On June 7th, Jason Smith, in signature style, wove together art, scripture, theological reflection, and the application of the woven strands to our community. He reflects on the creation story of Genesis 1:1 through 2:4a — the seven days of creation, and the patterns set that are born out throughout scripture. He uses as example The Ancient of Days, a series of etched and handcolored prints by William Blake. He talks about the God’s consistent value of the last and the least. And he paints a picture of how this applies to our church community. Below are a few excerpts.

In Blake’s rendered etchings and painted images, we see an aged, bearded and muscular, Neptune-like figure reaching down from a dark sphere and measuring the darkness with both arms of a compass that jut out across the expanse as two simple lines. In Blake’s religious references the name The Ancient of Days uses a title for the Hebrew God in the book of Daniel.

In these present, dark days we gather over Zoom, revealing our Los Angeles area homes/workplaces, lit up by laptop light… What unites us eclectic Angelenos and Pasadenans is our shared religious faith and its Mennonite expression. We gather with our contemporary dilemmas to learn about the same Ancient of Days that Daniel and Blake alluded to. Like both men who fancied themselves as prophetic, we discover the Ancient One in a series of colorful, theological poems that begin the book of Genesis. Upon hearing the five opening words “In the beginning God created”, we encounter God’s first self-revelatory metaphor: that of an Artist.

Starting with an illuminating, titanium white light that warms into the ruddy flesh tones of the human story, God reveals that the world as it once was is far different than it now is. The Creator teaches that the world as it is now is even farther away from the world as it should be. As we build civilizations on the principles of power, privilege and patriarchy the Creative Spirit broods over the dark abyss longing to show a different picture.

[Blake} co-created with his wife Catherine Blake. According to their fellow artist friend, she not only assisted him in all his printmaking but painted several of his hand-colored prints in his name… They were a childless couple who procreated art together. She was there with him in the beginning and nothing was made without her. It is interesting how knowing that one creative detail changes how we view the creator. It’s just like how John’s gospel retells the Creation story. It speaks of Jesus (the Word incarnate) being the agent of Creation, saying of him “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” The same Jesus who Matthew’s gospel shows bracketing his parables with the saying “So the last shall be first, and the first last.” Because God the Father (the Creator), God the Son (the firstborn of all Creation) and God the Creative Spirit always choses the least and the last. The community of the Trinity communes with creations like the moon to rule over the night, the earth to bring forth grass and creative people like us for care for his creation. Having this Christological lens with which to view all of history is why I chose to be a member of this Mennonite community at this very point in history.

Now as I read the LA Times updates about the sick and suffering masses in our day created by the Coronavirus, I get a little bewildered. But I recall Jesus said, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” And God created hands and gave them to people like Mariann Reardon and Patrick Valdenor. She uses hers to pray for the suffering as an intercessor and he uses his to serve the sick as a nurse. And God saw that it was good.

Hear the audio as Jason talks about the poetry and art of creation, and his loving observations within scripture and within our community.

download here