Good art is a medium through which we are transported beyond ourselves. It is a symbol, a sign, which points to a truth beyond its brushstrokes, masonry, or melody. Without a means of pointing to the truth beyond our self, the only place to turn is inward. When humanity turns inward, generosity, kindness, and love of neighbor becomes self-preservation, hateful discrimination, and oppression of those who seem weak. The inward turned spirit is a world without art.
It is a world in which song has no melody, expressing only noise. It is a world in which story has no meaning, revealing no past, no present, and no future. It is a world in which relationship is void of touch, robbing us of held hands, the passion of a kiss and the comfortable vulnerability of an embrace. When our brothers and sisters are dying of AIDS due to the lack of education, prevention, compassion or blindness, the world slowly turns inward and art’s funeral march begins to process.
We gather here today to give meaning to the story, to remember God’s children who have died. We gather here today to sing louder than the noise of hatred and fear. We gather here today to hold hands with one another, reversing the inward turn of blindness and self-preservation. We gather here today in the hope that AIDS will be buried and the artful truth and beauty of community, compassion, and love will live. Amen and amen!