Images and Icons: Engaging our senses in life and worship

Images used for conveying messages are increasingly used in modern life. In the middle ages, images were often used in conveying secular as well as religious meaning. The advent of the Gutenberg printing press and the increase of literacy changed this. As more and more people were able to read, the written word became dominant, especially in Christian circles, in convening important information.

Nowadays one can hardly drive down a city street, walk through a shopping centre, sit in a restaurant, or use a computer without being spoken to by multiple ‘icons’. Although the written word is still a primary form of documentation and communication, the use of icons has proliferated and is now essential in conveying quick, easily understandable information across social, cultural or linguistic lines. Weather this be a sign telling us which washroom in a public place we are to use depending on our gender, warning signs of traffic changes ahead, or opening the internet browser of our choice, society is increasingly using images to convey messages.

The use of imagery has marked Christian worship for thousands of years. In churches there are crosses reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus as he died on a cross and rose from the dead. Stained glass windows show icons of Christ and accounts found in the Scriptures. Some places of worship include images depicting Christian saints having lived holy lives worthy of our attention as they point the way for us to practically follow Jesus. We live in a fast paced culture that engages all of our senses, the more of our senses that are engaged the greater the likely hood a connection is made; the same could be said for our worship.

I remember the first time I attended an Anglican Church. As a baptized Christian  I was able to receive communion; as I did I began to notice the imagery and beauty of the worship I was participating in. I knelt at the rail, my mind being instructed by the action of my body as I knelt before God. I looked up and saw a beautiful stained glass window of Jesus wearing a crown, holding a lantern, showing me the path of righteousness and friendship with him. I saw a cross, instilling the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection; a noble gesture, and cosmic reality that opened the door of God’s grace allowing me to know God and grow in him. I was then blessed with the sign of the cross, confirming my relationship with my Savior-King as I walked with him towards death of those things that beset me so I could experience the new life of his resurrection, alongside him through his action in me. I did this alongside many others, the church, which is an icon of Christ (representative of Christ) in the world today. It struck me like a lightning bolt, this was no dead ritual, this was the reality of my heart being joined with God’s and many others, both next to me and around the world, past and present. I found even more imagery in the bread and wine being the body and blood of Jesus, as we partake of all that is him.

The printed word is still very much with us, but with this resurgence in icons and imagery for secular purpose, it seems only natural images and other things that engage our senses would serve us well in our worship, understanding, growth, and experience in God.

Jeff Wilson