The Parish Magazine September 2022

THE ARTS
Beauty in the ordinary
Rev Michael Burgess looks at ‘Dust Motes Dancing in Sunbeams’ by
Vilhelm Hammershøi. It is found in Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen.
The Parish Magazine - September 2022 33
History
Was it really . . . ?
. . . 1,900 YEARS AGO, from 13 September 122 - 128 that
Hadrian’s Wall was built in northern England. It ran for 80
miles from coast to coast and marked the northern limit of
the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor, Hadrian, wanted to
separate the Romans from ‘the barbarians'.
Poetry Corner — Creation Comfort by Steven Rolling
Tune: Ruth (‘Summer suns are glowing’)
Saviour, ever-living
Kind and forgiving
Merciful and gracious
He comes unto us
Offer of salvation
Unto each nation
Through sun, rain, wind, whate’er
Conditions be there
Pernille Klemp
Vilhelm Hammershøi was inspired by the simple and
ordinary. A recluse, he lived in Copenhagen with his wife,
painting a few pictures a year. He died in 1916 aged 52
years. Most of his paintings are limited to the world of his
apartment at different times of the day and night.
Dust Motes Dancing in Sunbeams (above), was painted in
1900. It is an empty room, a wall, a window, a floor and a
door without a handle. All is stillness and peace. All is in
shadow until the winter sun streams in, lighting up the
dust and the floor. The miracle of sunlight brings life into
stillness. An ordinary aspect of creation.
In all his paintings, Hammershøi seems to be saying:
accept the simplicity of the present, find beauty there and
live in that beauty. For him the grass is never greener in
the next field, it is in the here and now that we find beauty
and meaning.
When young, our backcloth embraces the wider world
full of promise. As we grow older, it shrinks to our town,
church, and home. In illness our world may be a bedroom
or hospital ward. In that smaller world life can seem trivial
and ordinary. But wherever we are, Hammershøi invites
us to pause, to ponder and to find there beauty and light
which will bring us ‘daily nearer God.’
He shall stay unchanging
Good things to us bring
Ups and downs of life’s rhymes
Through varying time
No shadow turning
Praises we Him bring
Gospel message to share
With folks everywhere
. . . 200 YEARS AGO, on 11 September 1822 that the
Catholic Church admitted that the 16th century astronomer
Galileo Galilei might have been right about the Earth
orbiting the Sun. The College of Cardinals reversed the
Church’s condemnation of his ideas. Galileo had spent the
last 9 years of his life under house arrest for publishing his
work on the subject. He died in 1642.
. . . 100 YEARS AGO, on 13 September 1922 that the highest
temperature ever recorded in the world was reported to be
57.7 0C in Al’Aziziyah in Libya. (Unofficial record)
. . . 90 YEARS AGO, on 23 September 1932 that Saudi Arabia
was founded when the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Najd were unified.
. . . 70 YEARS AGO, 6 September 1952 that the Farnborough
Air Show crash took place. A de Havilland fighter jet broke
up and fell into the crowd, killing 31 people. Stringent safety
measures were introduced to ensure it could not happen again.
. . . 65 YEARS AGO, on 2 September 1957 that the Everly
Brothers best-known song Wake up Little Susie was released.
. . . 50 YEARS AGO, on 5 September 1972 that Palestinian
terrorists invaded the Olympic Village in Munich, West
Germany during the 1972 Olympic Games and took 11
members of the Israeli team hostage. All the hostages, and
five of the eight terrorists, and a German police officer, were
killed when a rescue attempt failed.
25 years ago, on 5 September 1997 that Mother Teresa,
Macedonia born/Albanian India nun and humanitarian died.
She founded the Missionaries of Charity and was winner of
the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.
25 years ago, on 9 September 1997 that Sinn Fein renounced
violence and committed itself to resolving the troubles of
Northern Ireland through peaceful means. This led to the
Good Friday Agreement in April 1998.
All His creation too
Praises Him anew
Hills, mounts, valleys, and fields
Each their produce yields
And in His image see
Man created be
In His plan and purpose
Reaching e’en to us
Hanalei Valley and the Fields of Taro, Hawaii
John Sohm, dreamstime.com