In our summer sermon series, we invited different artists from our community to take time and be co-creators with God through art.
Each artist picked a spiritual practice to interact with. Through opening intentional windows with God in these practices, they have used their skills and talents to make beautiful things. Read about our artist reflections, and see the art here.
Art & Practice
For the spiritual practice of generosity, Jenn Cornie created a quilt! Read her artist statement below:
“In his book Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer says, ‘As we slow down and arrange our lives around their center in Jesus, this new simplicity of life will, in turn, enable generosity, the giving of our extra resources to God and those in need.’
The idea of simplicity influenced the design of this quilt. The pattern is simple and uncluttered, offering no distractions from its focus. Each color band is composed of three 7” segments, and the border is 3” wide. With 7 as the number of completion, and 3 representing the Resurrection, God’s ultimate gift of generosity to us, it seemed appropriate to use these as the foundation of the design.
The first thing that I thought of when Dania offered me the topic of generosity was
“relationships.” In generosity, there is a giver and a receiver, and by participating in acts of generosity, a relationship is created between them, and this is represented here with two colors coming together and mixing in the middle. The horizontal lines of stitching emphasize that person-to-person relationship.
“relationships.” In generosity, there is a giver and a receiver, and by participating in acts of generosity, a relationship is created between them, and this is represented here with two colors coming together and mixing in the middle. The horizontal lines of stitching emphasize that person-to-person relationship.
The color bands have a secondary interpretation that speaks to God’s provision. The Bible Project has a video about generosity in which they talk about how we can choose to not be generous because we’re afraid of scarcity or depletion. We can be afraid that if we give our time, or money, or energy, that we won’t have enough remaining. But the reason behind that fear is that we’re not trusting God to be sufficient. So each color moves from darker to lighter, but doesn’t fade completely away. If there is something that God is calling you to be generous with, He will provide you with enough in order to fulfill that calling.
Finally, the vertical stitching, in gold colored thread, represents God working through the relationships that are created when we’re generous, and also how He works through us to provide all that we need.
We are made by a creative, creator God. We too carry this spark of creation. Learn more about what we’re doing through Art & Practice.