The Baptismal Covenant from the Book of Common Prayer concludes with five questions which draw out what it means to follow Jesus in the world today. The fourth of these questions asks:

"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving your neighbor as yourself?"

For this exhibition, we challenged artists to consider the Russian mystic and writer Leo Tolstoy's illustration of the idea of seeking Christ in all persons with his parable "Where Love is, There God is also." In that parable, Tolstoy tells of a cobbler who is told by God in a dream, "Martin! Ah, Martin! Look tomorrow on the street. I am coming." The cobbler met Christ in the face of all those with whom he came into contact that day.

The pieces in this exhibition show the artists' vision of how we can seek and serve Christ in all persons. Hands are a unifying factor in the varied artistic responses to the call as the words of Teresa of Avila put it, "Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world." We see this in the reaching hand of Krystyna Sanderson's photograph; Paul T. Palmer, Jr.'s photograph of healing hands in a Haitian hospital; and Roberta Karstetter's thought-provoking found-art assemblages, as well as in Frank's photo of a beggar in Kathmandu.*

This call to seek and serve all persons sounds harmless enough. However, putting the love of God into action is revolutionary—as shown in Frank's "Hasta El' Amor Siempre" ("Always To Love Forever") and provocative as seen in Sally Shovar's image: "Lament." In "The Kill Room," from Vanessa Wells, we are challenged to find Christ's presence in the most unlikely of places.

Victoria's mixed media, "Matthew 6:22," reveals that it is in the eyes of all God's creatures that we see Christ more clearly. Consider the art in this exhibit as a meditative way to challenge yourself during Advent to not only worship Christ within the walls of the church, or the walls of your heart, but also to seek him and serve him in all persons.

Blessed Advent,
Frank and Victoria Logue

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue is the Canon for Congregational
Ministries for the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.

Victoria Logue is an author and Franciscan Tertiary.

*Entries from our Curators are shown below (and also within the exhibition).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   
 

©

All images used in this exhibition retain the copyright of the individual Artist with ALL RIGHTS RESERVED for the Artist. Do not use any image from this exhibition unless you receive express permission to do so from the Artist. Simply click on the Profile graphic which is located beneath each Artist’s name to find contact information for that Artist.