Art Show on Main opens October 3

It's the fourth annual art show at Union Center Christian Church.

Each year we hope to cultivate beauty and community through the making and appreciation of art.

If you are an artist (or you think you might be!) join us early on Saturday for workshops and panel discussions:

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM: Workshops

• Songwriter workshop with Brian Moss
• Writer workshop with Dan Keohane and Kevin Lucia
• Visual art critique sessions with Erin L. McMahon, Amanda Oldenwelder, Danielle Smith, Julia Dean and Andy Palmer.  If you're entering the juried show, this is your deadline for submitting work. 

3:30 PM - 5:00 PM:  Feature Artist Panel Discussion

Hear straight from the artists themselves: their stories, the ups and downs of the creative life, the daily habits and struggles of living as an art maker.  Play your part as an art-maker and bring your questions, frustrations and encouragement for your fellow artists!

6:00 PM - 9:00 PM:  Exhibit opening with Coffeehouse on Main

Hear live music, author readings and art talks from our featured artists.  Enjoy free sugary desserts and caffeine-laden concoctions.  Support the aspiring musicians and spoken word artists who auditioned to play at this event.  Play your part as an art-appreciator and come for all or part of the evening!

(Coffee, desserts and admission are free.  The Cafe on Main will be open to purchase an even wider variety of coffeehouse beverages.)

12 Days of Christmas: My Favorite Creators and Cultivators in 2008

If there is a constructive way forward for Christians in the midst of our broken but also beautiful cultures, it will require us to recover these two biblical postures of cultivation and creation. -- Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling

Day 12: Creative Risk-Takers

Andy Palmer and Florrie Barnett serving us during Art Show on Main 2008

Sometimes I start a thing without doing the work of planning it all the way through. This series of posts is a great example. I didn't think through the twelve things I wanted to highlight before I started, didn't think through the title (12 days of Christmas has a very specific meaning that I kind of just ignored in order to get some kind of gimmick for my title), didn't think through whether I wanted to go in a certain order. It's the same trait that consistently sends me searching for a gas station with the needle below E and about $1.53 in quarters, dimes and pennies rolling around in the ashtray.

That kind of risky behavior is just plain stupid. Not really what I want to honor here in this final post of 2008. I'm thinking more about courageous risks, sacrificial risks, creative risks. So, in no particular order but with a lot of admiration I include the following creators and cultivators that have made an impression on me in 2008.

Laurel Rudd: Ellemar Designs on Etsy

Laurel and her husband Sean are friends of mine. Laurel entered her work into this year's Art Show on Main. Out of many aspiring artists in our church she took the challenge of entering her work into our first-ever juried show she showed some of the richest grace and courage. She did not know what kind of feedback she would receive and not all of her pieces made the cut. But the feedback she got from the professional artists on the jury confirmed what she had already been thinking: her hand-painted vases showed her truest artistic passion. Near that same time she opened her online shop on Etsy and began the brave task of putting her work out there for the public to critique.

I bought myself one of her elegant miniature vases with Christmas money from my grandmother. Since no two of her works are alike you can enjoy my picture and then browse Laurel's site for your own! May God establish the work of your hands, Laurel.

(The two pieces on the left are Laurel's entries that the Jury accepted into the show.

Florence and Earl Barnett:

I wish I had gotten to know these two better years ago. I mean I knew Florrie was pursuing her art education degree. I knew Earl was pursuing his theology degree. I knew they were young, married and burning life at both ends to make a living and pursue education and livelihood. I used to check in with Earl early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when Earl would be the first customer at the college cafe where I worked. While I added a lemon slice to his black cup-of-joe-to-go (strange I know...)I'd ask how school, work and life was going. I think on one occasion or another I was able to tell him how much I admired the discipline he and his wife demonstrated as they took turns going to school full-time and working enough hours to make a paycheck.

Last year I was privileged to attend their joint opening at a local gallery. Earl's photographs and Florrie's artwork side by side on the top floor of a cool old building was the perfect environment to enjoy their work.

