our Executive Minister
Holy Week 2026 Iconoclasm Reversed Christ is Risen!
Mystical Supper (Last Supper) — Crucifixion — Anastasis (Resurrection, Harrowing of Hades)
These three ikons, and their many iterations, tell the whole story, a total summation of Jesus' life and teachings. It is not enough to speak of peace for those folks over there; what matters is the embodiment of what peace does, and the love that underlies everything good.
Christians struggle to imagine a different kind of world, one in which King Jesus is actively working to renew what we destroy through the misuse of our freedoms. Ikons are visual, physical art, small windows through which the Holy Spirit bridges into our hearts, imaginations, and thoughts. God became physical in Jesus, and therefore the physical is blessed, a way toward understanding flourishing life.
I appreciate the ancient art of iconography, which seeks to convey both surface and deep theological ideas within the context of prayer and worship. Embodied faith practices (things we physically do beyond mental reflection) help those of us who often feel disconnected by the wordiness of our songs and sermons. Being drawn into the scene of an ikon startles us out of our Western dualism, which attempts to split mind from body (see the ancient heresy of Gnosticism), even in the way we use music. The idolatry of always naming and controlling through worded story is broken open by a different art form: the visual and tactile, what we can see and touch.
Of course, visual art can become idolatrous too. The Reformers were certainly onto something with their iconoclasm. What they were blind to (the irony) is that words can be equally idolatrous when we exalt a certain kind of rationality over and against other ways of knowing and expression. We elevate iconoclasm, but it easily becomes a dead end, overreaching in its corrections. In some ways iconoclasm is one of the deepest evils: marring and destroying that which reflects the Creator, marring and destroying the image of God in others. Iconoclasm is violent chaos against the creation that Jesus himself became part of. When we pollute, we are iconoclasts. When we devalue other people, we are iconoclasts. You get the idea. And when we worship the creation rather than venerate it, we confuse the reflection of the Creator with the Creator himself, destroying the very purpose of God in making this world and us (Genesis 1:26–27).
In Jesus, God entered into creation, not merely sending words or a book, but a living, physical Word (John 1:14; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). This is the difference between describing a hug and actually giving one. Jesus is God's love made scandalously particular and accessible.
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη — Christ is Risen! — Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη — Truly He is Risen!
+ Boese