the unlikely orange

"democrats and republicans" mixed media collage (acryclic paint, found papers, ink) on hardcover bookboard january, 2019 gregory a. milinovich as i continue to preach about what it means to be 'better together' in a culture in which we are deeply fractured, i preached last sunday about the political divisions that riddle our country.  left and right, red and blue, urban and rural: there are countless fault-lines of division that live in some sort of fearful tension of the quakes that might result should they really bump up against one another. one issue i see is that rather than discuss the issues and problems that our nation (or our states, cities, churches, etc.) faces with differing opinions and various ideas, we have instead chained ourselves to political parties, and what they seem to represent to us.  we make it our identity.  so, if hannity says something, we either agree with it or despise it, before he opens his mouth really.  same with madd...

"that they might be one" mixed media (found papers, ash, shoe polish, acrylic paint, glue) on bookboard january, 2019 gregory a. milinovich last week our church began a new sermon series in which we are exploring how, in spite of our increasingly-polarized culture, we are in fact better together.  that's what the series is called: better together.  i am going to be addressing some pretty divisive topics in this series, like politics and race, but we began last week with a prayer which Jesus prayed, that we get to sort of eavesdrop on, as recorded in the gospel of john.  in this prayer, he prays for his followers, both those around him, and those who will one day hear about him through others, and he prays that we might all be one, just as he and his father are one.  he prays for unity.  and he prays for this unity, so that the world may know of his love for us.  i've been thinking a great deal about unity over the last few weeks, in preparat...

as many of you know, we try to do something different and interesting for our family christmas card every year (we've done i-spy's, it's a wonderful life, an old time circus, and superheroes, just to name a few).  this year we decided to try our hand at harry potter, since i've been reading the books to the kids out loud before bed at night.  so, from our home to yours, we hope your christmas is happy, magical, and full of wild wonder at the absurdity of a God who would enter into our story, our messes, our muted colors and lonely bethlehem nights.  there is magic in the mundane, mystery in the manger, if you will dare to believe it.

it's Christmas eve!  we have once again put together a little montage (our eleventh annual!) of some footage from our advent preparations for Christmas, this time to a song that i absolutely adore called "Lord, Remind Me" by Jon and Valerie Guerra. we hope you are reminded of the magic and the mystery of this unlikely story, and of the wonder of hope being born in your own heart again this year. 

"faceless immigrants 1-13" mixed media collage (found papers, acrylic paint, glue) on hardcover bookboard november, 2018 gregory a. milinovich i know that this is a divisive subject, and i don't mean to divide.  in fact, my sincere hope would be to build and connect.  but as i continue to glue things together in a way that expresses what is going on in my soul, i cannot help but deal with some of the discord i find there recently.   the news has been full of stories about immigration, asylum-seekers, and how we maintain borders.  these are complicated issues, to be sure, but one of the ways that i find myself struggling as i process the things i see and hear (or sometimes try to avoid seeing and hearing), is to remember that we aren't just talking about an issue here.   when we start painting in broad strokes and speaking in swaths of generalities, we deal in issues and policies and i understood that conversation at that level is...

"behold" mixed media collage (found papers, glue, gesso on hardcover bookboard) october, 2018 gregory a. milinovich behold.  it's an imperative to stop and look.  sometimes we need that, don't we?  to stop and look?  sometimes i need to just behold.  to stop running at breakneck pace, and to pay attention to the rhythm of my breath, to the beating hearts are all around me, and to the presence of the holy everywhere.  "behold, i stand at the door and knock."  but i'm too busy to notice most of the time. and sometimes we need to stop and see what we are really doing.  i need to hear what the voice on the other side of the door is saying: hello?  you've been busy following your own agenda.  you've been busy reading the news and getting angry, or depressed, or numb.  you've been trying to distract yourself.  you've been demonizing the other, even though you aren't even listening.  behold.  look and see w...

""him/her" mixed media collage on hardcover book board (found papers, acryclic paint, glue) october, 2018 gregory a. milinovich "so God created humanity in the image of God; in the image of God they were created; male and female God created them." -genesis 1:27 so, if we are all created "in the image of God," what does that say about us?  about all of us?  and what does it say about God?  i think, as we learn to love our neighbors (and how we love our neighbors IS HOW WE LOVE GOD, according to 1 john 4:20-21), these are important questions for us to wrestle with.  when we read stories about separation of immigrant families; when we hear about mass shootings based on religion or race; when we are led to believe by the words and actions of our leaders that is okay to demonize, alienate, ostracise, generalize, stereotype, exclude or even execute those who are different than us, i think these are critically important questions, es...