Yesterday  I had an interesting experience. I met up with portrait artist Iain Campbell. He has an art exhibition on display at St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow. 

I had arranged to meet him because I was interested in talking to him about the title of the exhibition "Man of Sorrows"  and also to find out more about the paintings on display.

This was an opportunity to to record an interview and also to film the various pictures on display. I was hoping that I'd get some footage that could be used for Sanctuary First.

The paintings are dramatic studies of various male faces drawing the viewer into the whole topic of sorrow, disappointment and loss. I asked Iain Campbell what had inspired the work. He explained that he wanted to explore the theme because it puts a spotlight on the struggle that many men feel when they are faced with the loneliness of being marginalised because of unemployment, ill health, bereavement or divorce.

He talked about growing up in Linwood near Paisley, at a time when unemployment was high in the late 70s and early 80s. I recall getting a job working in the famous Hillman Imp car factory when I was a student in the mid 70s. At that time it was a buzz with industry. However within a short period during the Thatcher years unemployment devastated the area.  I think the Proclaimers song " Letter From America" sums up the feeling of abandonment that many working men felt at that time

The phrase ' Man of Sorrows" of course comes from the famous passage in Isaiah 53 in the Hebrew Scriptures. Christians have taken it and interpreted the passage to refer to the Messiah, while the Jewish Community see the " Suffering Servant" to apply to the nation of Israel down through the ages.

Regardless how you interpret the passage it refers to the reality of the universal man having to live through suffering. Yet through it all God's mercy returns daily to sustain and comfort the despised and rejected. Very often it is the little "kindnesses" that those in despair appreciate.

For Christians the idea of the incarnation opens up a whole new way of encountering sorrow and suffering. It is to understand that God has not abandoned us amidst our struggle and remorse but that he walks the road of suffering alongside us all.

Campbell continues the theme of sorrow and rejection by contrasting the " Man of Sorrow" heads with a series of pictures he hangs loosely around the old hymn " Will Your Anchor Hold" he paints heads semi submerged in water. They pose a number of interesting questions. Are these faces sinking, or are they emerging. An interesting question to ask of the mainline churches today. Many look at the future say of the church of Scotland and seek a community that they think is sinking. Others look and see a community that is emerging.

These paintings asked of me the question " Are you dying to self and rising to live in a new place for God?

I found the whole exhibition stimulating and thought provoking.  Its certainly worth a visit. I think today may well be the last day of the exhibition. If your in the Great Western Road district of Glasgow you should pay a visit.