Psalm 82—Artwork

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

Person: Alexander Ramsey

I am Alexander Ramsey—a husband, designer, entrepreneur, adventurer, and lover of God’s beauty.

Piece

Reclaimed canvas, glued and stitched.

PROCESS

This artwork is my interpretation and expression of Psalm 82. After reading and studying this psalm, the word “justice” stuck with me. The psalter calls us to defend, uphold and rescue those who are weak, fatherless, poor, and oppressed. These words made me think of the homeless, immigrants and neighbors who deserve to be loved and treated justly. The word “justice” in Hebrew is צֶדֶק.

The process of creating this piece started on a mountain bike ride in Nederland, Colorado after choosing Psalm 82 for my artwork. While riding past a campground I noticed an abandoned canvas tent and really like the faded colors, stitching and textures.

I took some photos of the campsite, went home and came back a week later to see that it was still there, so I took the tent home. I washed the canvas in my bathtub, cut it into squares, painted my art board, and glued the layers of canvas layers on top. Next I cut the Hebrew symbols into the canvas layers. During this process I realized that I was taking something that was thrown away and bringing new life to it; reminding me that God, through justice, will make all things new.

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Psalm 81—Artwork

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

Person: Whitney Ballinger

Hi, I’m Whitney Ballinger! I recently got my master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Denver Seminary. For as long as I can remember, art has played a significant role in my life. Through the mediums of watercolor, photography, ceramics, and acrylics, I have learned to creatively express how I see/experience the world and God.

Piece

Acrylic painting.

PROCESS

As I prayed over Psalm 81, a strong theme I noticed was pride, as God calls the Israelites to turn from their idols and stubborn desires but they do not listen (11–12). He also calls them to look back and remember His faithfulness in bringing them out of Egypt (5,10). My main takeaway from praying over this passage was the picture of God calling His people to trust Him with their needs (remembering His faithfulness to deliver them in the past) and to surrender their idols—specifically the idol of following their own stubborn hearts (12).

This piece depicts the blindness of heart that occurs when God’s faithfulness is ignored. The little girl watering a dying plant reflects Israel trying to bring life apart from God. The umbrella seems safe and necessary to the girl as it is raining (reflecting her own stubborn desire to stay dry and comfortable), but ironically it is protecting the plant from exactly what it most desperately needs… life-giving water already pouring from the sky. The broken watering can more specifically represents an idol (9)—something that is supposed to bring water or life, but is broken and unable to do so.

The rain represents God’s provision and faithfulness, and that if we would open our mouths (put down our umbrellas) he would fill it (10).

Finally, the little girl is intentionally small in comparison to the rest of the painting. Ironically, if she would just gaze behind her, she would be confronted with a stark reminder of God’s faithfulness to grow a whole forest of trees…apart from her umbrella or watering can. Not only the forest, but the grass, wildflowers, and sky dance and sing praises to their creator (1–2) and are vibrant reflections of life in Him; calling the little girl to listen to God, remember His faithfulness, put down her idols, and dance in the rain of God’s faithfulness.

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Psalm 80—Artwork

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

Person

Chase Hoffman

Piece

Photography—”Restore Us, O God”

PROCESS

Reading, re-reading, photography and a little bit of gardening.

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Psalm 79—Artwork

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

Person: William Emerson

My name is William Emerson, I grew up in Colorado with a desire to explore and uncover truths about myself and God through His creation. Like many, nature has captivated me and God has used it to reflect to me deep truths about life in Him. I found the narrative of this psalm in the workings of animals in the wilderness.

Piece

Wood carving and burning.

PROCESS

In Psalm 79, Israel (The Sheep) cries out to God for salvation after Babylon (The Wolf) has conquered Jerusalem. The chosen people of God find themselves cornered and desperate for rescue from this threat. They are begging for God to remove the immediate threat in their life and it is not until near the end of the Psalm that they ask for forgiveness and humble themselves as sheep in need of a shepherd. They are so focused on a very real threat that they first enter their prayer mad at God and mourning, asking how long He will let this go on, as if to say that if He has issue with his people, He needs to let it go because they have bigger problems than a broken relationship with their God. After their expression of sorrow and plea, they recognize that a breaking has taken place between God and His chosen people.

