Goodness

Kirsten Hallenbeck. Brandywine Falls. 2012.

In It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, Bustard dedicates his first chapter to the concept of “good.” Before even beginning the chapter, I began to contemplate what the word good means. We use it so commonly, so flippantly. 

The dinner was good.

The evening was good.

The art was good.

But what is good? When you take away the dinner, the evening, the art, what is it? Many people define good in terms of good and evil, but I would rather define good as a something.  Webster’s dictionary defines good as a noun; something that is right. But it’s difficult to witness good; we can’t paint it, photograph it, or sculpt it. Yet somehow good continues to surface in art, in experiences, in people. Instead of being the subject matter, good reveals itself in a glimpse. 

A glimpse. In the Bible, Moses experiences God’s goodness in such a way. 

‘‘You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”’

Ned Bustard and Matthew Clark. And Such Were
You. 2006. Tinted woodcut, 22x30 inches.

So then, maybe a mere glimpse of goodness is the best way to experience it. Bustard and Clark’s woodcut piece And Such Were You focuses on this concept of goodness in a glimpse, by depicting the ark in great peril. Inside, the animals pictured are all traditionally symbolic of evil. They symbolize evil influence, laziness, the damned, temptation of the flesh, malice, cruelty, deception, gluttony, and guile. Bustard explains his choice of animals, stating,

“The passengers of the ark that God chooses to save are underserving. And so are we....Good may be mercurial to represent in regards to the Almighty, but His acts of goodness in creation, redemption, and providence can be seen as clearly as we see in the path of the wind through the trees. And as close to our experience as our very souls - God has washed, sanctified and justified the likes of us.”

Goodness, the good, it’s something that has become a part of us. While it can’t be necessarily defined or depicted on its own, it comes out all around us. We see goodness in a waterfall, in an embrace, in a soul.

But we are not good on our own. God is good. 

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.” - C.S. Lewis

Santiago Carbonell. El Abrazo. 1960.

Sources
The Holy Bible, Zondervan Publishing
It was Good: Making Art for the Glory of God by Bustard 
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis