Crowns of thorns and jewels, Part I

I was puzzled by a news report yesterday that said a Greek Orthodox bishop's crown had been stolen.

I didn't realize they wore crowns. Mitres, funny hats maybe, but crowns? That's a new one. (Of course, I'm pretty provincial in my knowledge of religious regalia. I do know that Baptist preachers shouldn't wear both a belt and suspenders, for instance).

It seems Bishop Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver was dining in a restaurant in a Dallas suburb when someone broke into his car and stole, among other items, a New Testament and "a jeweled crown of gold and silver, which Isaiah estimated to be worth between $6,000 and $10,000." The good reverend offered a reward of at least $1,000 if the crown is returned without damage. "That was the first gift I received as a bishop 22 years ago," he said. "I feel lost without it." At a vespers service Saturday night, he was the only priest with no head covering.

Around my neighborhood, the thieves usually break out the window, take the change in the glove box and leave your mp3 player because they're on crack and aren't thinking straight. This thief was obviously in full control of his faculties. Too bad.

But a smidgen of scripture flashed through my mind. Don't we get crowns and stuff later, where moths and rust and thieves can't get to them? I thought the pattern was to suffer here, get a crown in heaven. Not get a crown now and then suffer when it's stolen. (See I Peter 5:4--I can talk about this because I have come to terms with the reality that I probably won't get a crown of any kind, not even a paper hat).

The crown, pictured above, is beautiful, of course. But what does it evoke in the beholder? What is the bishop thinking when he puts it on? How did we get from a circlet of thorns to a jeweled crown worth $10,000?

While in our area, Bishop Isaiah probably visited the Kimball Art Museum's astounding exhibit of early Christian art that runs through March 30.

The exhibit in Fort Worth is a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of paintings, sculpture and artifacts from around the world depicting Christian artistic expression from the third through the sixth centuries.

I bought a ticket at the suggestion of a Door compadre, and was not disappointed. After more than two hours immersed in Christian history, I emerged with questions about the nature of creativity, the place and purpose of art in the life of a believer and its relation to faith and worship... and stuff.

But mostly my thoughts kept returning to an insoluble problem. Is the studio set design at TBN really art?


Next time-- Crowns of thorns and jewels, Part II: Early, but not the earliest, Christian art


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