The broken reality of sin (the toxic locoweed in the sheep’s mouth) is a deeper internal issue that goes beyond even the most pressing of present circumstance. God does eventually retrieve Israel from Babylon (the arrow through the wolf) but the herd has a deeper issue they have inflicted on themselves that only the shepherd can undo.

While creating this piece, I wanted to tell two stories of salvation: God does offer rescue from immediate and painful trials at times, but it often is not in the timing and way that we hope for and we still have our own sin to bring to Him regardless of the outcome of the immediate hurt. The narrative of a sheep hunted by a wolf captured the immediate threats we feel and the self inflicted poisoning of the sheep felt an accurate narrative to our own sin.

Burning and carving this scene required hundreds of repetitive motions and in the repetition I find there is a meditative worship that takes place, inviting the Spirit to engrain the narrative of this Psalm in me as I work through creating the scene.

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Psalm 78—Artwork

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

Person: Jacques Gerber

My name is Jacques Gerber. I create content using photography, videography, and digital media for visual storytelling. I am currently finishing up my Master of Divinty at Denver Seminary. My creative background stems from my Bachelors degree from Denver University in Emergent Digital Practices.

Piece

Digital Media—Photo Manipulation

PROCESS

After reading and meditating on Psalm 78, I notice a Father who constantly chases and runs after a people who are disobedient and ungrateful. In particular, this piece distinctly reflects verses 6–8 and 38.

The blue in the photo—an earth tone—represents the ripple effect that each generation’s teachings and actions have on the next. In this case, the apathy and amnesia of Israel should be abnegated and, instead, the hope and works of YHWH should be used for instructing and remembrance. Verse 38, despite the rebellion and transgressions of God’s people, shows the character of God: a pursuant and loving Father who provides what is most necessary.

The red in the image represents the blood of Jesus who atoned for the sins of many as propitiation with His blood. In the following verses, the burning anger, wrath, and judgement can be seen by the intensity of this piece.

However, when one looks at the eye and color, you will find a silhouette of the person in the gaze of the one who gives life. The eye has a narrow, white light in the shape of a cross that represents the hope to come for Israel, and that this hope is marked by the Light that will sacrifice His life for a people who are ungrateful. This circles back to the beginning of the psalm and helped me realize that our Abba is fiercely jealous and strongly desires all generations to know of what He has done, and how we can respond faithfully knowing that we are being guided by Him (72).

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Genesis Artwork

The artwork for this series was illustrated by hand by Christian Robinson, an artist from Oklahoma City. Our Genesis series is aimed at discussing God’s foundational worldview for His people and their purpose in His world. Christian’s artwork, in three pieces, illustrates the series’ two main movements (Parts I and II) and its narrative bookends (Part III).
Part I depicts God’s creation of the world (the foliage) and its subsequent de-creation through mankind (the hand) as a result of satanic temptation (the snake) and human rebellion.

Part II depicts God’s creation of a people (the 12 stars for 12 tribes of Israel) as God (the hand) comes to Abraham and makes a covenant (the scroll) with him and his descendants.

Part III depicts the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life appears both in the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis and again in the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. We are reminded that, although at the Fall we were shut out of the Garden and barred from living forever, our ultimate destination as a result of Jesus’ redeeming work is life in a re-created world, in the Holy City, where the Tree of Life is now open to us.

Lastly, each of the three pieces were printed directly on to large birch wood panels. In place of any “white” in the above artwork, the natural woodgrain shows through; a nod to creation itself.

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Bread & Wine 2017 Recap

An evening to taste and see the glory of God through His good creation.

