COMMUNION RESTORATION
Newsweek reports (6-7-99) that Leonardo Da Vinci ‘s masterpiece, The Last Supper, has been disintegrating over the years. Past efforts to keep it from deteriorating any further have included clumsy overpaintings and even a coat of rock-hard transparent glue in 1953. But in 1978 Italian authorities let restorer Pinin Brambilla Barcilon begin what would become a 21-year, $7.7 million, centimeter by centimeter restoration of the painting. Using electronic microscopes, water-based paint and a neutral beige to fill in totally unretrievable areas, the rehabilitation of the classic picture of Jesus seated around a long table with his twelve disciples certainly looks fresher and brighter. But many critics say that any connection to Da Vinci’s handiwork had been lost to “an original Brambilla.” The ordinance of Lord’s Supper has also deteriorated over the centuries. What was originally a special meal meant to help believers remember and commune with the sacrifice of Christ, and remind us of our unity in the one bread and cup,…
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