But this past year I got to know Florrie more over coffee at Barnes & Noble. I wanted to pick her brain about arts and artists and church. Much of those conversations showed up in subtle but significant changes we've made to our creative endeavors at church. While we met I also got to know more about the plans she and her husband were making to complete their degress. And get this -- it meant them having to live in seperate states for six months. Florrie needed to stay locally to do her student teaching with Marywood University while Earl got started with his graduate work at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. Watching them go through this last season and then saying good-bye as Florrie completed her degree and moved to Atlanta makes me feel privileged to know them. Earl and Florrie, may you both know God's favor as you pursue life together in the south. May your hard work and sacrificial risk-taking make a difference in the culture around you. I will always be one of your biggest fans.

Union Center Christian Church, Creative Arts at the Center:

We have been building -- slowly, but surely -- a place for creatives and artists at Union Center to serve their church family and community with their talents. We have worked hard to build trust with our leadership and our church family. To truly serve each other with humility and beauty. In 2008 we were given overwhelming support to pursue new ideas that would integrate art and artists into the fabric of worship and community at the Center. I was amazed at what can happen with an organic, grass roots approach; seeing what resources and ideas were simmering in our community and then adding teamwork and tons of hard work to bring the ideas to concrete reality. This felt extremely risky for each person involved INCLUDING those who attended the events and brought their friends. Imagine the courage that takes!

The following photos are just a short summary of many rich and beautiful moments together in 2008.

Good Friday and Easter

a multi-sensory experience of the stations of the cross

Art Show on Main

with special recognition to our guest artists who shared with us both their work and their expertise: Andy Palmer, Florence Barnett, Erin McMahon, Matt Kellman, Danielle Smith, Cheryl Mango and John Carter...

...and special recognition to the risk-taking artists at Union Center who entered their visual art into our first-ever juried show and who performed their original songs and spoken word for us during the Coffeehouse on Main.

I included this picture because I love so much that Bethany showed up at the coffeehouse with her crochet basket. She is one of my favorite new-found friends and creatives.

Christmas at the Center: A Terminal Christmas

I don't have pictures of the actual production, sadly, but I do have this lovely group shot after our final performance. What a crazy, hard-working, risk-taking bunch this is! (oh, yeah, and ignore the date in the corner...it's wrong!). For more about this project go here.

If you've stuck with me this far during this blog series, thank you. I look forward to spending a lot more time together in 2009. It seems fitting to end this series celebrating creators and cultivators with a benediction:

Lord, let my life be orderly, regular, temperate; let no pride or self-seeking, no covetousness or revenge, no little ends and low imaginations pollute my spirit and unhallow my words and actions. Let my body be a servant of my spirit and both my body and spirit be servants of Jesus, doing all things for your glory here. (Jeremy Taylor)

Amen.

Welcome, 2009!

12 Days of Christmas: my favorite creators and cultivators in 2008

If there is a constructive way forward for Christians in the midst of our broken but also beautiful cultures, it will require us to recover these two biblical postures of cultivation and creation. -- Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling

Days 2, 3 & 4: David and Phaedra Taylor and the Transforming Culture Symposium

I began reading David's blog in 2006 when I was browsing the internet for help to produce an art show at our church. I found Hope Chapel in Austin, TX where David was the arts pastor. That site was a tangible lifeline to this amateur arts director. At first I was just looking for how-to's and logistical advice, but soon I discovered there were theological and liturgical perspectives of which I was completely ignorant. This led me to David's blog and I am not embarrassed to say I read every word.

Who knows how these things happen? It's not like there aren't gazillions of other blogs and book titles on this trinity of art and faith and culture. And I have read several. But there was something about the combination of intelligence and faith and humility; of respect for the Church's grand history, discernment for the Church's place in the present and sacrifice for the Church's future generations that set Taylor apart. Although I hadn't been studying for long I had already become disillusioned by so many short-sighted and shallow church "arts ministries". I discovered David Taylor's writings at the right time and I have no doubt to whom my truest gratitude is owed. (hint -- it's NOT David...)

But this year -- 2008 -- was a banner year. The leadership at Union Center approved several of us to attend the Transforming Culture Symposium that David Taylor co-founded in April. And then invited David and his wife Phaedra to visit us during the Art Show on Main in October. I confess I might have been a little bit nervous to get to know the Taylor's on a more personal level. In my life I've had far more opportunities to discover that leaders I've respected from a distance do not have much maturtity, humility, or even kindness at their foundation. And, while it would be foolish to say that I truly know the Taylors now, I do believe their lives match their words. And that is saying a lot.

