By Joseph Tenney Note: The photos that accompany this essay are part of the traveling exhibition Time and Again. As a pastor, I love having an art gallery in our church. I have found it to be deeply formational for myself and our people because artwork stirs us to adopt valuable willingness to inquire, to… Continue Reading
Category Archives: civablog
An Eye That Sees
By Edith López Thinking about the vision for my life, my calling, and what I should be engaged in (apart from my dear husband), I started remembering some art projects and desiring more. Art brought me a generous answer. I say “brought” because art worked as the “chasqui” did in The Inca empire. It brought… Continue Reading
Collective Art During COVID-19
By Pamela Alderman During the recent pandemic, when the Michigan government and several other states gave a Shelter in Place order, many people faced the new struggle of being alone behind closed doors. Suddenly, I started hearing some of my friends say, “I’m lonely,” for the first time. This feeling loomed just below the surface… Continue Reading
Far From Home and Alone
By Asher Imtiaz Editor’s note: This essay is reposted by permission of the author and the original host, The Living Church. All images featured are courtesy of Asher Imtiaz. Shortly after I arrived in the United States, I came across some statistics about international students that remain worth sharing. Approximately 40 percent of these students never… Continue Reading
Lives Shaped by Beauty: The Goodness of Original Artwork in the Home
By Leslie Bustard Editor’s note: This essay is reposted by permission of the author and the original host, the Cultivating Project. The featured image is courtesy of Ned Bustard. All images included are provided by the author and offer a glimpse of the beauty curated in Ned and Leslie’s home. “If your house was burning down,… Continue Reading
Shelf Life in Social Isolation
By Laura Wetter In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:1,4-5 NKJV As the coronavirus pandemic began to… Continue Reading
Out of Sight
By Laura Stevenson What have you looked at today? What have you seen? Is there a difference between what you have looked at and what you have seen? Within the last year I have researched topics related to vision and perception. While most may think looking and seeing can be used interchangeably, there is a… Continue Reading
Remember, You Are Dust
By Victoria Emily Jones Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris. “Remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This dictum from the Ash Wednesday liturgy, taken from God’s words to Adam in Genesis 3:19, is the starting point for Lent. Pronounced by the priest as he or she… Continue Reading
Altars of Reconciliation
By Erin Shaw As long as I can remember, I’ve had one foot in two worlds: I am both a citizen of the Chickasaw nation and a seventh-generation follower of Jesus. It’s been the work of my life to live in that tension and as best I can, understand and reconcile it. Altars of Reconciliation… Continue Reading
Cleaning Moby Dick – Books as Multimedia
By Josh deLacy When I need to see a book without reading it, I’ll spin the page upside down so the letters look like cuneiform and the ideas fall out. I’ll spread pens, highlighters, and half a ream of upside-down manuscript across a table and flip through it without reading a single word. Each page… Continue Reading