Where the person of God is enjoyed through wine, food, and conversation. On Tuesday, December 5, Park Church hosted its fifth annual Bread & Wine event at Moss Denver. Each year, we create a space where the eyes of our hearts are opened to the beauty of our Creator. How do we do that? By turning our attention to a specific element that God has gifted us for our enjoyment, to be used as a unique way to illuminate how we can relate to God. This year the focus was music. Music is a marvelous conductor that uses the “instruments” of melody, notes, and sounds to create a symphony that our hearts are drawn to, pointing to the ultimate Musician, God Himself. Bach said, “I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.” We see the centrality of music in the life of God’s people throughout history. After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites sang with joyful hearts to give thanks—a jubilant cheer of crying out to God for what He had done. We find trumpeters and musicians joining in song to praise God (2 Ch. 5:13), and a call from Paul to sing and make music from our hearts (Ep. 5:19). This night recognized the importance of music as an instrument for us all to create and creatively respond to our Father. So what happened at Bread & Wine? The event started off with a hang-out time where people came in, poured their wine, and enjoyed appetizers and socializing while Bruce Butler played a live instrumental set. Across the beautiful setting of Moss Denver, we had Jennie Pitts display her artworks that added to the splendor of the atmosphere. Jennie was introduced and spoke a bit about her artwork and her inspiration behind them. Following this, we had Nicole Langford perform a musical piece on the viola. The piece was introduced with poetry that reflected how the artist experienced the beauty of the composition. Lights were turned off to enhance the focus of listening. This moved into a discussion time, where people were encouraged to ask various questions to each other about what they experienced, including other questions about the way we engage with music. As the conversations dwindled down, we proceeded into a Q&A panel with Nicole and Matthew Langford, Joel Limpic, and Bruce Butler. They were asked asked about being musical artists, why music matters, how faith impacts our ability to create and listen to music, should there be specific music we do or don’t listen to, etc. Together, led by Mark Wilkins, many joined in worship to close out the night with “This Is My Father’s World”, “Great Are You Lord”, and the “Doxology”. Praise God from whom all blessings flow indeed! May we be a people who respond to His gifts with fire in our hearts to listen, enjoy, and sing to our creative Triune God who sings over us. Credits: Blog, video & photography created by Jacques Gerber, our arts intern at Park Church.
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Advent Prayer Guide, Week Three

We come to our third and final Wednesday in the season of Advent as we pray through The Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13:

Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Two weeks ago we looked at God as being our Father only because of the work of Jesus in our place. We also prayed that His name would be hallowed and set apart in our hearts as our greatest treasure. Last week we prayed that His kingdom would come and will would be done in Denver as it is in heaven. Before we move into final petitions found in this prayer, let’s remind ourselves who it is we pray to! We pray to our Father who’s made us His own. He’s the King of the universe and can do anything—nothing is too great for Him! Take a moment to praise Him for His power, love, and kindness to save and adopt you into His family. Song Ideas: All I Have Is Christ, Be Lifted Up Today we’ll be looking at the final three petitions in this prayer. In his book “Eat This Book,” Eugene Peterson commented:

The Prayer has six petitions: the first three pray for the furtherance of God and His work—His holiness, His will, His kingdom; the matching triad is oriented around human needs—food, forgiveness, deliverance. The pair of triads is connected by the phrase, “on earth as it is in heaven,” which is to say that prayer has its source in heaven, the home country, so to speak, of God, but the action takes place on earth—our home country. Prayer that is not firmly grounded “on earth” is not prayer as our Lord taught us to pray.

We are going to look at each petition and then in turn take time to pray through it, closing our time in prayer.

Petition #4: Give us this day our daily bread

As our Creator and our Father, we are instructed to ask God to provide for us our daily bread. Up to this point, every request has been God-centered (note the use of the word “your” in all the prior petitions) and now we become honest about our own needs. We can often fall in an “either/or” ditch in prayer: we can either only focus on praising God and asking nothing from Him because we feel guilty about that. We tell ourselves, “He already knows what I need before I ask, so I won’t ask.” There’s a ditch on the other side which treats God like a cosmic vending machine. We only come to Him when we want something. He becomes our Genie in a bottle instead of our heavenly Father. Jesus rejects this false dichotomy by teaching us to adore and ask; to praise and petition. In this petition we learn that He knows He’s made us with real human needs and we are to come to Him in our need to ask Him to provide for our basic needs.

Where do you need God to provide today? Physically? Spiritually? Emotionally? Are there others we need to pray for?

