SPIRITUAL BROTHER

It was a revelation to me that as a young man Vincent van Gogh wanted to be a pastor.  Indeed, he came from a family of pastors, his father being a minister of the Dutch Reform Church, and his grandfather holding a degree in theology from the University of Leiden.
   
Vincent became a Methodist minister’s assistant, at one point, with the intention of “preaching the gospel everywhere.”  Alas, though, it was an unhappy arrangement and he spent most of his time either doodling or translating passages from the Bible into English, French, and German.

To support his religious aspirations, Vincent’s family sent him to Amsterdam to study theology.  He prepared for the entrance exam with his uncle Johannes Stricker, a respected theologian and author.  Vincent, however, failed the exam.  He then undertook a three-month course at a Protestant missionary school near Brussels, only to fail at that, too.

A temporary post as a missionary in a coal-mining district in Belgium was what he attempted next, living like those he preached to, sleeping on straw in a small hut at the back of the baker's house where he was staying.  His choice of squalid living conditions, however, appalled church authorities, who subsequently dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood."

With this, he turned fully to art, the other family occupation; three of his uncles, and his brother were art dealers, and his father’s uncle was a successful sculptor.  Vincent wanted to be an artist but “in God’s service” as he put it, stating, “. . . to try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces that leads to God. . . .”

A Sanskrit hymn reads:  “As the different streams, having their sources in different places, all mingle their waters in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take, through various tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to thee.”