new collage: easter 2012 - tears of joy

"lent 7 2012: tears of joy"

mixed media collage on stretched box canvas (acrylic paint, vintage papers, glue)

april 2012

gregory a. milinovich

 sometimes we weep for sadness and grief.  sometimes we weep with emotion beyond what we know what to do with: some mixture of joy and pain, like we can feel something deeper than our language, stronger than our hearts, and beyond time and space.  sometimes life is just too terrible and too wonderful at the same time.  sometimes we're just chopping onions.  in any case, many of us find ourselves crying from time to time. 

i wanted to end this series of lenten collages with a tear, reminiscent of mary crying outside the tomb of Jesus.  "why are you weeping?" she is asked twice.  and at first it is because she thinks Christ's body has been stolen.  and then, she finally recognizes his voice.  what do you think happens then?  well, we aren't told specifically, of course, but i know that if it had been me in her sandals, i would have begun to weep in earnest, with a joy unspeakable. 

and that's my point.  isn't that what Jesus does to us.  isn't he the upside-down and inside-out specialist who takes the foolish things and makes them wise;
-who takes the outsiders and invites them in;
-who takes the humble and makes it great;
-who takes the broken and fixes it;
-who takes what is dead and gives it new life;
-who takes our tears of sadness and turns them into tears of joy?

this Jesus that many of us follow and whose name we so loosely associate with, he was upside-down and inside-out.  he had it all backwards.  and i, for one, am forever thankful for that.  his backwards story and his upside-down and inside-out way of living has saved my life and challenges me to be a better person. 

here is the whole series of collages i made this lent.  i hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as i enjoyed making them and interacting with the biblical texts in order to create something that reflected my own understanding of them. 

and i hope you have a truly blessed easter.  life is abundant!  love is victorious!  Jesus Christ is risen!