Unititled – Pentecost

John Brokenshire

When you stand close up to this painting, you see that it really is just a white smudge on a dark background. But stand a bit further away, perhaps a bit to the left, and it is clearly a dove, hovering mid-flight. A white dove, a sign of peace, a sign of God’s Holy Spirit. 

Another observer may have titled this “Pentecost”, but to me, it looks much more like the Spirit of God hovering over the waters before creation. And God said “Let there be light”, and we can just start to see a new bright sky breaking in, chasing away the dark clouds of nothingness.

But really it is the dove, this smudge, which is so fascinating. The smudge is just a hint of a dove and our mind fills in the blanks. And as it does so, it fills in only the beautiful parts. The soft feathers, the radiant whiteness, the delicate movement of the wings. A photo of a dove would also include the bulging eyes, the scraggly legs, the sharp claws. Even the most beautiful dove would include these harsh realities. But this dove is soft and feathery, delicate and gentle, both still and ever moving. And so this smudge reflects God, reflects love, much better than a realistically drawn dove ever could. 

In the same way that our mind needs to fill in the blanks to see this dove, our mind also needs to fill in the blanks to capture the perfect beauty and holiness of God, the moral perfection of pure love. What we see elsewhere is always only a glimpse, blighted by the imperfections of our world and us humans. Only in our minds eye, as we ponder God in the stillness and depths of our inner being can we see God’s love in its full glory – no bulging eyes, no scraggly legs and no sharp claws anywhere in sight.

The dove is hovering, moving. Like the Spirit of God, it is active, it is free, it is alive! What is it doing as it hovers, I wonder? Is it seeing where it is needed and where it should go? Is it heralding something new? Or are its wings outstretched, like a conductor’s arms, directing the actions of love – bringing order out of chaos, light into darkness, life out of nothingness?

Both the dove and the Spirit of God seem to be able to fill my mind, my imagination, my being but also remain just out of reach, never caught and tamed, never fully captured, always a mystery.

Biblical References

The Spirit descending on Jesus as a dove (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34)
The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-12)
The beginning of creation (Genesis 1:1-3)

The Artist

John Brokenshire is a contemporary British painter. Find out more about him and his works on his website.