What kind of reaction do you have to this video? What thoughts and feelings are prompted as you see the transitions take place? How do you interpret the ending?
What kind of reaction do you have to this video? What thoughts and feelings are prompted as you see the transitions take place? How do you interpret the ending?
I read this article a few months ago that described the process of making this video. Essentially, it is one painting that is transformed 2600 times. As songwriter Scott Avett states, the song written and the subsequent painting were based on “the temporary nature of our buildings and our mentality”. As we have now been in Lent for almost 2 weeks, this concept of the “temporary nature of our mentality” strikes a chord with me. Questions abound: How often do I go through similar transitions like those that the city experiences in this video? How frequently do I start out with a lot of promise and integrity but can easily be “for sale” to other clients? Why am I so attracted to things that are so short-lived rather than the eternal kingdom of God? Why am I so prone to decay? These are all reflections that I have that the season of Lent can remind me of but are also displayed so truthfully in this song and video.
This should give me pause, it should make me sit a bit and think about the ways in which I have wandered from the path, how I have strayed from my pilgrimage. I don’t know exactly how you react to this video, but it stirs very strong emotions in me and especially now at this time of the year. We are moving into a time of extended daylight, into the season of Spring as we approach Easter. I really cherish this time, yes the allergies come back in full force and it is very windy, but I also love the warm air and the sunlight that bathes everything in light. It is a season of hope for me, a season that tells me that the light does indeed come, even after long periods of darkness. Spring reminds me that we can be found even in the moments in which we feel the most lost.
What I love most about this video is the ending. In the final seconds of the song, the road that had once been paved over and which had led to the development and eventual decline of a city is then recovered itself by grass. You can still see the resemblance of a road, but it is a road now covered with growth. This symbolizes for me the promise that is in Easter, that death and decay do not have the final word. The final word is a growth demonstrated most powerfully in resurrection.
Amen.
Pilgrim Ramblings 