June 18, Burlington,
VT Shelburne Museum
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets.
I have not
come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Shelburne
Museum was a very interesting museum. It was a museum of art, design, and
Americana located in Shelburne, VT. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 38
exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum
grounds. These include houses, barns, a meeting house, a one-room schoolhouse,
a lighthouse, a jail, an old-time railroad engine, a general store, a covered bridge
and the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga. It is located on 45 acres near Lake
Champlain.
The Museum
was to create an educational project, varied and alive and are exhibited in a
village-like setting of historic New England. It also has 400 lilacs, a
circular formal garden, herb and heirloom vegetable gardens and perennial
gardens. What an amazing place!
My first
impression of the Museum and the word galleries did not sit well. In my
thinking, I thought there would be only paintings and art. I wondered how we
could go through that many buildings of “art”. Boy, was I fooled!! It was not
like that at all! Some of the buildings did contain “art” but the art was not
necessarily paintings or sculpture.
The
schoolhouse contained a classroom set up in the 1800’s fashion. With rows of
desks and a teacher podium up front. The jail was a real jail like they used
back then. The barns contained all kinds of forms of transportation used during
the 1800’s. What a sight to see! I stood there trying to imagine riding in a stagecoach
dressed in a long dress and a hat in 100 degree weather for even 10 miles, not
even counting the trek west from the east. I honestly don’t know how they did
it!
There was
one whole building that had carousel figurines and circus figurines in it. They
were from the past Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. In addition,
there were beautiful gardens everywhere you walked with all kinds of flowers
and vegetables. And. the railroad engine had the passenger car attached, fully
equipped with the dining room, and the sleeping quarters of the rich and the
poor!
Over time,
men and women have invented newer and better ways of doing the jobs from the
1800s—from diesel powered cars to tractors to schools with hundreds of
students. All of the new took time to come about. Inventions usually come with folks
are looking for a better and more efficient way to do things. I am glad we have
those new things today!
Christ did
that for the Christian. He came “not to abolish the law and the prophets” of
the Old Testament. He came to fulfill them. Sometimes, folks will say to me,
that’s from the Old Testament, like we don’t have to read or study the Old
Testament. That’s bad theology! The Old Testament is the New concealed and the
New is the Old revealed. Christ is in every book of the Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation. God had a plan. He provided ways for the bridge to be crossed from
Adam and Eve’s fall. Rules and more rules didn’t work. There was only plan
remaining! Sending His ONE and ONLY Son to die on the cross. The perfect plan!
How do you view
the Old Testament? Do you go there for rich insight into what was going on with
our forefathers? I certainly did at the Museum. It gave me lots of food for
thought as I walked through and perused the “old” way of doing things versus
the new. It gave me a new appreciation for how God has worked throughout the
years, looking out for us in ways we could never imagine.
God knew the
rules wouldn’t work. He was not taken by surprise! He had a plan and HE
executed that plan. We are the products of that plan. What are we doing with
it? How are we treating it?
Make sure
you read those Old Testament stories and look for Christ in them .They are not
just for the kids! They have deep meanings applicable as much today as when they
took place. Only God could do that!
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