Salt & Light
Canvas: 20” x 24”
Date: 11/22/2020
Time: Approx. 7 hours
Cost: $1,500
Artist Statement
Scripture:
Matthew 5:13 &14––”You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”
Heidi Glynn delivered an encouraging message about our role in the great plan of liberating the entire world––to preserve and add flavor to the lives of others, while also illuminating the darkness of their depression with hope and truth. The pressure to be salt and light to others is enormous, especially now in the middle of COVID when it is a struggle just to hold it together and have hope in our own lives! But Heidi assured everyone that the pressure is off, Jesus is already in us so we can allow Jesus to be Light and Salt through us. To demonstrate this, Heidi used the example of the planet Venus which often gets confused for a star because it reflects the light of the sun so brilliantly. As we yield to Jesus, His light reflects in our faces, and our words become “…full of grace, seasoned with salt….” [Colossians 4:6 NIV] And that by getting together with sisters and brothers in the faith, this light and salt intensifies even more!
The image borrows from growing up in interior Alaska–the COVID quarantine, in some ways, reminds me of being locked away from harsh elements through those long winters. But sometimes, you would catch a moment when the dark and gloom shifted suddenly with the rising sun; the sky would burst into fire shooting rays bouncing off the snow all around. As a kid, I would peer out through frosted windows and warm emotion would wash over me at the rare brilliance. In the painting, the figures are likewise drawn to the light, hearts filling up with hope, enough hope to keep going through another long dark night of struggle.
Jesus sparked a light in my mind resulting in a painting on canvas. But the purpose for this canvas was to inspire and strengthen the unity of the sisters and brothers gathered at Hope Covenant Church on this Sunday morning, and to invite any and all to share in that unity through belief in Jesus’ faithfulness on the cross to once-and-for-all reconcile us to God. Finally, to top it off, at the end of the gathering I left the easel with more hope than I had at the beginning! Hallelujah, there is no limit to His Love!