Barbeque of Belonging
Date: October 24th, 2021
Canvas: 20” x 20”
[Not for Sale]
When Jesus saw their faith… —Mark 2:5
I set up my canvas without a clue of what to paint that morning, then a lovely sister, Maxine Amen, approached me and asked, “Are you going to paint the ocean?” “Why do you ask?” I said. She said, “Well, you’re barefoot, so I just thought you looked like you were going to the beach.” So I got the idea to paint an ocean scene!
Doug Glynn, a pastor at Hope Covenant, mentioned a get-together that he and his wife, Heidi, were hosting at their home this week, so I added a relaxing bar-b-que to the scene! Doug focused on Mark 2 where four men cut a hole in the roof to lower their paralyzed friend down on his mat to Jesus, who “saw their faith,” forgave the paralyzed man’s sins, [called out the religious leaders’ doubts], then told him to pick up his mat and walk home! We all need ‘mat bearers’...close confidants we can be our true selves with. Lilly, an elder at Hope, talked about Brene Brown’s thought: where I can be myself, I experience belonging, but where I can’t be myself I’m just fitting in. [paraphrase]
It dawned on me later that the shoreline in the painting represents the Mat. Father, Son and Holy Spirit enjoy belonging, an eternal-mutual-mat-bearing, if you will. I realized something else…the reclining figure is Jesus who takes the place of the paralyzed man from Mark 2, and he takes the place of another (fear) paralyzed man...ME. You see, part of me still doubts (DAILY) God’s ability and intentions, and so I freeze. But, Jesus became sin [2 Cor. 5:21] on the cross; he even became my doubt and fear. I can be myself with Jesus by believing my true self is already in him, and vise-versa. This reality of belonging is so staggering, I jump out of the dreadful doubt-fear-survival-boat and run down the beach! This is a full confession of sin!
Religious leaders were talented at “fitting in”—at hiding their brokenness and controlling—so, Jesus’ offering of belonging through mutual vulnerability triggered a fight/flight response similar to mine—a clinging to the boat. I’m so thankful each time my own boat crashes and sinks! I get to go back to the work of believing Jesus already finished the work, so I can just let go, chill on the beach, be myself, and enjoy a good ole’ mat-bearing-bar-b-q of belonging with God and anyone else open to do the same! No religious hierarchy or programming required : ) Finally, thanks to all my mat (canvas) bearers, like Maxine, this painting would not have taken form without you!