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This Sunday is week four of Christ in the Psalms 2021 at Park Church Highlands. We’ll be in Psalm 113.
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This Sunday is week two of Christ in the Psalms 2021 at Park Church Downtown. We’ll be in Psalm 111.
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This Sunday is week three of Christ in the Psalms 2021 at Park Church Highlands. We’ll be in Psalm 112.
Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.
Person: Deannah Baesel
I feel like art chose me when I was a child and it’s never let go! Art has given me a space to be creative, work through big feelings, celebrate others, and enjoy different characteristics of God. It’s incredibly rewarding to work on a project, devoting time/thought/energy to it, then see it manifest. For me, the process of creating can be just as enjoyable as the finished piece! I hold a Bachelor of Science in Art with an emphasis in Design and Composition from Biola University. I’ve taught art in private and group lessons—from 1st graders through adult wine and paint nights. Creating is a place I feel safe and comfortable and I want to help others experience those same feelings.Piece: Mixed Media
When reading Psalm 111, I kept thinking about the glory, awesomeness, and consistency of God. This passage is full of so many of His characteristics – greatness, glory, majesty, righteousness, graciousness, compassion, remembrance, promise, power, faithfulness, justice, trustworthiness, uprightness, provision. When I think about these words, I can’t help but pause in awe of who God is and the fact that He loves me so dearly. In this piece, I wanted to capture that feeling, but how to you communicate something that you can’t see? I explored this tension using symbolism in the composition and materials, ultimately creating a piece that aims to guide the viewer to seeing the radiance of God, grounded in and overlaid by the truth of His unending glory.
This mixed media piece is created using yarn, hot glue, spray paint, resin, and gold leaf. I’ve never worked with resin before, but the learning process was a lot of fun! The lines represent the radiance of God and are created using a worsted weight yarn. I measured the various points around the panel and hot glued them in place. I decided on a warm color palette because these characteristics of God make me feel happy and I sense happiness in bright, warm tones. The white strokes near bottom where the yarn comes together are created by manipulating the wet spray paint with my hands – a little touch of me laid into the piece. I coated the panel in 3 layers of resin, with each layer curing for 24 hours. As an artist, waiting can be one of the hardest things to do! In our daily lives, waiting can create a place where we listen in order to learn and grow in our faith. While waiting during the creation of this piece, I found myself returning to the passage and reflecting on all of the characteristics of God over and over again. Once the yarn was covered in resin, I laid out the triangle (a symbol of the Holy Trinity) and used gold leaf adhesive to create a crisp edge and organic edge. The crisp edge symbolizes the truth of God and how it is unwavering; God is real and He loves us. The organic edge represents the creativity of God and the space we have to journey in our faith while still being certain of His stability. Gold leaf reminds me of royalty, which felt like an appropriate medium to express the glory of God woven throughout this Psalm. Another 2 coats of resin encapsulate the golf leaf with the yarn which makes the piece layered, but still one cohesive work. The resin’s slight reflective surface also allows the viewer to see themselves in the piece, which is a very important part of the work. When we know and believe in God, we enter into relationship with Him. By seeing your reflection in the center of the triangle, you see how you are surrounded by the 3 persons of the Trinity with God’s love radiating out from your center. That’s the feeling of awe that I wanted each viewer to experience.
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This Sunday is week two of Christ in the Psalms 2021 at Park Church Highlands. We’ll be in Psalm 111.
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This annual series, now in its tenth year, is called Christ in the Psalms. This Sunday is week one of Christ in the Psalms 2021 at Park Church Downtown. We’ll be in Psalm 110.
If anything, 2020 exposed our glaring inability to have hard conversations about issues that matter with charity and humility while not sacrificing conviction and truth. At this event, we discussed practicing a pattern of love in how we engage with disagreement as unified witnesses of Jesus in the world.
About The Public Square:
Throughout history, the Church has recognized its place in speaking into the broader culture around us. God designed us, and He knows both what our societies need to thrive and what causes their decay. As Christians in our city and country, we want to speak with wisdom, grace, and clarity about what leads to human flourishing as a testament to the truth of God’s word and the power of the Gospel to bring life.
To help us do this well, we are re-introducing a series of events called “The Public Square,” preparing us to contribute faithfully in spaces where people and opinions interact.
Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.
Person: Alyssa Beck
I’m Alyssa Beck. Wife, mother to 3 littles, and a graphic designer.Piece: Soft Pastel
I hope to spend my life in a posture of seeking to understand God’s character. One question we like to ask in our family is “What must God be like…?” I wanted to illustrate that question in meditating on Psalm 110. I learned that this Psalm is commonly quoted in the New Testament to support the understanding that Jesus, the Messiah, is both King and Priest. The visual that came to mind in meditating on this Psalm is a picture of a victorious, strong, awe-inspiring, fear-inducing lion- the reigning King juxtaposed with a silent lamb to the slaughter, in the most humble upside down position, broken.
Side-by-side this is such a beautiful reality about the character of God that surpasses my comprehension and brings me to worship. He is the lowly, willing sacrifice and the omnipotent, holy Alpha & Omega! Truly, what must He be like?
This annual series, now in its tenth year, is called Christ in the Psalms. This Sunday is week one of Christ in the Psalms 2021. We’ll be in Psalm 110.
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For all of their notoriety, most people are very unfamiliar with who Jesus’ disciples actually were. Here, Matthew formally lists the twelve apostles by name in a way that highlights a few different aspects of the type community Jesus had come to build.