As creators and cultivators David and Phaedra merge their talents and passions beautifully. [It's a good thing, too, since they are married afterall!] David's tagline at his blog describes him as an arts pastor who never wanted to be a pastor and never thought he could be an artist. And, although he has left his official post as an arts pastor to a local congregation he has not laid aside his calling to pastor artists. There is no question that his true heart is pastoral and it spills out in every conversation I've ever had with him. He is currently editing the plenary content of the Transforming Culture Symposium for a book to be published by Baker Books. He and his wife are making plans for him to do his Ph.D. work and then move back to Texas to establish an arts center in Austin.

Phaedra's work as a visual artist is the kind of work that I could only describe as beguiling. I mean that in the most charming of senses. She employs layers of whimsy and childlike wonder with poignancy, elegance and even sadness in her prints, paintings, drawings and sculptures. She is a skilled craftsmen with deep insight. And discipline. And it shows. I hope to own some of her work someday. In the meantime I enjoy your her stories of living artfully one day at a time at her blog.

Both David and Phaedra model what it is to be a disciple artist. May God continue to establish the work of their hands. And may we not just be distant observers of their work, but co-laborers with them in our own communities and callings.

I've blogged a lot of the content of the Symposium here, here, here, here, here and here. But there are a few details I don't think I've mentioned. For example, have I told you how lovely church campus was or the deep and rich the liturgical worship experience? (I had never even heard of St. Patrick's Breastplate let alone sung it!) I also am certain I haven't mentioned that I sat about six feet away from poet Luci Shaw during her breakout session. As she read her work to us, tears ran and ran and ran down my cheeks. I couldn't help myself. It was beautiful and moving and felt like a totally ordinary response to her extraordinary use of language.

I also will never, ever forget Eugene Peterson. It was not so much as what he said (although he is a master storyteller and quite convincing in his exhortation!) It was more the essence of wisdom and age and humility that he brought to an event full of great thinkers and artists. How often he answered a deep question from an attender, pleading for help with a kind of sighed "I don't know." The first time we heard him answer this we laughed. We realized soon that his heart was pure in the simple statement "I am wary of big solutions." How very, very, very refreshing! And someday I will blog a whole post about my deepest epiphany of the entire event that was sparked by this half-chuckle and half-proclamation from Peterson, "We're just so damn ordinary." How refreshing indeed.

Some pictures from the Taylor's visit:

David and Phaedra mixing it up with Union Center artists during Coffeehouse on Main.

Post-sermon conversations with new friends at Union Center.

Post-dinner Highschool Musical sing-a-long with more new friends. (hey, it's culture!)

Pastor John and Brian pray over David and Phaedra after brunch our final morning together.

Art Show on Main 2008

Andy Palmer's work during opening reception this past Saturday

It was an exciting opening event for this year's Art Show on Main at Union Center. We'd made some pretty significant changes to the previous two years and, for the most part, I think the changes paid off.

By inviting artists from the Greater Binghamton art community, we were able to introduce our church family to some of the good work happening outside our four walls. I felt so pleased to be part of a church family who invited these artists in and were willing to learn from their experience and, even, take the risk of receiving critique from them on their own work.

Yes, I wish that more of our artists had taken advantage of this opportunity. But nothing prepared me for the feeling of fulfillment I experienced watching those who did attend the event stand in the middle of a room buzzing with conversation and ideas and Miles Davis' Autumn Leaves and then watching them leave the event feeling affirmed and encouraged and stretched toward greater levels of skill in their craft. Nothing prepared me for the sense of rest and enjoyment I experienced sitting in the back of our sanctuary listening to aspiring songwriters sing lyrics they wrote to melodies they crafted to ask the question, "Is it any good?". I was just hiding out in the back of the room and my stomach was lurching.

And nothing prepared me for the gratitude that our guests expressed. All of them work more than one job, some also juggle family needs, most are still investing in their education -- and yet, the flexibility and graciousness they exhibited toward me and our church family was truly beautiful.

