Part 2
The verses that inspired this artwork are the first ones in the Bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1 v 1-3 (NIV)
Creation Disrupted
The window at the bottom will be darker as there is a wall behind them, but I'm hoping the light will still shine out on the water, which is how I've imagined the surface of the deep.
To the left creation is calm, but the whirlpool represents the fall of mankind and
of creation itself.
The disruption caused by the fall is shown on this detail in the waves as well as in the way the paint has been applied to the paper as waters become increasingly disturbed. The waves leads the eye across to one of three references to the crown of thorns.
The Crown of Thorns
The crown of thorns is a powerful image and reminds us of the agony and the Passion of Christ and also how the Roman soldiers mocked him.
He was the Prince of Peace, the promised King in the line of David, but the soldiers didn't realise that. Their prisoner was more than the King of the Jews: He was the King of Kings.
I hope that you can see the thorns in the black lead?
In my mind the moment when the Lord God said, 'Let there be light,' was the moment of the Big Bang, and so I've painted an explosion of light, radiating out from the central window.
However because of the fall the rays get dispersed, becoming disrupted and disordered. They also form a pattern which hints at the crown of thorns, representing the redemption of all of creation.
The Crosses
And finally to the cross, where Jesus won for us redemption, changing the destiny of the universe, as well as mankind.
Because the window is so narrow I have made the colours stronger, so the window still stands out.
The lines are deliberately tortuous and twisted. This was not an easy path for our Lord.
But he calls us to also accept the cross.
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross
and follow me
Matthew 16 v 24b (NIV)
This window is a reminder of these words for the whole church.
Whoever does not take up their cross
and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds their life will lose it,
whoever losses their life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10 v 38, 39
Işık Olsun
Let there be Light
Our church is in Turkey. Işık Olsun means Let there be Light.
