All of the art around 1125 S. Broad throughout Lent has been demonstrating our proverb: God is an artist. The artist who follows him creates to reveal the glory of God, too. I have seen God’s glory not just in the visual art pieces by Zoe, Cara, Kathryn, Sean, Hope, Maggie, and Brian, but in the culinary art that Candace and friends put together last night for our Last Supper. And the architectural art that Steve and friends constructed in our pallet tables. And the woodworking art that Kirby revealed in a chalice for the cup of the new covenant. It has all been so beautiful.
Today we remember God’s greatest work of artistry: himself on the cross. It is the act of regeneration that allows for the regeneration of us all. By suffering and dying to cover the distance between us, the Lord of life demonstrates that indeed, he is making all things new. He paves the way for our own suffering to be creative, like his, no matter how bad it is. It can reveal something beautiful that keeps revealing something beautiful into eternity. It can reveal God in us and us in God.
Many of my friends have been struggling throughout Lent. We’ve all got problems and it’s hard to believe that we really can be made new. But I see new life popping up out of the frozen ground of our pain that is directed to Jesus. There is a mysterious recreation happening. There is a new picture emerging…more options…more grace that leads to our own ability to be generative…right out of the seeming nothingness of despair.
Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus today as he creates, and note what he is creating in you. Like our song says, We are your canvas, create from your heart.