We have 27 new pieces selected by the jury to add to the exhibit and several performances of original music and spoken word to enjoy in our closing event Coffeehouse on Main. I look forward to being unprepared for many more beautiful moments then.

(Thankfully I was a little bit prepared for the media should they choose to attend. We were pleased to be featured on the 11:00 news on channel 12 -- you can find the transcript here.)

prepping for the panel discussion

bravo, God!

(*pastel by Matt Kellman; Art Show on Main 2007)

It's been two weeks since the event and I'm finally getting back to a sort of 'normalcy'. As a summary, I share my journal entry from the Monday morning, October 8, less than 12 hours after the completion of Art Show on Main 2007.

"Good morning, sweet Abba.
How ironic that my flesh tendency is to rush forward from this weekend into a worry list of "Where do we go from here?" ; "What do I do about [name of guilty party removed!]?"; "How should we evaluate this?", etc., etc., etc.
Please God, (I seem to be in continual need from you!) (is that a good thing as in 'APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING') (i like to use parantheses a lot in my journal) now I'm asking for help to be grateful and restful.

Here's a bullet list of fond memories from this full weekend of Binghamton's First Friday, Art Show on Main and CenterStage Christmas auditions: (in no particular order)

• we're going to have a small orchestra pit band for Christmas!
• the cameo role of Zechariah for the Christmas play, God With Us
• Florrie Barnett and Earl Barnett's gallery opening at the Bundy Museum
• InsideOut's debut during Cubestock 2007 at the Night Eagle they brought the house down!
• our new friends, the Kinney family, joining us for the two days of the Art Show
• Craig and Andrea's friends joining us for the Art Show
• DOT RAMA!!
• Pastor John's "art & the church" talk on Sunday evening
• my friend Lisa Hoteling's open house for her dream "Harmony Hills Ranch"
• lunch on Sunday with my new friend Jean who is just getting to know Christ
• that we got to show my new favorite short film "Most" during the Art Show
• the beautiful autumnal decorations and yummy cookies for the art show reception
• watching the art show guests working together on our mosaic...it's gorgeous!
• watching Lateefah Covington teach children how to make oragami birds like the ones in her mobile on display
• reading all the title ideas for Mike Krause's sculpture
• the story behind the church stained glass pieces from the 1700's that artist Andy Palmer is restoring and had on display
• the lush, lush vocals and instrumentals of the classical music during the performing arts show
• watching Pastor John fight back tears during the performing arts show and the closing concert
• the leadership team: Wendy, Margaret, Nancy, Debbie and all the volunteers who worked so hard on the weekend
• my friend Lori singing her guts out on "Shine" during the closing concert
• the guitar trio Sunday night -- I could have listened a lot longer
• all the original works artists -- visual and performing -- who took the giant risk of sharing their heart and vision with us
• the variety of visual arts in Main Street (loved that GIRAFFE!)
• Barb Transue and Richard and Carol Caforio listening to my sons' very, very loud band and later affirming them - talk about a legacy to the next generation!
• watching my daughters create their own mosaics on Sunday afternoon

and i could go on and on and on and on and on an on....
Can't wait to see where we're headed next.


God, you continue to smile on us. I am amazed and ever grateful.


Love,
your daughter, Tamara

Art Show on Main 2007

It's here...the big weekend.

It's a big, big show.
You won't want to miss it.

We've got visual art -- paintings, pastels, photography, mosaics.

We've got children's art.

We've got interactive art.

We've got performing art.

We've got free concerts.

We've got a short film.

We've got live harp music.

We've got good food.

We've got caffeine-laden concoctions.

It's just your well-rounded arts weekend.

Don't miss it!

Art Show on Main 2007

(pic: last year's art show; guest artist Andy Palmer)

Here it is...the Prospectus I've been working on for this year's Art Show on Main. The theme "Mosaic" revolves around a topic that literally gives me goose bumps. Would love to hear your thoughts....

Art Show on Main 2007 PROSPECTUS: “Mosaic”
A NOTE ON THE THEME


mo·sa·ic [moh-zey-ik] noun, adjective, verb, -icked, -ick·ing.
–noun
1. a picture or decoration made of small, colored pieces of inlaid stone, glass, etc.
2. the process of producing such a picture or decoration.
3. something resembling such a picture or decoration in composition, esp. in being made up of diverse elements: ex., a mosaic of borrowed ideas.


