Tag: art
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Finding Joy
Luke 1:47 GW: “My spirit finds its joy in God, my Savior.” This third week of Advent is Joy, symbolized by a rose-colored candle. It seems intentionally out of place, breaking up the deep purples of waiting and quietly challenging the long ache leading to Christmas. The origins of the Advent wreath and candles go…
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Finding Peace
Luke 2:14 NIV “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” This is the second week of Advent, when we light the candle of peace. This isn’t peace as in ending every war or resolving every conflict—spoken or unspoken. It is the inner peace of…
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O Little Town
Micah 5:2 NIV: But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Just when I thought I knew everything about the Christmas story, another layer of symbolism was…
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Vibrations of the Heart
Psalm 19:14 NLT: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. These words from David serve as the conclusion of a beautiful song that begins with “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His…
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Wounds
John 20:27 NIV: He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Poor Thomas, his claim to fame as a disciple stems from this encounter. He just happened to be the one disciple who wasn’t there when Jesus appeared…
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The Fall
Genesis 3:5 NIV “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Raise your hand if you’re familiar with the story of Eve, the serpent, and the apple. I suspect that even…
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Pearls and Pigs
Matthew 7:6 “…do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” If you grew up during the purity culture years of the 1980s and 1990s, this verse might be triggering, as it was often used as a warning for teenage…
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Living Water
Jeremiah 2:13 NIV: My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. I love moments when I can be near water, whether on the banks of a lake, listening to a babbling brook, or standing at the…
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Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.… One of the more radical changes that Christ brought about with his birth, life, death, and resurrection was a shift from external laws to internal transformation. This is…
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Cast your Cares
Psalm 55:22 NIV: Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. Anyone out there carrying some heavy things? This week’s art is for you. David starts this Psalm with, “Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me, and I am distraught.”…
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Becoming Shepherds
John 21:17 NIV: Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” This will be the second art piece inspired by my reading of N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope,” which says much for the content of this thought-provoking book. N.T. Wright does not mince words when he talks about our misguided focus on salvation being about “going to heaven,”…
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We had Hoped
Luke 24:21 NIV: “but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel…” I’m reading a very compelling book right now by N.T. Wright’s called “Surprised by Hope”. As he sets the context for his insights about the resurrection, he reminds us that at no point did the disciples have…