It’s A New Day
Van Gogh, Old Man In Sorrow, 1890
On Wednesday evening last week I launched a four-week series at our church on what I call Finding Joy. Among other things I had to say that evening, I featured Vincent Van Gogh’s touching painting Old Man In Sorrow, painted in 1890, the year of his tragic death, apparently from self-inflicted wounds. He had sketched this weary old man in his chair a number of years earlier, but somehow, in this year of horrifying confusion and profound sadness, he was compelled to finish the painting. The old man is worn out, exhausted, likely confused, perhaps close to the end. It was a self-portrait of sorts.
I find it remarkable, though, that Van Gogh was producing, at the same time, an extraordinary number of paintings, some ninety paintings in the last three months of his life. So many of these paintings are radiant with joy. How can that be, as we look at the old man in sorrow? Something kept tugging at Van Gogh that joy could be found because God would continue to show himself everywhere and in everything, even through sorrow.
And so then I presented to the class one of those joyful paintings, the marvelous The Sower, painted two years before his death. I have written recently about this great painting in my blog. There is hope for the future in this painting. There is joy. As the sun rises on a new day, the sower persists in scattering seeds. The crows might get a few, but the bag is plentiful. There is hope for a new day.
I coupled this painting the other night with Psalm 126, where God’s people had been sowing seeds in exile, “those who sow in tears.” All hope had been taken from them. There was weeping. There was no joy. And then, stunningly, the Lord restored their fortunes, as God has done so many times before: “We were like people renewed in health,” the Psalmist says, “our mouths were full of laughter / and our tongues sang aloud for joy.”
We end this incredible poem with some of the most glorious expressions of hope and joy ever written:
Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
carrying his bag of seed,
will come back with songs of joy,
carrying home his sheaves.
Amazingly, on Thursday morning, after all this reflection on Wednesday evening, I got an early call from the Chair of the Board at my beloved Seattle Pacific University. Graciously, he called to give me heads up that they would be announcing the appointment of a new president later in the morning. My heart leapt for joy. Here indeed was the new beginning for which I had so deeply hoped and prayed. Over the last few years, this great university has seemed like the old man of sorrow slumped in his chair. But then, with announcement that Deana Porterfield was the new President, God has provided a chance for renewal, a chance to begin again.
I pray this hopeful vision for Dr. Porterfield. I am sure she comes charged with energy to plant new seeds for a bright future ahead. She has been chosen for such a time as this. I promise to come alongside her in whatever ways. I promise to pray for her that she will find strength to bring a new day of joy for the faithful people of SPU. Let’s help her gather up some of those sheaves, out of our rich history, and then let’s bring home the sheaves with songs of joy. It is a new day. I can see the sun rising again.