Flock of Light
Canvas 20” x 24”
Date: July 28th, 2018, Approx. 2 hours
Cost: $1,500
Artist Statement
You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this.—1st Corinthians 12:27 (The Message Version)
To get inspiration for this painting, I focused on Acts 2:22--”Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him…” And Romans 8:11--”God raised Christ to life through the power of the Holy Spirit.” As I meditated on this just prior to the setting up, I saw the human Jesus struggling in the desert in the hot sun with the temptation to escape suffering, especially the cross. I saw Jesus looking up and seeing the Spirit as a dove descending upon him to become his strength. Then, I saw billions of doves streaming out of Jesus’ body into the sky, filling up the darkness with light. Flying together in oscillating rhythms, swooping in, around, then out again—gathering and dispersing.
During the week prior, I had been filled at times with nearly crippling anxiety and despair over situations in my life—chaos in and around me. So, I kept refocusing on Jesus, my true Love. Then, eventually I talked to a brother on the phone to share my burden and the spell broke! I suddenly got re-routed into formation—making spectacular diving arcs, like the four million starlings in their nightly murmurations over Rome, Italy. If you’ve ever seen a video of that natural phenomenon, you were surely left in awe. What drives them? What guides them? To illustrate this mystery even further, before doing this painting I only knew the theme was on The Holy Spirit, yet, Pastor Doug focused his sermon on the same key point as the painting: the Church is us. Not slick programming; not cool worship music; not cool paintings; not the building, etc. None of that. WE are the Church! And we, like Jesus, depend on the Holy Spirit to breathe life into our [b]odies, as well as our [B]ody. This explains our odd “murmuration” if you will: rich and poor; old and young; black and white; local and immigrant. Seeing this level of unity blows people away because in it they experience The Holy Spirit of Christ’s Body of Believers, and (like Jesus in the painting) they are raised up from the grave into LIFE!!