Psalm 86—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms artwork and download artwork guides here.

Person: Benjamin Rogers

Benjamin Rogers is a full-time instructor of art at Red Rocks Community College. He has an MFA in painting from Arizona State University and his work has been exhibited across the country.

Piece

Acrylic and oil painting.

PROCESS

This painting exhibits the goodness of God in his protection from the surrounding chaos.  In this piece I have used a hippopotamus as a symbol for David, painting him in a manner that demonstrates how he is outside of the danger of the attacking lion. In this way, it shows that God is faithful and merciful to David. The scene in the background is difficult to discern at first, but when viewed at a distance, it becomes more obvious that it is a lion attacking a water buffalo in an African savanna. It is further obscured by the arcing lines throughout the painting which create a more chaotic scene and make the imagery more confusing. I used this device to communicate the natural world of the flesh, which is juxtaposed with the clearer and calmer hippo which peacefully grazes away from danger.

To create this piece I made a quick monochromatic acrylic painting of the lion attacking the buffalo. Next, I covered the entire surface of the painting with masking tape and drew out the designs of the arcing lines.  Once I had the shapes drawn out, I cut out the shapes with a razor blade and removed the negative shapes, leaving a masking tape stencil on the surface. Then I painted the lion attack in a very gestural manner so that it would only be visible from a distance. Finally, I painted the hippo on top as the final layer in oil paint.

in Blog • Christ in the Psalms Artwork

Psalm 85—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms artwork and download artwork guides here.

Person: Hannah Wood

I am a student at Colorado Christian University, a team leader for Intermountain Young Life, and a backpacking guide for RMR Backcountry.

Piece

Painting, Poured art.

PROCESS

This piece describes the crux of Psalm 85— the harmony and restoration that manifests in God’s peace and righteousness colliding.

When I read through Psalm 85, I knew instantly what I was going to paint. I usually paint portraits or abstract poured art, so I decided to combine those for the first time in this piece. I am honing in my painting style and that combination just worked so well with the message of Psalm 85. As I made this painting, I became increasingly more aware of what a small, manageable reflection of God’s character this painting represents, and that His mystery is far more beautiful than I could attempt to capture.

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July 15, 2018

This is week eight of Christ in the Psalms, our annual summer series. This week we’ll be in Psalm 85.

Our Psalm 85 artwork is by Hannah Wood. One of the ways we enjoy and study the psalms each year is by having different artists do a piece each week for the respective psalm we’re in. Learn more about Hannah’s artwork and all the preceding Christ In The Psalms artworks right here.

Here’s how you can prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Psalm 85.

Have you ever had a time in your life where God’s grace seemed clear and abundant? What was that time like? How do you emotionally respond to that time even right now? As you think about those times where God was experienced in unique ways, what does it do to your heart for your current situation? In Psalm 85, the psalmist is begging God for a restoration of “the good old days”—in part, at least, to reshape their desires for more of God.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 103:1–5, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

10,000 Reasons (Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman)
Give Us Clean Hands (Charlie Hall)

CONFESSION OF SIN: Psalm 16:11

All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)

Yes And Amen (Anthony Brown, Chris McClarney, Nate Moore)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Colossians 2:13–15

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Thomas Obediah Chisholm, William Marion Runyan)
Revive Us Again (Charlie Hall, John J. Husband, William P. Mackay, Dustin Ragland)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

Psalm 84—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms artwork and download artwork guides here.

Person

Katie Riehl

Piece

Acrylic painting.

PROCESS

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does He withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in You!
(vv. 11–12)

The message that I get from this passage is the constant reminder of the light of God. It’s no secret that this world is full of darkness, it’s something we are reminded of daily on the news and in our personal lives. Sometimes the darkness can be all- consuming. Psalm 84 tells us to lean on God to find our strength, to find our shield. From the start, I fought the simplicity of this piece. I kept feeling like I needed to add more but nothing felt right. The yellow circle represents the light of the Lord with its size being all-consuming, while the blue represents the gloom that sometimes devours us. This quote from F.B. Meyer sums Psalm 84 up in a wonderful way, “How God suits Himself to our need! In darkness, He is a Sun; in the sultry noon, a Shield; in our earthly pilgrimage He gives grace; when the morning of heaven breaks, He will give glory. He suits Himself to every varying circumstance in life. He becomes what the exigency of the moment requires.”

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set in pilgrimage.” In Psalm 84:5–7 we read of those traveling through the Valley of Baca on their journey of pilgrimage to Zion. It is implied that although this might not be the easiest migration, the traveler gains the strength, by leaning on God, needed to reach their final destination—the House of the Lord. This is something we can apply to all of the journeys we take—big and small, whether it’s a 30 minute trip or something that lasts our entire lifetime!

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July 8, 2018

We’re in Christ in the Psalms, our annual summer series. It’s our seventh week and we’re in Psalm 84.

One of the ways we enjoy and study the psalms each year is by having different artists do a piece each week for the respective psalm we’re in. Our Psalm 84 artwork is by Katie Riehl. Learn more about her artwork and all the preceding weekly artworks right here.

Here’s how you can prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Psalm 84.

