The Patriot

            The Patriot – no, not the old Mel Gibson film, or even – gasp – Steven Segal’s movie.  I’m referring to the painting by Andrew Wythe.  This afternoon I visited the Farnsworth Museum which houses an amazing collection of art by the Wythe family.  I found myself particularly drawn to Andrew Wythe’s picture of what had to be a veteran of World War I, Ralph Cline, now know as The Patriot.  The copy pictured below doesn’t do the painting justice.  You can’t really see the twinkle in Cline’s eye, but then again, we can’t see what had to be a twinkle in Wythe’s eye when he was painting (or maybe it was a grimace).

            What captivated as much as the painting was what Wythe said about painting, in the accompanying captioned taken from a 1964 Life magazine article.  Wythe said, “You see, I don’t say I’m going to go out and find something to paint.  To hell with that.  You might as well stay home and have a good glass of whiskey.  Really, I just walk a great deal over the countryside.  I try to leave myself very blank – a kind of sounding board, all the time very open to catch a vibration, a tone from something or someone – like Ralph Cline.”

            I don’t know if Wythe would have described himself as a religious person or not but he was very much describing a religious experience, being open to a vibration a tone from something  or someone.  That is what we are all called to do – be open.  Be open to God, be open to God’s world, be open to what God wants to show you.  In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus heals a deaf mute with the word, Ephphatha, or be opened but those words could also be used to open our eyes to become more aware of the presence of Jesus in our lives. 

            In Eucharistic Prayer C we pray, “Lord God of our Fathers; God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (perhaps in future editions of the Prayer Book we can remember our foremothers as well); God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us.”  It sounds like a prayer Andrew Wythe may have said.  It sounds like a prayer we should all be saying.