Artists' Listening Group: Update

Hope everyone had a Happy Holy Week leading into a blessed and Happy Resurrection (Easter) Sunday and Monday! (See my Holy Week 2012 posted earlier)

4-10-12
Yesterday at the Artist's Listening Group , we were asked how we used our God given talents and skills and discipline to partner with the Holy Spirit to create our works of culinary, visual, musical, spoken word, written and/or fine arts. We discussed how God blessed Bezalel with the Spirit and the gifting to build the Tabernacle in the Book of Exodus.

Exodus 35:30-35
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts-- 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. 34 And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers--all of them master craftsmen and designers.

Then we discussed how our spirit-filled process flows for each of us. Responses included lots of references to the help of praise music in creating an atmosphere fitting for the Holy Spirit(try Terry McAlmon's The Glory of His Presence live worship CD guys).

Then we talked about how the great masters of fine arts like Michelangelo and Di Vinci depicted Biblical scenes and how fine art is inspired today including the Pageant of Our Lord which is similar to the Pageant of the Masters but with Biblical artworks by the masters depicted by live actors with live choral music. For more on the pageant visit www.PageantOfOurLord.com.

The masters have always inspired me and my own last drawing in my Kenya series has a nice old world feel to it and I named it Mona-Alyssa in homage to Di Vinci. We commented on Christian painter and fine artist, Thomas Kincade's passing on Good Friday , too. Thomas proved that one can do Holy Spirit inspired work and it will sell and be profitable both spiritually and financially.

We talked about print journalism, TV and all media as a creative outlet but we forgot to mention the death of Mike Wallace, the noted journalist from the 60 Minutes TV News show on CBS who passed on Saturday (may they both rest in God's heavenly peace). We did talk about how everyday words and images from street signs, billboards (see the "Transformers Are Coming" link), TV or any media or even musicians or actors themselves can influence our creative work in this modern era and how to keep God in the mix.

We closed out the night with lots and lots of individual and group prayers for our current art and anything in our lives that was concerning us. Well, Nichols Fellowship was on my mind and on the minds of most of the writers in the group so we got prayer for our submissions. I also got great prayer and encouragement for my artwork and more prayer for more healing.

Wow, next week is the last of the 8 group sessions so it will be the last time the group will meet. I thank God for the Artists' Listening Group and its originator and sponsor, Melissa Smith of Epiphany Space. I pray for all who attend this group and they have become people I care for deeply. My own trust and faith in God has only grown stronger since attending the group and I even got a healing of my right leg and hip which have plagued me for years. Hallelujah!

A Creative Artist's Ode to Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

I'm thanking God today that the Holy Spirit does not work on the usual 9-5 time-table of man. However, that means that sometimes I am inspired to write the best scene or draw my best art at 2 am or 4am (try telling any boss that as an excuse for being late for work-lol).

My Process:
So since I can't put the Holy Spirit on the clock, I just let Him be AMAZING! Hours fly by as the praise music plays and I praise Him as I create under His tutelage... He gives me the very words I type and improves my fine arts techniques. He even returns motor skills and vision to my eyes. Most importantly, I feel no pain until I've completed the work as assigned and even then I believe as His word says, “by His stripes I am healed!”.

Come Holy Spirit, Come!

We had a lovely night at church last Friday as we sought the Holy Spirit through soul searching and joyous praise then we soaked in His holy presence. There was great praise and worship, beautiful singing and emotional walls crumbled leaving us thoroughly open to the Lord.

I built up to the night by praying and doing an "Esther fast" with the church that we had agreed to do on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sunday of this week. I also played gospel music like Martha Munizi's "Holy Spirit, We Need You" and Benny Hinn's "Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome", both of which helped cleanse my spirit and prepare me for the presence of the Holy Spirit. I thought of it like "spiritual" house cleaning before an esteemed guest visits.

Again, this night was intense! I have no doubt that He was present and it was and is so amazing. Imagine... such beauty, praise and faithfulness in a town such as this. God is great!

