Peace in the Second Week of Advent: Something Beautiful Out of Nothing Much
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In the north of the Italian peninsula, among swampy lagoons and uninhabited islands; 450 A.D.
Their world was crashing in around them. The beauty and sophistication, the art and architecture of the formally Roman area of northern Italy was being crushed, stolen, burned. They ran from the chaos to the only place of refuge they could find: a series of marshy islands just off the coast of Italy in the upper reaches of the Adriatic Sea.
The historian John Julius Norwich once asked: “Who in their senses would build more than a fishing hut on the malarial, malodorous shoals of mud and sandbanks of the Venetian lagoon?” And his own answer to the question: “Those who had no choice.”
Their plight resulted from the catastrophe of barbarian invasions initiated by Attila the Hun in the middle of the fifth century A.D. These invasions were soon followed by Goths in the sixth century. Fleeing as refugees, they carried with them only the bare essentials and hoped merely for survival.
Today, Venice is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is the best preserved large city in all of Europe, and with no motor traffic, one hundred and fifty canals, four hundred bridges, one hundred and eighteen islands, palaces that border the Grand Canal, musicians on almost every corner, and gondolas that serve as taxis. Venice is a place of particular magic.
The mud, sand, peat, and clay of the islands required particularly solid foundations of oak pilings driven deep into the subsoil. The pilings came from trees as far away as the Alps in the north and Croatia across the Adriatic to the east.
Working from the outside in, concentric circles of pilings were driven through the unstable lagoon floor to the bedrock of compacted clay. The number and thickness of the pilings depended on the weight of the building: La Salute church, for instance, is supported by over a million pilings.
How a defeated people saw beyond mere survival remains mysterious. Yet to travel among the alleys and canals of remarkable Venice, is to be aware of a miraculous transformation. Somehow in the aftermath of losing everything, refugees had faith of Hebrews 11:1 to claim “the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” And with that faith, they created a meandering urban garden of architectural beauty for the world to enjoy, a peaceful place where somehow they built something beautiful out of nothing much.
So it is and continues to be with us, and with our often unpredictable world. Yet in spirit of it all, may God’s inspiring presence stimulate creative beauty – and give you peace.
PRAYER FOR THIS DAY OF OUR ADVENT SEASON:
Lord, inspire us. Allow us to take whatever has come our way, and know that we are not alone. Give us clarity for our confusion; inspire in us a faith superior to our current unsettledness. And during this time of Advent, with tumbling emotions and memories of Christmases past, allow our lives to envision beyond; and through your grace, create in us the strength to finally emerge as the masterpieces you envision, evocative of the resiliency, the peace and the lasting beauty that became Venice. Amen.
David Jordan
Senior Pastor