Petition #5: Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

Jesus reminds us here that part of our relationship with God as Christians will continue to be coming before Him in confession and repentance. Confession isn’t a “one and done” act when you initially come to faith. Rather, it is to be an intimate and repeated practice of being honest before God about all the ways you wander from Him (both things you’ve done and things you’ve left undone). The aim of this prayer for forgiveness is not to seek the judicial forgiveness which you already received from God when you first came to Him in faith, but rather relational forgiveness. What is at stake in this prayer is not union with God, but rather communion with Him. The amazing thing is that we’re promised in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Not only are we to ask for forgiveness from God, but we are to image and imitate Him in how we forgive others! Unforgiveness and Christianity are incompatible because forgiveness lies at the heart of our relationship with God and must manifest itself in our relationship with others too.

Where do you need to ask God forgiveness today? Be specific. Where do you need to forgive others today?

Petition #6: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

It’s so easy to forget this powerful reality: there is a war happening right now as we speak. It’s a spiritual war where there is real good and real evil at work all around us! The Bible likens Satan to a prowling lion (1 Peter 5:8), a schemer (Ephesians 6:10), who is both a murderer and a father of lies (John 8:44). His aim is tempt us and ultimately destroy us. Jesus teaches us to call out to our Father of lights to protect us from this father of lies. We are to ask Him to take every situation in our lives, both pleasant or unpleasant, and use it for His glory! Satan wants to take that exact situation and use it to tempt us to forget God or even curse Him. God wants to use it to shape us to love Him more and look more like Him.

Where do you most naturally find yourself tempted by Satan? Which are the top three areas you are most prone to wander in? Where are you currently being tempted? Where do you need deliverance? What about those around you? Take the next few minutes to cry out for deliverance both for yourself and others.

Resources

“Look At The Book: Part 2: Deliver Us From Evil” (John Piper)
“The Lord And His Prayer” (NT Wright)
in Blog • Joel Limpic

Advent Prayer Guide, Week Two

As we continue to fast and pray our way through the season of Advent, we find ourselves in the Lord’s Prayer again. When asked by His disciples how to pray, He taught them what is now known as “The Lord’s Prayer” and is found in Matthew 6:9-13:

Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Last week we focused on Jesus’ address of the Father, and how important our view of God is as we pray! We can’t approach the Father if not through the Son and His work in our place. We also prayed through Jesus’ first petition: that God’s name would be hallowed in our heart. For a name to be hallowed entails asking for a name to be our greatest treasure, as well ensuring no other name or thing would compete for our affections!

Re-Address

Let’s start off our time of prayer re-centering our hearts around Who it is we pray to! We pray not to a vague deity, but to our very Father in heaven who holds all power and has invited us to come before His throne of grace with confidence… May we remember and truly believe that it is not our own personal names or Park Church’s name that we want exalted, but rather the name of Jesus lifted up in our lives, in this church, and in this city! Song Ideas: Forever Reign, Be Lifted Up Let’s look at the next two petitions: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Petition #2: Your kingdom come

Why would Jesus instruct us to pray, “Your kingdom come”? Is not God already King? Psalm 103:19 tells us His kingdom rules over all. Tim Keller helps us as he explains:

“God is reigning now, but just as a light is absent to those refusing to open their eyes, so it is possible to refuse God’s rule. This is the cause of all our human problems, since we were created to serve Him, and when we serve other things in God’s place, all spiritual, psychological, cultural, and even material problems ensue. Therefore, we need His kingdom to ‘come.’”

The Bible teaches us that His kingdom has a two-fold reality: it is both present (already) but also it is future (not yet). This is the tension we live in, and it is precisely the tension we see in Advent! Jesus came to bring about the promises of God, and one day He will come again to fully and finally fulfill all that He promised and make all things new again. Some have compared this tension to the tension we saw in World War II between the Allies’ initial D-Day and final V-Day. Jesus’ first Advent in Bethlehem is likened to D-Day, while His second Advent is compared to a coming V-Day when He returns as our Savior Judge. To pray for God’s kingdom to come is to acknowledge that there are so many areas of our lives (internally and externally) that aren’t aligned with the kingdom of God and to ask for all those areas to come under His good rule and reign. Where are there areas of your life where you long for God’s kingdom to come and change things? Where are there areas of your household? Workplace? Denver? Song Ideas: King Of My Heart, Here As In Heaven

