from Spurgeon

Spurgeon's word to us this morning...

"In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him."
Colossians 2:9

All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal. All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that marvellous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete. He cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but he has done all that can be done, for he has made even his divine power and Godhead subservient to our salvation. His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are all combined for our defence. Arise, believer, and behold the Lord Jesus yoking the whole of his divine Godhead to the chariot of salvation! How vast his grace, how firm his faithfulness, how unswerving his immutability, how infinite his power, how limitless his knowledge! All these are by the Lord Jesus made the pillars of the temple of salvation; and all, without diminution of their infinity, are covenanted to us as our perpetual inheritance. The fathomless love of the Saviour's heart is every drop of it ours; every sinew in the arm of might, every jewel in the crown of majesty, the immensity of divine knowledge, and the sternness of divine justice, all are ours, and shall be employed for us. The whole of Christ, in his adorable character as the Son of God, is by himself made over to us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, his knowledge our instruction, his power our protection, his justice our surety, his love our comfort, his mercy our solace, and his immutability our trust. He makes no reserve, but opens the recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for the hidden treasures. "All, all, all are yours," saith he, "be ye satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord." Oh! how sweet thus to behold Jesus, and to call upon him with the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of his love or power, we are but asking for that which he has already faithfully promised.

the show is chosen

well the choosing has been done. it looks like a good show, i can't wait to see it in person.

Again, sorry for the delay. we chose artwork a week ago but it took laying it all out on graph paper this week to figure out what would fit in the end. i sent emails of specifics out today.

well now the details will come flying fast and furious...framing, transportation, scheduling...please let me know how i can help. if i get too swamped i'll connect you to some other Na good folks who can help you.

Thanks to all for your hard work and for serving this way.
Connie

by tuesday-ish

hey guys we had a great meeting curating the art show on friday. now i just gotta double check the dimensions of the walls that we're using to make sure what we've chosen fits.

thanks for your patience. i'll send you an email with many more details, soon-ish.

connie

P.S. 100 words

I'm SORRY about the late notice of the 100 word explanation thing. i hope this isn't a burden for you!

Deadline Info: TUESDAY APRIL 17

Hey guys, here's the scoop. For a piece of artwork to be considered for the Na art show, please email the following to Connie by TUESDAY April 17:

1. Digital pic of the artwork as a whole. If you'd like to send additional details or multiple views, thats cool too.
2. Digital pic of yourself next to the artwork so we can see scale. (and those silly faces)
3. REQUIRED: A 100 word or less explanation of this piece of artwork. To be displayed next to your piece. So tell us about Collosians 1 and whatever you think in helpful for the viewer: your process? symbolism? how your concept developed? help non-art folks to look closer at your art.

let me know if you have more Q's.
-conniej

not related to art, but a random question...
(someone gave me an iTunes gift card...)

if you could buy one cd what would you get?

beth

Any ideas?

Happy Easter everybody. . .

I should be painting. But I was wondering what you guys been coming up with? To me (I was an English major) so ideas are easy, "fleshing them out" is another matter. But ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. Often the best ones I've had came after I got going & switched gears.

My ideas of scriptural interpretation tend toward dark, heavy, and dramatic . My friend Noelle takes the lighter approach to drawing. She does drawings that are "cute" (not Japanese "cute style" but childlike, naive), lightly rendered, almost wash paintings with wonderful little creatures and plants, and long flowery letters and shapes. I like it, but not for my own drawing. . .they seem "girly". But I like "girly". Nothing wrong with it.

Maybe its that I feel like I'm carry a cross in my drawings. Is that bad? I think, as an Christian artist depicting scripture, its a great work (and rare) to be both very in tune with yourself and the spirit of the scripture you're depicting. And maybe that means carrying a Cross through it? I have to remember that every line I make won't cause the end of the world. I have to have faith in these situations, when I'm pulling at my hair: I will get to the end.

I hope one day (maybe after I get these "heavy thoughts" out of my system) that I'll be able to draw Easter eggs and plants and little birds and they will be just as God honoring as the Crosses and Edenic paintings I make now. Kids draw everything, and we always say that their drawings are loved by God no matter how perfect they are. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Anyway, those are my two cents (48 more and I'd be famous).

-Will

pale in comparison

Okay here’s some further thoughts after talking with seth about my last post. Consider it my opinionated proposal…

How much can we really portray?
Or said better, can an image really support the weight of the truth we’re trying to portray?

Well I submit: No. theres no way our images can capture the weight and depth of this passage. (So thank God for words!)

So let’s not even try. I don’t mean to give up on making art about this. But please hear this: do not feel pressured to capture it all. So much of this is so HUGE. We just can’t do it justice.

There is so much freedom in this! We don’t have to get it perfect. Which is good cause we can’t.

So maybe comparisons are a good angle to take. Imperfect, yes, of course. But we go into it know/admitting that our cute little comparisons pale to represent the real deal.

checking in

hey ya'll. sorry I've been so quiet; my laptop decided several weeks ago it's time here on earth was over, so i have been without a computer until this past week. excellent posts by the way.

i have had a hard time settling on an idea for my contribution. while gesturing, i played around with the idea of using a crown of thorns and maybe a profile of Christ's face, but that presented too many problems for me, and didn't sit right. but i knew i wanted to do something with verse 20, especially the part about "making peace by the blood of his cross." (you may notice that that's not what i originally settled on- thanks for not holding me to it.)

below are the thoughts i wrote down as i brainstormed/meditated on that verse:

firstborn from the dead- flower bloomed amidst those not yet blossomed
firstborn- waiting eagerly to welcome us as we're born
following in his steps
reconciled to himself- pieces coming together, hope for man, finally reconciliation to God, peace through blood
God squeezing Christ in His fist, drops of blood
-plant growing where it drops- new life
-create a door
-mixes with black and turns white
hand underneath holding person dripped on (2 canvases?)
hands contrast the nature of God
-straining, squeezing, bulging, confining, crushing
-gentle, soft, relaxed, encompasing, safe, loving

so, i think i will be doing a composition of God's hands, one crushing his son, the other underneath either holding a person, the world,... i haven't decided what yet.

my desire is to illustrate Christ taking God's wrath, God crushing his son, and to tie Christ's blood directly to what it means for us- the peace and reconciliation we have found because of it.

i'd love any thoughts on this, especially if there are any concerns regarding how i'm portraying this. any suggestions?

One down. . .

I was really dry last week and uninspired, then I did some chores around the house, and it helped me (strangely enough) to draw: cleaning a sink for my roommates, because it was something humbling-- and in this fateful act of scrubbing-- God showed me a picture of humility. Cleaning the thing that is used in our own cleaning. So I did this painting, of the humbled man cleaning a sink, but of course, I wasn't happy with it. Part of me was so proud of myself, but it wasn't the painting God wanted and I knew it. It was "pretty good", but I was still so afraid to paint over it. . .anyway I did. All afternoon before our final four party.
Its a picture of Jesus on the cross, and the stars are all out, and down below him, he is waking up! (the sink became a tomb and the scrubber became Christ rising up from it) The stone is rolling away, revealing the light of day. The thing I liked the most about it was not the content per se but the way God must have revealed to me -- where to paint light, or what to screw up to make better. I must admit, my cell phone cam came in handy numerous times for the way it uniquely photographs; it often brought out things to me that I couldn't see without it. Anyway, that's all for now! :) -Will