Contrasts carry a certain fascination. For example, vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Alone each flavor is tasty. Wound together into a soft-serve twist cone – sheer genius.


And consider the contrast displayed in that now familiar photo of the Conklin elementary school sign promoting good character. The word on the sign, “Persistence”, stands in stark contrast against the backdrop of a growing pile of flood debris. Ironic.


Mosaic as an art form features creative use of contrast displayed in intriguing arrays of shape, color and texture. Study a piece close up. At this range, one’s perspective is limited to individual fragments of colored glass, tile and a variety of other found treasures. From this angle the only thing this odd assortment seems to have in common is a random shatteredness.


Behold the surprise and delight, though, after taking a few steps back and discovering the image created from the meticulous placement of each tiny, diverse element!


And a certain realization dawns.


There is a deep symbolism contained within the images that emerge from those contrasting colors and textures.


Mosaic finds beauty in found objects – smashed and discarded.
Mosaic requires the genius of an artist, willing to take time and care to form a unique and whole masterpiece from random broken pieces.
Mosaic is most masterful the more diverse and intricately woven the individual elements.

Mosaic sounds a lot like us.


As we strive to come together as artists who follow Christ and care for each other and our community, we form a living Mosaic. We are individual people from various colored and broken backgrounds and who practice many different art forms. Yet in the Mind of the Divine Artist, we are made into one masterpiece, the Church.


“God is building a home. He’s using us all - irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day – a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.” Ephesians 2:19, The Message


In some mystical and Christ-saturated way, God places the broken up and diverse pieces that our individual lives represent and forms a unified community. When looked at from the right perspective, this image reflects the imago dei – God Himself.


Sheer genius. Sheer grace.


The purpose of the 2007 Art Show on Main is to celebrate artistic diversity as a unified community in the following ways:


diverse gifts unified in one Body“Each one brings their irreplaceable individuality to make life a pattern of diversity with a pursuit of unity.” Ravi Zacharias


“A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another. God has also given each of us different gifts to use…” Romans 12:4-6, Contemporary English Version
Whether someone participates in the Art Show on Main 2007 by showing art or performing art or by helping to prepare for the events or by attending the events and enjoying the art, the whole Body is blessed.


Additionally, in recognition of the fact that Christ’s Church extends beyond the walls here at Union Center and has grown in unity through recent events in the Greater Binghamton area, we invite artists from area churches to submit work to our Visual Arts show.


diverse media unified in one art show
Visual Arts: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, textiles, mixed media, etc.


“In Exodus 28:31-35, a passage describing the priest’s garments, we find pattern, color and sound all working together. As Francis Schaeffer once observed ‘The making of the Tabernacle involved almost every form of representational art known to humanity. But because God is also the god of creative imagination, of metaphor and symbol, of parable and analogy, the design of the Tabernacle, and later of the Temple, was packed with symbolism. The design and placement of furnishings and vessels, the use of different materials such as linen, goatskins, silver, brass, gold, acacia wood, and the ceremonies prescribed for the worship of God in these sacred precincts, the system of sacrifices and oblations, all had meaning beyond themselves.’ This is the essence of the sacramental – that material things remind us of and point us to the things we cannot see but which have ultimate and eternal reality.” Luci Shaw, essay in The Christian Imagination
Performing Arts: vocal, instrumental, spoken word, theatre, dance, film presented in either original or classical works


“Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!” Psalm 150, The Message
diverse eras unified in one history“Believing Christians in the arts tend to become discouraged…When discouragement sets in, we should remind ourselves that the Church is a living church. For the believing, practicing Christian or Jew, there is no eternal death, only life in the present and life in the future. C.S. Lewis, Bach, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and King Oliver (of New Orleans jazz fame) are not dead but alive and well in the cloud of witnesses.
Because of the arts, we are not limited exclusively to our present period of history. We can stand in the Florence of Dante and Vasari. We can listen to the music of Scarlatti. We can read the words of Homer or Winston Churchill. We can listen to the music of Mahalia Jackson. We can live, through the arts and humanities, in all time at once…” Franky Schaeffer, Sham Pearls For Real Swine
Classical Works: from the classical repertoire (Renaissance through the 20th century)
“The Jewish-Christian West has produced unrivaled glories in the field of music… Certainly there are serious Christians engaged in making good contemporary music, but those who limit themselves to contemporary popular ‘Christian music’ seem to be unaware that the horizons are so much broader.” Franky Schaeffer, Sham Pearls For Real Swine
Original Works: lyric, composition, poem, essay, choreography, film, theatrical scene, etc. performed by the original author
“Spring is, of course, not really less beautiful because we have seen or heard of other like events, never from world’s beginning to world’s end the same event. Each leaf, of oak and ash and thorn, is a unique embodiment of the pattern and for some this very year may be the embodiment, the first ever seen and recognized, though oaks have put forth leaves for countless generations of men. We do not, or need not, despair of drawing because all lines must be either curved or straight, nor of painting because there are only three primary colours. We may indeed be older now, in so far as we are heirs in enjoyment or in practice of many generations of ancestors in the arts.
In this inheritance of wealth there may be a danger of boredom or of anxiety to be original…
Recovery (which includes return and renewal of health) is a re-gaining – re-gaining of a clear view. I do not say, ‘seeing things as they are’…though I might venture to say ‘seeing things as we are’ (or were)’meant to see them’ – as things apart from ourselves. We need in any case, to clean our windows; so that the things seen clearly may be freed from the drab blur of triteness or familiarity – from possessiveness.” J.R.R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf
“Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your ‘Hallelujahs!’ Play his praise on a grand piano! Invent your own new song to him; give him a trumpet fanfare.” Psalm 33:1-3, The Message




A CALL FOR ENTRIES


Dear Artist,
We are bursting with anticipation at what God will bring together through the Art Show on Main 2007. The Art Show leaders have been working and praying for many months over the very best way to cultivate beauty and community through the arts at this event. During these months we have felt strongly that this is the year to introduce a few new aspects.


The first addition is the introduction of the performing arts to the event. Secondly, as a result of the joy of working together for the Franklin Graham festival and other recent events in our community, we are inviting artists from area churches to participate in the visual arts portion of the show. And thirdly, we are excited to provide an opportunity for children to enjoy the experience of making and displaying their own art during this weekend.


For our visual artists, although you are welcome to, we are not requiring you to create a literal mosaic. The art show itself – each one bringing their irreplaceable individuality to make a pattern of diversity with the pursuit of unity (Zacharias) – will display the theme in bold and living color. To further enhance the theme for this year, an interactive mosaic piece will be prominently displayed in Main Street and anyone who attends will be able to have a part in creating the work. Once the Art Show on Main is concluded, the mosaic will be donated to an organization that would benefit from a piece of original artwork.


We can’t wait to start receiving submissions (see enclosed entry forms for both performing and visual art). As you prepare for the show, we invite you to pray over this theme, Mosaic. Study the word from different angles, holding your personal ideas and experiences up to the light of Scripture. Meditate on the patterns that the Holy Spirit creates from the assortment of pieces you place before Him. Get on http://www.biblegateway.com/ and do a word search (possible word choices -- unity, diversity, broken, whole)…see how God treats this concept in the Scriptures. Talk to a friend, explore a new medium, and look through your portfolio or repertoire in a fresh way.


Above all, as you prepare your submissions, we encourage you to speak truth through your art. Avoid the temptation to draw and paint and sculpt ‘Christian’ or ‘churchy’. Jesus became man and walked through the stuff of earth without ever losing His deity. In the same way, He is able to take the stuff of your artwork and reveal Himself through it.


We are praying for you. We are asking God to encourage us and guide us and protect us as we take this risk of revealing the imago dei individually and collectively. Most of all, we are asking Him to bring great fame to His name through our obedience and vulnerability.


Ever your biggest fans,


Tami Murphy, Director of Creative Arts at Union Center Christian Church

Wendy Westcott, Art Show on Main 2007 Event Coordinator

Broken

Wow! This has been a busy and intense ministry season.

The leadership at UCCC has been teaching a series titled, "Broken", about our sexual and relational wounding and brokenness.

Again I say...Intense.