Petition #3: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

The next petition is similar to the last one… We might ask the question, “Is God’s will not always done?” Just as there are different ways to understand kingdom in the Bible, we must work to understand the will of God. Scripture speaks of God’s revealed will (which includes His commands in Scripture) but also of His hidden will (all the things He hasn’t clearly told us in His eternal decrees). His hidden will always comes to pass while His revealed will clearly doesn’t. We break His commandments and laws all the time, even though it His will that we would follow them. In “The Prayer of the Lord” RC Sproul comments, “In this petition, then, Jesus is affirming that the will of God is done in heaven. However, He is also affirming that it is not done here. People here on earth do not strive to glorify God. They do not seek the kingdom of God. They do not hallow the name of God. So Jesus says we ought to pray, ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’”

Prayer

What would it look like for God’s kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Let’s finish our time praying through each item on the “Missions” handout (click button below). We want to pray for our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, city (including organizations we support), and nations (including missionaries we support). Missions Guide Song Ideas: Lord’s Prayer (Park Church Music), Oh Holy Night

Resources

“Look At The Book: Park 1 Your Kingdom Come” (John Piper) “What Is The Kingdom of God?” (John Piper) “What Is The Kingdom of God?” (George Eldon Ladd) “When Heaven Meets Earth” (The Bible Project) “The Lord And His Prayer” (NT Wright) God’s Will Hidden and Revealed (Ligonier)
in Blog • Joel Limpic

Advent 2017 Artwork

Person

Jeremy Grant is an emerging artist and award-winning graphic designer. He was born in California in 1985. He studied Graphic Design and Illustration at John Brown University. Grant has exhibited his collage and assemblage work regularly across Colorado since 2008. An active member of local arts communities, Jeremy has been invited to participate in numerous group shows, donated art to charity, and been awarded a PPAC micro-grant. His work explores themes of destruction and creation, death and resurrection, and chaos and familiarity. Jeremy Grant currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado.

Piece

Isaiah 40 • Mark 1
Often during Advent, I contemplate the calling of John the Baptist—“to prepare the way of the LORD,” and to “make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” This calling feels just as relevant for us as it was for him. The people of God had been waiting for Messiah, their Savior King, for hundreds of years. Generations upon generations had lived and died and not seen the promise fulfilled. John’s prophetic calling took him on a difficult path through the desert to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John was asked to clear the path for the coming Messiah, Jesus. The scriptures that refer to this calling paint a picture where “every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low.” The subject of the piece is a landscape that visualizes the work of John the Baptist—the transition from rough, mountainous terrain to open plains is making smooth the way of the LORD. The mountains are cut from pieces that I felt had a sense of static and a feeling of brokenness. We still live in a broken reality. Some brokenness is obvious and agonizing, and other times brokenness is characterized by the monotony of existence—the lack of joy, color, and celebration. The extra-long proportion of the piece is meant to convey the passage of time, a sense of waiting and of a long journey still ahead. The dark to light transition hints at the coming sunrise, our current reality is dim, but the bright light of the coming messiah is a dawn on the horizon. Click on an image below to enlarge.
The complete, final piece:
The sequential pieces, with Advent 2017 sermon series titles:

Process

Hand-cut paper collage inspired by the themes of the season of Advent. At first, I sought to express brokenness through fragmented pieces—tiny windows into pain. Ultimately, this felt a little one-dimensional and I left it in favor of the landscape idea which had a more rich meaning (see final artwork above). In another early concept, I envisioned cracks and a shattered pattern getting less and less cracked -the color getting brighter and brighter as the collage progressed. U;timately, I felt like it was—again—less robust of an idea, and cracks don’t really “heal themselves.” It’s difficult to express that idea, even though I liked the graphic potential of it. Lastly, an image of the final collage in-process, before I added the pink squares. The squares sort of came to symbolize markers in the passage of time, little ebeneezers if you will.
in Artwork • Blog • Music and Liturgy