Tag Archives: Christianity

May 11

Reckless Abandon

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The other day, I picked up my geraniums that I purchased from the Bethany auxiliary. I can’t wait to get them into my planter pots! It’s been a long winter and my heart aches for spring and color, which will be here in due time. One thing we can thank winter for—it helps us appreciate […]

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April 20

It is Finished

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Evangelist Oswald Chambers says, “The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ—’It is finished!’” Art historians consider this painting of the crucifixion one of the most influential Netherlandish paintings. It continues to be copied and updated two centuries after its completion. […]

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March 09

I Would Gather Thee

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The fluff of a feather; the warmth under a wing. One glance at this painting makes me want to snuggle up to something warm and safe and hunker down. The scripture this painting is based on can be found in Luke 13: 34. Jesus is longingly looking over the city and says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the […]

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September 24

The Holy Marys

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I was immediately drawn to this captivating depiction of the Marys, (Mary mother of James, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Cleophas) peering with wonder into the tomb that once held their Master. Not only are the women beautifully portrayed but the way the artist has arranged the painting makes the viewer feel as if he […]

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August 16

Blessed

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I’m not sure why I was drawn to this painting by Chaim Soutine called Young English Girl, but I was. My husband and I were at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris the summer of 2017 and I was immediately taken by it. Remember when we used to be able to travel freely, without worry? […]

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April 06

Jesus, Please Contend for Me

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Did you know you have a God who will fight for you? And not just fight but contend. You see, the word “contend” translates to mean more than mere fighting. God is like a mother Grizzly bear protecting her cubs (physical combat) and like a defense attorney who pleads our case (verbal combat). God loves […]

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April 04

Prayer Takes Chutzpah

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Chutzpah—a Yiddish word that means, “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, and incredible guts.” Sometimes prayer takes chutzpah. To prove the point, we look at a story Jesus tells his disciples about a woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer. The story is called “The Parable of the Persistent Widow.” Deprived of her rights after her […]

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April 02

Prayer Paradox

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Prayer is a paradox, I think, because it is easy to do (just talk to God) yet it is also complicated, nuanced and deep. That is probably why so there are so many books and Bible studies on prayer. Mark Batterson, who wrote a book about prayer called, “Draw the Circle,” talks about this prayer […]

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February 16

Pass the Salt, please

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Did you know there was such a thing as “Salt Art?” In 2016, creating art with table salt was all the rage. This work is by Mexican-born artist Rob Ferrel (pictured), who became one of the most prolific Salt Art artists. This art cannot be sold. It is made for the moment and then disappears. […]

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February 12

What is Your Worth?

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Did you know the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911? Before it was taken, it was not widely known outside the art world. Historian, James Zug, said it wasn’t “even the most famous painting in the gallery, let alone in the Louvre.” Yet, during the two years it was gone, more people […]

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February 07

Thank You for the Thorn

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If you’ve been following me at all, you know that Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists. This particular masterpiece is entitled, “The Crowning of Thorns” and is one of two pieces that he did on the subject of the torture of our Christ. Caravaggio, like many other Renaissance artists, often used sculptures as models […]

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December 06

His Master’s Voice

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Anyone over a certain age will recognize this painting entitled, “His Master’s Voice.” The dog’s name is Nipper, a name he got by occasionally playfully nipping the back of visitor’s legs. Nipper was a mixed-breed Jack Russel Terrier born in 1884 in Bristol, England. His original owner died penniless in 1887 and the owner’s siblings […]

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November 01

Do You Not Care?

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A great illustration of worry and fear is found in the story of Jesus calming the storm. The disciples are in a boat and the winds kick up. They’re sure this is the end and Jesus is asleep in the stern. His friends wake him and ask, “Do you not care that we are perishing!?” […]

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October 12

Look Right Through Me

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Édouard Manet is another one of my favorite painters. He was a pivotal artist in the 19th century who inspired many other French impressionists. This earned him the title, “The Father of Modernity.” The location of this painting is a cafe-concert called Folies-Bergère in Paris. The model was a friend of Manet’s named Suzon. She […]

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September 24

What Does It Mean?

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At my church, I asked people to ponder the term, “Christian,” and whether it was used as an adjective or a noun in their life. I then invited them to respond to the question: “What does it mean to you to follow Christ?” Here are some of the responses I received: “Since you invited your […]

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May 01

Man of Sorrows

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Come, sit with me awhile. This painting feels to me like Christ is inviting me into an intimate conversation about what surrounds him. Or maybe Jesus would rather be alone. Is he pondering what must take place in order to fulfill his Father’s will? Perhaps solitude would be more desirable. It’s hard to tell. This […]

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April 09

Who Killed Jesus?

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If we ask the question, “Who killed Jesus?” we might get differing answers. Pontius Pilate sentenced him to death, but the religious leaders encouraged him to do so. Do we blame Caiaphas, the High Priest? Or the angry mob who yelled, “Crucify him!” One BBC article I read said that many experts believe that, more […]

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April 05

“I’ll be praying for you.”