Reflecting on the temple of God, the psalmist longs to be counted in the assembly of the blessed, those who dwell in the house of God ever singing His praise! He expresses the deepest longing of his heart: to find a home in the house of the Lord. The writer, like the Christian, can endure all, walking even through the valley of the shadow of death, if they know they’ll arrive at the all-surpassing destination—the courts of the Lord. We, then, equipped with strength that comes only from the Lord, must live our lives with the compass of our hearts set towards the dwelling place of God, for in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 84:1–4, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

Holy Spirit (Bryan Torwalt, Katie Torwalt arr. Jesus Culture)
House Of God Forever (Jon Foreman)

CONFESSION OF SIN: Psalm 51:1–2; 9–12

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Hebrews 10:19–22

Jesus We Love You (Kalley Heiligenthal, Hannah McClure, Paul McClure)
Build My Life (Barrett, Kable, Martin, Redman, Younker)

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Be Thou My Vision (Mary Elizabeth Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull, arr. Ascend The Hill)
Oh! Great Is Our God (Brian Eichelberger)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

Chuck McElroy

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Our guest is Chuck McElroy. He’s the Director of Campus Outreach Denver!

Listen

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Show Notes

1:55 – Who Chuck McElroy Is 4:00 – Why He Became A Christian 7:05 – How They Got The Call To Denver 8:25 – Why Burnout Happens In Ministry (And How To Overcome It) 10:25 – How They Pulled A Team Together For Denver 13:00 – The Campus Outreach Model (They’re Not A Parachurch Ministry) 16:15 – What The First Two Years In Denver Have Been Like 19:50 – How We Can Support And Pray For Them 21:45 – Rapid Fire Questions 22:55 – Where He’d Put A Billboard And What It’d Say
in James Lepine • Park Church Podcast

July 1, 2018

It’s week six of Christ in the Psalms, our annual summer series. We’re in Psalm 83.

The Psalms give us a vocabulary and a “hymnal” for relating to God through the full range of human experience and emotion, ultimately pointing us to Jesus. One of the ways we enjoy and study the psalms each year is by having different artists do a piece each week for the respective psalm we’re in. Our Psalm 83 artwork is an acrylic and charcoal piece by Jennie Pitts. Learn more about her artwork and all the preceding weekly artworks right here.

Here’s how you can prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Psalm 83.

Psalm 83 addresses a truth we don’t much like: we have may have enemies in the form of other people. But, in light of the work of Jesus, how should we read psalms like this one that request judgement on people? Didn’t Jesus call us to love our enemies?

While Psalm 83 may seem full of fire and brimstone, in Christ it is full of the glory of Gospel of God. People who make themselves our enemies are not primarily our enemies. However it looks, if they are in sin against God they are primarily God’s enemies. What do we know of God’s enemies? He is merciful to them in Christ. And since He has been merciful to us in Christ, making sons and daughters out of we who were His enemies, we can now love our enemies and plead with them to be reconciled to God.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 99:6–8a, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

Praise To The Lord The Almighty (Joachim Neander, arr. Citizens)
10,000 Reasons (Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:

Lord, You come to us, but we do not recognize You;
You call, but we do not follow;
You command, but we do not obey,
You bless us, but we do not thank You.
Please forgive and help us.
Lord, You accept us, but we do not accept others;
You forgive us, but we do not forgive those who wrong us;
You love us, but we do not love our neighbors.
Please forgive and help us.
Lord, You showed us how to carry out Your mission,
but we still insist on our own;
You identified yourself with outcasts, the needy, and the poor,
but we do not bother to find out what is happening to them;
You suffered and died for the sake of all,
but we do not give up our comfortable lives.
Please forgive and help us,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery (Michael Bleecker, Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, 17

No Longer Slaves (Joel Case, Jonathan David Hesler, Brian Johnson)

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) (Matt Crocker, Joel Houston, Salomon Ligthelm)
Jesus Is Better (Aaron Ivey, Brett Land)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

Psalm 83—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms artwork and download artwork guides here.

Person: Jennie Pitts

Originally from Austin, Texas, Jennie graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Baylor University in 2012. She started her own art business in 2014—“Jennie Lou Art”—and now works as a full-time artist in Denver. She specializes in “live wedding/event painting” and custom pieces. Her studio is in the RiNo Arts District at the Globeville Riverfront Arts Center (G.R.A.Ce.). Learn more about Jennie’s work at jennielouart.com.

Piece

Charcoal and Acrylic.

PROCESS

O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! (v.1)

Growing up, I found solitude and peace with my horses. They are majestic and immensely powerful creatures, yet their quiet strength and soft gentleness instills such comfort. Meditating on Psalm 83, I kept seeing a vision of this gentle horse in the darkness, with his kind eyes upon me. While darkness can feel all-consuming and frightening, the horse’s eyes remain steady and unassuming. It is as though he sees you in the darkness and even though he is silent, he is with you. How often do we feel the same way about our Heavenly Father, majestic and immensely powerful, but who sees us, and comforts us, even in the darkness and the silence?

How our hearts long for God’s presence, especially when we feel like He has withdrawn. When infertility or infidelity seeks to steal our joy, when our loved ones are called home without our understanding, when sickness slowly seeps life from our bones, when life just feels draining and overwhelming… how often have we each come to this place where we cry out and long for God to speak to us? “Oh Lord, give me something to hold on to, PLEASE do not be silent!!”

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