Worship Arts July August September 2022

For me, each creative act plumbs the depths of both the self and the divine and becomes that place where deep calls out to deep ...

riffs, hooks or licks. Visual art ists “scratch” by sketching. After sketching on an Easter theme, I was completely unsatisfied. My ideas were leaden and uninspired. Then, with the help of Google translator, I came across this on the church’s website: “We don’t com plain to God about the greatness of our problems, but we tell our challenges and callings how great our God is. We are strengthened by words of Jesus: ‘It is not possible for human beings, but with God all things are possible.’” While the verse from Matthew 19 didn’t spark new images, inspiration struck within the passion, tenacity and hope within these words! I could see a church moved and made, empowered and equipped, born of and borne by the Holy Spirit. As a dove with tongues of fire quickly emerged on my computer screen, I knew that the prayerful dance of creativity was moving in the right direction! Fire, dove and water I nexplicably, strains of “How Firm A Foundation” floated through my mind ... When through the deep waters I call thee to go ...

Isaiah 43 embedded in this hymn text gave me a foothold, and I began to see that fire and dove needed to somehow be combined with a background of swirling water. I began to see in the history of Riga First under Soviet rule the waters of Noah, which destroyed much and yet sustained a remnant, out of which the world was reborn. To my Spirit/dove, I added an olive branch. I also began to see the Friends of Latvia as Methodists from around a glimmer of Pentecost: many peoples from different places, speaking different languages, alight and aflame with the Spirit of the Living God! Soon multicolor faces appeared with tongues of fire. Here, I repurposed another image from a decade ago, updating and revising it to make it new. And suddenly, the banner was complete. While everything I see feeds my creativity, ideas are birthed, captured, and refined. The process is a mixture of determined persis tence and letting go. Encountering mystery and then making it visible hopefully invites others to enter into the Holy of Holies, into beauty and wonder, into prayer and praise.

NOTES 1 Michael Austin, Explorations in Art, Theol ogy and Imagination (Oakville: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2005), 167. 2 Ephesians 1:18 3 Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, Bridge to Won der: Art as a Gospel of Beauty (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2012), 30. 4 Michael Austin, 136. 5 Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water: Re flections on Faith and Art (Colorado Springs: WaterBook Press, 2006), 191. 6 Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 95-108. Reprinted from WorshipArts September-October 2017

REV. TODD PICK has created wor

ship visuals for General Confer ence, Fellowship Convocations and Music & Worship Arts Week. He is currently co- pastor, with his wife Jennifer, of First United Methodist Church of Azel, TX. To see more of his work, visit wordmadeimage.com

Water image: Okan Casliskan

__________________________________________________________________________________________________ July-August-September 2022 • WorshipArts • umfellowship.org 7 l i ll i .