Engaging with God in Art

I have met a very important milestone y'all. I have now arranged my first church sign. Yes, the sign has been up for several weeks; I'm still pretty excited. The two sides of the sign are two sides of the same coin.

In order to help emphasize this idea, I have created a picture that I hope to display in both of my churches for some period of time. Though we will finish the sermon series, "Engaging with God--Reframing Worship," the theme of my ministry with these very wonderful people remains the same. By teaching, preaching, praying, living with them, and personal example, I hope to help as many as possible to experience the Christian lifestyle as one that is actively engaging with God--on His terms.

The picture is entitled, "Authentic Worship." It features a man, who is not only partially naked but is bereft of his face. Underneath is polished exterior lies an ugly brutish beast. A Thing! Notice that he is also holding a time piece. For how many of us, does the clock dictate who were are? He is offering his face and his time piece to God, as token of his real self. In so doing his real self is exposed, before the all-consuming fire that is God's very nature. Thus, the fiery cauldron represents God. The cauldron sits upon rocks. On several occasions people in the Old Testament built altars out of rocks to God. This was done as gestures of worship, but also as vehicles of worship. The rocky altars would be memorial stones to help them remember the great and vast things God had done for them.

Thus, the man is encountering a deep penetrating experience. Notice again that the cauldron is sitting on the altar. This represents God's offering of himself for the sin of the world in the person of Jesus. This offering, where Jesus literally gave his life on the cross, is what makes reconciliation with God even possible. Not only is the man legally justified before God, the way is now paved for him to become totally transformed. Remember that Jesus became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. This is represented by the different colors of the river in which the man is standing. The darker water, which represents his dark sin nature, is being washed away and replace by the lighter water. Concerning the river itself, Jesus claimed that whoever believed in him rivers of living water would flow out of him.

Notice the people descending down to the river. They are leaving the church to do so. As believers we are not to stay held up in our cozy little churches (known as Ft. God). Rather we are to leave in force and go into the sin of the world (out of imitation of Christ). The people are a church who is going to encapsulate the man who is redemptively experiencing God. The believers are robed in red, representing their being clothed in the blood of Christ. One of them holds a red robe for the man in the river. The picture is of night, where mythically crime happens. The church is leaving the church building to encounter the world with Christ during the time of sin. Notice that the trees are different colors. Some trees look as if to be in summer and some look as if to be in fall, with reddish-orange colors. The ground is reddish-orange. These images represent the need to be prepared during any season of the year (or at all times) for any work of ministry for the Lord.

Here are a few pictures featuring the completion process: