St. Petersburg, Russia

We’ve moved two time zones away from Sweden and lost two hours the past two days. Yesterday’s sun hadn’t set by the time we returned to the ship at 11:15 p.m. after a full day, and this morning’s sun was supposed to rise by 4:15 a.m. I wouldn’t know because I just awakened around 9:00 a.m. and haven’t set foot outside our “stateroom” yet. (Although, this is a perfectly fine room, it doesn’t really qualify for “stateroom” status, but that’s what it’s called.)
I fulfilled a long-time dream yesterday by simply standing in the presence of a painting. St. Petersburg is the home of one of the world’s largest and finest art collections—a tribute to Peter the Great, namesake of the city. The collection is located in a series of buildings collectively known as The Hermitage, and located on one of the walls on one of the floors is Rembrandt’s painting known as “The Prodigal”. My fulfilled dream is multi-layered beginning with Jesus’ parable most commonly called “The Prodigal Son”. Jesus told a story, Luke (the gospel writer) remembered and wrote about it, the church in its infinite wisdom kept the story in its eternal collection, a Dutch painter in the 17th century painted an image of the story, and a 20th century Belgian priest named Henri Nouwen wrote about Rembrandt’s painting in the 1980’s in a book he titled The Return of the Prodigal Son. Nouwen, a priest and psychologist, was most helpful to me with his ability to translate the vocabulary of psychology into language descriptive of the human soul, and I first read some his material in 1974.
I read Nouwen’s book about the prodigal and was initially drawn deeply enough into its content that I preached a series of sermons on it in both Wenatchee and Olympia, and just before retirement I re-read it and discovered even more meaning. Like many before me I’ve been drawn deeply into Jesus’ story by its familial context, and with Rembrandt’s painting and Nouwen’s writing I see a special gift we elders can offer to succeeding generations—our blessing.
Ever since I saw the ad for a Baltic Cruise that included St. Petersburg in its itinerary, I was eager to see the painting Nouwen viewed and contemplated for hours prior to writing his book. So when my moment came yesterday, I was content to simply look, utter my quiet prayer of gratitude, have my picture taken, and move on. The anticipation was far greater than the moment, diminished slightly by the bustle of other viewers and lighting that caused some glare, but it’s still amazing that this dream to simply be in the presence of greatness is now fulfilled.
Peter the Great, back in the 1700’s, dreamed that this would be a great city, and indeed it is. It’s a center for the arts, Russia’s second largest city, a large port, and it draws cruise ships and tourists from around the world. It was hot yesterday, 85 degrees, and the locals were peeling off clothes to soak up sun wherever they could. We tourists were sweating through bus tours, art walks, and evening ballet but getting our money’s worth and enjoying it. Today’s a new day, and we get to go back to the Hermitage one more time before a 6:00 p.m. departure for Tallin tomorrow and Gdansk the next day. What a life!