From All Tribes [Good Samaritan Series]
Size: 30” x 30”
Date: September 25th, 2022
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb!” [Revelation 7:9-10 ESV]
Brandon Hodge delivered a refreshingly honest message about racial division in the Christian church and how to break through it. Brandon told of his own difficult journey of coming to terms with his entitlement as a white man when his wife who is Ethiopian was shocked at the matter-of-fact accounting of the passing down of slaves in Brandon’s family’s genealogy book. He eventually realized how his initial reaction of trying to contextualize our dark history only served to reinforce the oppression that still exists today. Brandon emphasized that we as Christ’s body, only by first confessing the wrongs that were done and the wrongs that continue, can we start weaving together a shared memory. Finally, this shared tapestry of multiple ethnicities will make Christ’s love evident to all.
The image came to me about 20 minutes into the service. The blanket toss tradition of the Inuit people in Alaska where I grew up is a memory that always stirs awe. In the painting, the members of every tribe have their eyes fixed on Jesus. They grab hold of the blanket, and with all their strength pull in unison with a great shout, ‘Worthy is the Lamb! He is good!’
Like Brandon said, feeling guilt and shame about the atrocities of the past or the present has not fixed a single thing for anyone–It's sure never worked for me to change my own biases. But, when we spread out our blanket to catch the only One who is good, we find ourselves holding hands with every single person in a heart circle (as Steve, a kind lover of art, pointed out to me after the service when commenting on this picture:) Then, and only then, can the Good Samaritan repair our rugged quilt-of-many-tribes so we can warm and comfort people who are bruised and shivering in the cold.