Chiaroscuro

Have you ever come across the word “chiaroscuro”? Unless you are interested in fine art, it may be one that has passed you by – in fact, you could happily live your entire life without ever encountering it!

So, let me tell you that it’s an Italian term which literally means “light-dark” and refers to a particularly bold balance of light and shade in a painting or drawing – in other words, an exaggerated sense of contrast. It’s an effect which is often used to suggest the three-dimensional shape and volume of the objects in a flat picture. Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio are particularly famed for employing the technique, but many artists of the 16th and 17th centuries used it to enhance the drama and emotional impact of their works.

Not only paintings but life itself are made more interesting by contrasts. For instance, most of us can enjoy a varied diet: a stew one day, followed by fish and chips, salad, pizza or a roast – or we can send out for a curry or a Chinese meal. We can turn on our radios and listen to any kind of music we like, whether that be the relaxing sounds of medieval plainchant or the harsh rhythms of the latest pop artist. We can go to the park and enjoy the bright colours of the flowers against the quieter background of the grass and trees. And even the Great British Weather offers us sunshine and cloud, heat and cold, drought and downpour – sometimes, it seems, all within just one day!

Some Christian traditions make a stark contrast between Lent and Easter. During Lent the faithful follow restricted and monotonous diets, and their services include special prayers of penitence. The music is reflective and sombre, and the churches are bare of flowers. Matters come to a climax on the evening of Maundy Thursday as the altar is stripped bare in preparation for the Passion story of the following day. But the mood changes abruptly on Easter Sunday as fast is turned into feast, the churches are filled with the colour and scent of flowers, the triumphant music and liturgy celebrate the joyful news that Christ is risen – Alleluia!

We don’t do that. In many respects (and, yes, you might say that this has been down to me) Lent has passed us by. Although some may have chosen to follow a special discipline during its weeks, most of us will have continued to live as normal. Our Sunday services have been much the same as at other times and there certainly have been flowers in church every week! But are we missing something? Should we have plunged ourselves into austere gloom during Lent in order to revel all the more in the exuberance and celebration of Easter Day? In short, have we replaced stark contrast – chiaroscuro – with a flat and boring sameness? Perhaps we have.

For life itself contains both light and shade. We have the joy of friendship and family get-togethers, the fun of leisure and holidays, the good news of children doing well at school, perhaps fulfilment in our daily work; but these must be set aside the misery of poor housing and noisy neighbours, the wracking pain of long-term illness, the worry of redundancy and unemployment, or the tidings of tragedy which can strike without warning. Life can be happy, but for many – especially those near the bottom of the economic pile – it can also be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.

I think that a worthwhile Christian faith must recognize this. For our faith should never make us pretend that we are carried through life in constant sunlight; it should strengthen us through the dark times, too. And our faith should also stimulate us, giving us an existence which is much more than bland routine. For Christ endured pain and sorrow, rejection by men and alienation from God; he also experienced (and we cannot imagine what this must have been like) the joy of resurrection. During Lent, Passiontide and Easter we certainly witness the most extreme contrasts of life – but light ultimately triumphs.

Have a Happy Easter!

Andrew