They had asked the Creative Arts team -- which I serve as Director -- to provide several dramatic and visual elements for the series. In conjunction, we are holding our first-ever art show which happens to be ...NEXT WEEKEND!! (Yikes!) Today, I'm posting the prospectus about the theme.

I have just been immersed in this theme for several weeks (in reality -- the whole year) because I have also been co-leading a small group in CrossCurrent -- the program that the Broken series is adapted from. I have never in my life been exposed to so many stories of brokenness and yet been so full of hope for people. If you know me at all, you know that this is an absolute transformation in my life. I am thankful.

At the same time, God has exposed more of my own brokenness than ever before in my journey with Him...and still I am full of hope ( exhausted, maybe, but full of hope).

Here are my thoughts about living in the tension of brokenness and hope.

Art Show 2006 PROSPECTUS: "Broken"
A CALL FOR ENTRIES

"Broken things are worthless in the world, but broken things God can not resist." -- McDonald

It is not an accident that the theme chosen for the Art Show can be viewed from several
different angles. Hold this concept up to the light and, like a kaleidoscope, turn it round and
round. The colors and shapes of the fragments will fascinate you.

Broken, the word, can be used from a place of grief, as in 'my heart is broken.' Or it can be
used to express gospel humility, as in 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.' (NASB, Psalm 51:16-18)

It can describe failure in our lives: 'my marriage is broken,' or freedom from prison or slavery:
'This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.' (The Message, Isaiah 58:6)
Broken can also describe the physical damage of an object -- your son's favorite toy or your
checking account. Turn the lens again and we see broken used in one of the Bible's most
compelling narratives of surrender and worship, 'While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.' (NASB, Mark 14:2-4)
In the context of the CrossCurrent sermon series, the word broken defines the relational
and sexual sins and wounds that have made up the patterns of our lives. We have been
damaged physically, emotionally and spiritually by the sin in us and around us. As the imago
dei, the image of God, we are not what God intended us to be. We are broken.

But there is hope. Great hope.

'With the cross before us, we are reminded that life has broken through all the deadly loves
of the old self. We live out of the new and true self. The cross reminds us that we are
greater than the sum total of our brokenness.' -- Andrew Comiskey, author of CrossCurrent
curriculum
Broken does not lose its meaning for us once we receive Christ's gift of healing and
wholeness.

Turn the lens again, adjust the light, and you see, 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a
broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.' (NASB, Psalm 51:17)
'One of our central core-values at Union Center is 'brokenness.' This is not referencing the
damage of our lives, which may be plentiful, but rather an attitude of teachability, humility
and obedience to the Spirit.' -- Dr. John Hawco, senior pastor at Union Center
In this light, broken describes the beauty of a life that is characterized by compassion,
forgiveness, humility and surrender.

'The Lord Jesus cannot live in us fully and reveal Himself through us until the proud self
within us is broken. This simply means that the hard unyielding self which justifies itself,
wants its own way, stands up for its rights, and seeks its own glory at last bows its head to
God's will, admits its wrong, gives up its own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights and discards
its own glory -- that the Lord Jesus might have all and be all.' -- Roy Hession, The Calvary Road
And, in this light, all the fragments and all the colors of the kaleidoscope draw our eyes to
our Savior -- the God-man who was broken for us. 'The Master, Jesus, on the night of his
betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me.' After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: 'This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.' -- (The Message, 1 Corinthians 11:23)
Practically, we want to invite you to pray over this theme. Study the word from different
angles, holding it up to the light of your personal experience. Get on www.biblegateway.com and do a word search -- see how God treats this concept in the Scriptures. Talk to a friend, explore a new medium, look through your portfolio in a fresh way. There is no specific requirement for the artists except that one of the pieces be submitted under the theme Broken, and that you provide a statement of how that artwork reflects the theme.

Above all, I encourage you to speak truth through your art. Avoid the temptation to draw
and paint and sculpt something 'Christian' or 'churchy.' Jesus became man and walked
through the stuff of earth without ever losing His deity. In the same way, He is able to take
the stuff of your artwork and reveal Himself through it.

I am praying for you. I am asking God to encourage us and guide us and protect us as we
take this risk of revealing the imago dei in each one of us. Most of all, I am asking Him to
bring great fame to His name through our obedience and vulnerability.

Ever your biggest fan,
Tamara