Most of our New Year’ resolutions are missing the point. Oh I’m all for setting goals even substantial ones. One of my goals for 2012 is to hike the West Coast trail with my children. It’s a substantial goal but is it substantive? Is transformative life change even in my power to implement and will I recognize it if I achieve it?

The Louvre is facing accusations that it over cleaned a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, leaving it with a brightness that the Renaissance master never intended.

Two of France’s top art experts have voiced their protest over the cleaning of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne – a jewel of western art – by resigning from the Paris museum’s advisory committee responsible for its “restoration”,

The restoration has divided the committee between those who believe the painting is now too bright and those who regard the cleaning as moderate. There were also disputes over whether an area dismissed as removable repaint was in fact a glaze applied by Leonardo.

Seventeen years ago, the Louvre abandoned an earlier attempt to clean the painting amid fears over how the solvents were affecting the sfumato, Leonardo’s trademark painterly effect for blurring contours.

Since then, the British influence on restoration has helped to sway the Louvre.

The Louvre declined to comment on the two resignations, but defended its cleaning process. Vincent Pomarède, the Louvre’s head of paintings, said: “Rarely has a restoration been as well prepared, discussed and effected, and never will it have benefited from such effective techniques. The first assessment revealed the excellent state of conservation … comforting us in the choices made.”

The National Gallery declined to comment.© 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/dec/28/louvre-leonardo-overcleaned-art-experts/print

Do you wonder what  Davinci would say about how they are treating his work?

I have the self awareness to know that I need to change, most of us do. My struggle is with the process and desired outcome and it’s complicated by the multiple external pressures from family, friends, work etc. And…. change is supposed to be measurable.

Oh I’m disciplined, few are more disciplined than I am. My BMI, RRSP’s, hikes and other worthy goals I can manage but I still beat myself up over the transformative change that I have pursued most of my life and I don’t think I’m alone.

I’m frustrated and I’ve had a mini epiphany. I don’t believe I’m capable this kind of change. I don’t think any of us are.

The Apostle Paul was inspired when he recommended the following as the way for substantive/transformational change (by the way I’ve read this passage a lot over the past 5+ years. It was formative in shaping the values and vision of Urban Bridge Church):

So, dear brothers and sisters,I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.Romans 12: 1-2 NLT

This is my new personal “Best Practice for 2012”

Pursue Christ rather than change, allow outcomes to be dictated by the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 10:27 am and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.