"into your hands i commit my spirit"
mixed media collage on stretched canvas (found papers, acrylic paint, markers, glue)
8" by 10"
april 2014
gregory a. milinovich
and so we come to the end of lent, and of my lenten discipline to engage the Biblical texts that we are dealing with in church each week in a creative and expressive way. this collage deals with what might have been the very last words uttered by the mouth of Jesus, words that are part of a prayer found in the 31st psalm. it would seem that as he hung dying, Jesus was praying this prayer, not having his life taken from him so much as still offering it into the hands of God, whom he knew would embrace and redeem him. on this good friday, let us remember that while we are good at pointing fingers at the ones who killed Jesus, whether you want to blame the religious leaders of the jews, or the roman authorities, or even ourselves because of our own sinfulness, the truth is that Jesus offered his life. he gave it. he could have stopped it at any point, but he chose not to. the gift of salvation is really a gift of love. offered by Jesus to you.
it has been a fascinating journey for me these last 7 weeks to reflect creatively on the seven last words of Christ before his resurrection. i have really enjoyed the discipline of making a collage each week to respond to or live into the text. here are all seven together:
and the sides of them:
i hope you have at least enjoyed seeing the idea of possibilities. we are so used to approaching the Scriptures in one way: listening to a sermon. or maybe reading it at our desk and underlining some things. maybe we've even grown into meditating and praying through certain texts, or using other resources to study particular passages more deeply. all of those things are good. but i want you to see that there are other ways, too! you can reflect. you can respond. you can create and interact. you can draw a picture or write a story. you can write God a letter to ask your questions. you can find bits of paper and glue them together! there are many ways for you to have a dialogue with God about this word, which is like the very breath of God. how will you breathe it?
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