Thursday--Some Time Off Before Amazing Love Meeting

 

Thursday morning we got a little extra sleep and then went to the Fine Arts Museum for a class and tour by Jane Stevens, a good friend of mine (Gail) here in Budapest.  Jane has worked as a docent for several years and gives a course called "The Bible Illuminates Art."

Pam and Greg look at a 15th century fresco--see comment by Jane describing this piece of art, and click on picture to enlarge it.

God uses this class to share His Word with people who are interested in art because Jane always includes Bible reading in the lessons and shows how art reflects or fails to reflect God's Word.  Jane explained that many of the old works of art contained symbols to help the people (most of whom could not read) to identify Biblical characters.  For example, a raven or eagle would have helped them recognize the Apostle John in a painting.  A lion might be used to identify Mark, a bull or ox to identify Luke, an angel to identify Matthew.  This Hungarian museum has some incredible works on art many of them dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries.

Raphael's 1508 Esterhazy Madonna

The Lost Madonna

One of the things Jane hands out at her classes is her testimony using an interesting and relevant theme.  Please take time to read this...I think you will enjoy it:

In the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary, there hangs an unfinished masterpiece.  It is considered the jewel of the collection: Raphael’s 1508 Esterhazy Madonna, named after the Hungarian prince who sold it to the state in 1872.

Although incomplete, it is an extremely valuable painting-- because of the greatness of the artist and the rare insights into Raphael’s compositional skills. According to experts it is a mature composition of an accomplished master, capable of realizing his aims completely. In it we can view Raphael’s work in progress, especially when compared with an earlier version, The Madonna of the Meadow, in Vienna’s Museum of Art History.

But in November 1983 Budapest’s small-scale masterpiece took some unexpected detours.

It was among seven Italian masterpieces stolen. Although the lost treasure included another Raphael, a Tintoretto, a Giorgioni, and two Tiepolos, the Esterhazy Madonna was considered the brightest star in that constellation.

Three weeks later the ornamental inner mounting of the Madonna’s frame and its stretcher were discovered in a jute bag in the Danube River. After an anonymous tip in January 1984 Interpol recovered the Madonna and five of the paintings in a suitcase, dropped in the garden of a Greek monastery 100 miles west of Athens, Greece. The museum’s curator personally traveled to Athens to retrieve the cache and restore the paintings to their rightful place.

Like this painting my incomplete life has had its share of unexpected detours. Yet in God’s eyes I am still considered ’His workmanship.’ What a strange concept: to think that I am valuable—not in my own right, but because of the greatness of the master who created me. It reminds me of the saying, ’Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet!’

From childhood I wanted to know and please God, but as a young adult I went my own way and ignored God. I lived only to please myself and felt I had achieved some success in life. I had exciting, well-paid jobs – working first as a court stenographer, then as legal secretary to a Senator, and in the early 1970’s landing a job as an undercover agent for the State of Virginia. I was the first woman in the country to hold that position, which granted me police authority and a gun. However, when my oldest brother died suddenly in a car crash I began questioning the meaning of life. What was my life really for? Was there life after death? What shape should my future take?

By reading the Bible I gradually learned that God has plans and a purpose for my life far better than anything I could have envisioned. The Divine Designer will one day make all things new in Christ Jesus, including me and all my flaws. He loves to redeem and restore his creations, returning them to their rightful place. He gives our lives true perspective and puts us back in the frame. For after all, God is in the restoration business.

Fred speaks while Anima interprets.

The rest of our day was spent preparing for our Amazing Love meeting which began at 6:30 with popcorn and an ice breaker game from the Golgota English Home Fellowship (a group that helped us put on this meeting).

Next we put together a puzzle that showed how each of us is a part of God's plan.  When completed, the puzzle was the face of Christ.

Then Fred and Tammy did a skit that gave the message of God's creation and His Love for mankind.  The skit kept everyone's attention and got the message across in an interesting way.   Fred wrapped up the evening by offering to pray with anyone who had not yet made a decision for Christ.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening, and I'm sure that Christians were encouraged and seeds were planted.