"lent 2010: go tell peter"
7/7
mixed media collage on hardcover book panel
gregory a. milinovich
well, this final collage wraps up my series of 7 lenten collages. as you may remember, this was my exercise for lent this year: rather than giving something up i committed to making one collage for each week of lent which specifically dealt with the text we were dealing with in worship that week. for this final week we looked at mark 16:1-8 in which the women discover the empty tomb and the angel tells them that Jesus is risen and that they should go tell the disciples and peter.
strange, in a way, that the gospel writers would include peter's name specifically. but when you consider that the last time we saw peter he was denying Jesus, it may not be all that difficult to understand. this emphasis on peter is expressing the truth that the great power of the cross is forgiveness. God wants peter to know that even though he failed, that is not the end of the story. even though Jesus was dead, that was not the end of the story. the story doesn't end with sin. it continues with forgiveness.
but it doesn't end there, either. even if we've experienced the almost unbelievable forgiveness that Christ offers us, that's not the end. i am struck by the fact that we may also be given the charge to "go tell peter," that there may be several people in our own lives who are desperately in need of some good news of forgiveness. we need to hurry from the grace places in our lives and start living this message of forgiveness in a way that others can experience it, too. we need to go tell peter.
i hope and pray you've enjoyed these collages through lent. i've enjoyed making and sharing them, and it's been a really life-giving part of my own spiritual journey over these 6 weeks. i trust you had a blessed easter, and that you won't forget about it like a discarded egg shell. hold on to your hope. live an easter life.
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