9/11

It's hard to believe that it has been 8 years since the World Trade Center and related attacks of 9/11/01. Thankfully, lots of prayers and the passing years has softened the harrowing effects of that days event for me. I can still remember waking up that Tuesday from a beautiful dream on a beautiful mourning in lovely Silver Spring, Maryland. I was awaken by the shrill intrusion of the phone ringing non-stop and I admit that I was irate when I answered the phone. It was my sister calling from work in Virginia urging me to turn on the TV news. I did and I was floored to see reports of the first of the Twin Towers being hit. Moments later, the second tower was hit and we knew this was no accident. I instantly began preparing for a disaster by securing water, food, flashlights, a radio and emergency cash. The pentagon was hit shortly after followed by the crash of the last plane in an empty field in Pennsylvania.

I like so many others cried and prayed for weeks about the attacks. I especially remember the people who were so desperate that they jumped off the burning buildings to their deaths as I asked the Holy Spirit to comfort them. I remember the touching last minute phone calls from the victims to their loved ones, most calmly trusting in God and praying as they knew their fate was sealed. I also remember the courageous men and women on the United Flight 93, who fought back and chose to crash and die rather than to let the plane be used as a weapon of hate.

My birthday was a few days after 9/11 and I had planned to take my first trip to New York City and celebrate by dining at Windows of the World, a famed restaurant in the World Trade Center. I really felt like I could have been one of the people there so I desperately wanted to be of help to the survivors and responders. Despite the fact that my back was out, I tried to volunteer with the Red Cross for the Pentagon and was rejected. Instead, I spent time talking to and praying for the baby-faced armed U.S. soldiers stationed within the metro trains, as I traveled to my doctors and physical therapist in DC and Maryland.

I was finally able to help the responders because God made it possible for me to work on a health grant for them even though I applied for it after the deadline. I got top level training on managing man-made and natural disasters with a team of doctors who were also WTC first responders on 9/11. I also had the opportunity to examine these heroes and to help them get help for their resulting medical problems. Most importantly, I was able to pray for them and encourage them to believe God! It marked the first time that I had ever talked so openly about God and faith to any patients in the continental U.S. and I know that I am a stronger Christian because of this experience.

Update:

Over the past two years, I had been very disappointed by Los Angeles' response to and lack of commemoration of 9/11. Most people seemed apathetic and distant to the importance of the day and that even includes coverage on the local news programs. This year L.A. has redeemed itself as I saw snippets of the community's concern all through my day today. First, friends at church talked about how their faith grew after the events, then some 20-something Christians at the Americana who remarked how they can recall exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time of the attack, which is chilling because they had to have been young teens at the time. On my way home, I pass a community center with it's flag at half mass and saw passer-bys looking at it solemnly. When I got home, I turned on TV and the Mayor(who I'm not a fan of) gave a good speech on honoring the day and heroic Americans.

Later that night, I exercised in the gym and watched President Obama's speech to commemorate 9/11. I still don't like the community service thing being lumped with 9/11 but the President's speech was nice. I then watched two 9/11 tribute documentaries one msnbc and TBN. As I watched the events on fold on TV, I was hearing police, fire and ambulance sirens like surround sound and it felt like I was at WTC for real or at least in a virtual reality game. I took off my earphones and realized that the sounds were coming from outside my apartment building and not the TV.

I could hear the police, ambulance and fire trucks as they pulled up outside and a helicopter flying over with a search spotlight. It reminded me of post-9/11 D.C. with the near constant military fly over and reconnaissance cover after the airspace was restricted. I looked out to the street and saw 5-7 police cars, a firetruck and then an ambulance pulled up. Again, I was in disaster mode and started getting prepared to evacuate. It turned out that it was a criminal fleeing the police and had holed up in a business office. The police had sent in the dogs for him and he looked injured as they helped him onto a stretcher. Some would say that this is typical L.A. stuff I guess but it is very unusual for my neighborhood.