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This monochromatic pencil and ink sketch is so simple, yet poignant. The old man’s altar is an unimpressive piece of furniture—nothing grand or ornate. He doesn’t need a church altar or padded pew. The humility depicted in this scene may be the reason it feels intimate. In solitude and without fanfare, a faithful man talks […]

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March 25

The Modern-Day Prodigal

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This Sunday’s text is a familiar one—the story of the Prodigal Son. The youngest son takes his inheritance early, squanders it on questionable living and then returns home, relieved to be forgiven and welcomed by his father. The father throws a banquet for the prodigal son. The older brother is a little miffed at this […]

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March 19

Longing for Home

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Meet Christina. A young woman in a stark landscape. You can sense a story is unfolding here, a mystery perhaps. Why is she in the middle of the field? What is she staring at, or waiting for? Is her upper body tense with longing, or with fear? Anna Christina Olson, the subject of this painting, […]

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March 01

“It is good for us to be here…”

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Who knew that in Butte, Mont. (my home state), there is an Orthodox church where four Serbian painters, who claim not to be artists, brought scriptures to life by painting the ceiling of their worship space with amazingly beautiful artwork? As if painted on a giant imaginary wheel, we see a visual representation of stories, […]

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February 22

Sermon on the Level Place

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Karoly Ferenczy was a Hungarian painter who became a major figure in the art world of his time. He is considered the “father of Hungarian impressionism.” Impressionists got their start in France in the 1860s and were not interested in realism in their paintings, but rather preferred to convey an impression of what the subject […]

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February 15

At What Price?

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What interesting subject matter for a painting—a 16th Century knight paying ransom for the return of his two kidnapped daughters. The painter, John Everett Millais, was an Englishman and a child prodigy. At the age of eleven, he became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy Schools. He is also known for establishing the […]

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January 13

Words Stuck in My Head

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As I’m writing this in my office, I can hear our preschoolers in the room across the hall singing at the top of their lungs: “My God is so GREAT; My God is so MIGHTY; there’s NOTHING my God cannot DO, for YOU!” Yes, they are shouting the words that are in upper case. I […]

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December 16

Holy Magnificance

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The announcement of the coming of Christ-child didn’t only come to Mary. It also came to shepherds who were watching over their flocks that night. Oh, what a night that must have been, and I love how this painting portrays it. As I look closely at the multitude of angels, I can’t pick out a […]

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December 09

Being Warm

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I had a hard time finding out much about this painting. Witz, a Swiss painter born in Germany, is known for painting three altarpieces that have only partially survived but I don’t believe this is from one of those altarpieces. I do know the larger piece it comes from is called “The Counsel of Redemption.” […]

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November 25

Humility on Display

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Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) was an English painter. Originally this painting depicted Jesus only partially clad, but this caused such an outcry that it remained unsold for several years, until Brown covered Christ with more robes. I love this depiction of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples on the night he was betrayed. Here we […]

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November 20

Salome’s Dance

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By Iman Maleki, Morteza Katouzian, ca. 1910 Many stories in the Bible are disturbing, like the beheading of John the Baptist. The story goes like this: Herod imprisoned John, but Herod’s wife, Herodias, would rather see John dead. That is because John has the nerve to tell Herod the truth—his marriage is wrong, because not […]

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November 10

Who? Me?

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While most of his contemporaries were painting in Baroque style, which was highly ornate and extravagant, Caravaggio had begun to switch to “chiaroscuro,” a technique that depends on the dramatic use of light and dark. Caravaggio’s life was quite the story. He had many run-ins with the law and was arrested on several occasions. In […]

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August 11

The Mourning Lion

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While in Vienna earlier this summer, we were in the famous Augustinian Church where the Hapsburgs (one of the principal sovereign dynasties of Europe from the 15th to the 20th century) were hatched, latched and dispatched (baptized, married and buried). While there, I was struck by a memorial to Maria Christina (daughter of Empress Maria […]

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April 11

Grace

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But as for you, you were dead in your sins. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been […]

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March 29

Communion in the Cosmos

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Eons ago, when I was 6 years old, space exploration was very new. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to the Moon and it entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, 1968. That evening, three astronauts did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit in which they showed pictures of the Earth seen from space. […]

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March 23

Being Shattered

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A few years ago I heard a song, brilliantly played by a local violinist, called “Shatter Me.” (You can watch the video by the original artist Lindsey Stirling  here.) The raw emotion of the song captured me, haunted me. I think what captured me was the idea of being “shattered.” At first glance, that doesn’t […]

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March 09

Practicing Grace

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In London in the 19th century, there were two pastors whose parishes were near each other. One of them ran an orphanage. The other one commented on how poor the condition of the children admitted to the orphanage was, but the word that got out was that he had commented on how poor the condition […]

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January 29

Being a “lastie”

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Remember the Parable of the Vineyard. In this story told by Jesus, the workers who are hired at the end of the day get the same amount of money as those hired in the morning. I love (and hate) this story because it grates on my sense of fairness. When I consider who I identify […]

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February 14

Being Free

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Dr. Timothy Keller tells this true story of a Highland Scot named Murdo McDonald. During WWII he was captured with another Scot and put in a prisoner of war camp, Stalag 17. Both Scots acted as chaplains and were on opposite sides of the fence—one with the British group and one with an American group. Once […]

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June 04

Being Christian 3

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Part three of three I ended my last post saying that one should come to Christianity because it is true. That comes across a little arrogant, I suppose. I recently listened to an excellent talk by Mark Meynell from All Souls church in London (link below). He talks about how arrogance and religion seem to go […]

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June 02

Being Christian 2

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Part two of three Further exploration on the term, “Christian.” I won’t claim to be the first to say this (I see a lot of people have taken credit for it) but perhaps one reason people are confused about the term “Christian” is because we have made it an adjective. If you remember, the purpose of an adjective […]

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May 30

Being Christian 1

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Part one of three I say I am a Christian and some people cringe. Not all, mind you, but some. And if I am really being honest, I cringe a bit too. Not because I’m not sure if it’s true but because I wonder what people hear when I say that word: “Christian.” Donald Miller in […]

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