the unlikely orange

note: i wrote these words back in 2017, after a series of tragedies.  you can see the original post here .  i have adapted these words to deal with the unthinkable gun violence perpetrated against people of color and children in our country in the last couple of weeks.  i share them here as a way to move us, as people of faith, to something more than just words, cynicism, or empty religious platitudes.    It has been a season of terrible tragedy.  And once again I have noticed in the news a trending phrase: thoughts and prayers.  It even has its own hashtag on twitter and other social media, but net necessarily in a good way.  People are understandably tired of hearing about others’ thoughts and prayers, when that is often only a thinly-veiled way of saying that our only obligation to those who suffer is a brief moment of silence, or nothing more than a tweet or public statement.  The truth is that, for those of us who follow Jesus, much is ...

  "the broken path: station 8 - Jesus is placed in the tomb" gregory a. milinovich spray paint, broken glass, pottery, tiles, mirror on old farm window march, 2021 this year during lent, i was inspired to design a set of eight pieces of art for a "stations of the cross" installation, which is currently on display outside on the front lawn at St. Paul's UMC and Wesley Foundation at 230 E. College Ave. in State College, PA.  it will be there on display until april 3rd, 2021.  if you aren't able to see it in person, you can see the whole collection here.  i've also decided to write a bit about each one, so that you can find out a little "behind the scenes" information for each one, and hear a little about my inspiration.  here are the posts for station 1, station 2, station 3, station 4, station 5, station 6, and station 7. this brings us to the final station, in which we remember that the lifeless body was taken down from the cross, and then brou...

  "the broken path: station 7 - Jesus dies on the cross" gregory a. milinovich broken glass, ceramics, tiles on old farm window march, 2021 this year during lent, i was inspired to design a set of eight pieces of art for a "stations of the cross" installation, which is currently on display outside on the front lawn at St. Paul's UMC and Wesley Foundation at 230 E. College Ave. in State College, PA.  it will be there on display until april 3rd, 2021.  if you aren't able to see it in person, you can see the whole collection here.  i've also decided to write a bit about each one, so that you can find out a little "behind the scenes" information for each one, and hear a little about my inspiration.  here are the posts for station 1 , station 2 , station 3 , station 4 , station 5 , and station 6 .  this seventh station of the cross is meant to urge us to consider the very last breaths of Jesus' life.  no more do we linger on the agony and tortur...

  "The Broken Path: Station 4 - Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem" gregory a. milinovich broken glass, tile, sea glass on old farm window march, 2021 this year during lent, i was inspired to design a set of eight pieces of art for a "stations of the cross" installation, which is currently on display outside on the front lawn at St. Paul's UMC and Wesley Foundation at 230 E. College Ave. in State College, PA.  it will be there on display until april 3rd, 2021.  if you aren't able to see it in person, you can see the whole collection here .   i've also decided to write a bit about each one, so that you can find out a little "behind the scenes" information for each one, and hear a little about my inspiration.  here are the posts for station 1 , station 2 , and station 3 .  today we turn our attention to station 4: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.  we meet these women in luke 23:27-31, where we are told they are following him, along with a huge...

"ash wednesday 2020: where is God?" mixed media collage (acryclic paint, found papers, masking tape, glue on hardcover bookboard) gregory a. milinovich february 2020 where is God in all of this?  it's a question we've been asking for millenia.  just as we may look at intense beauty and see God as clear as the light of day, we may also look at tragedy and despair and see the absence of God like a dark fog.  in fact, it is this darkness like a fog that the prophet Joel writes about in Joel 2.  he writes of a darkness during the day.  like a blanket covering the land.  like an approaching army of death.  it's a stark image, but don't act like you can't relate.  from the atrocities of our human history to the sense of impending doom in our world today (mass shootings, natural disasters, violence, racial hatred, pandemic virus worries, and more), we have all felt like the darkness is an approaching army, a falling fog of hazy hopelessne...

“Leftovers again?” It’s a refrain that is sometimes heard in our house, especially after Shannon has prepared several great meals in a row. In those times, we often have a collage of containers in the refrigerator, filled with various elements from the dinners of the last few days: broccoli in the glass container with the red lid, brown rice in the green tupperware, and some pork chops wrapped in foil, just to name a few. Sometimes there is enough of this mishmosh of food to last us for several meals, which is when the complaining usually begins, “Leftovers, again?” I was thinking about this on Sunday as we thought about God’s abundance. We remembered story after story in the Bible in which we discover a God of abundance and overflowing goodness. One of the stories was the feeding of the 5,000, in which a huge crowd (some estimate it was as many as 15,000, since women and children wouldn’t have made the count) was fed by a meager 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. Perhaps the m...

back in early june, as part of an overall effort to get more healthy, i started jogging.  i was just kind of walking and running a couple of miles to start off, but over the last 4 months i've been staying consistent, which has helped me to run faster and further, lose some weight, and just generally be healthier.  on fridays, which are my day off, i try to run a longer distance, and i've been adding a mile every other week or so, which meant that today i ran 9 miles in about 99 minutes, which isn't great, but it isn't terrible, either.  mostly, it just feels good to be doing it, and to feel healthier in a general sense, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and so on.  but there is one area that i haven't felt great about.  professionally, these last 8 months have been, without doubt, some of the most difficult in my 21+ years of full-time ministry.  now don't get me wrong: i love my job.  i really do.  it is so much more than just a job f...

i know i'm old.  i mean, there's a growing list of entries in that exhibit file, many of which are obvious to everyone else but me, but i'm at least self-aware enough to realize this one: i still make mix cd's.  as if it were still 2002, i rip and arrange and burn and buy jewel cases and the whole deal.  it's almost like a i can't NOT do it.  i just love it; it's in my bones.  every time we take a family trip somewhere, i make a mix cd focused on  that location, and each summer i make a cd to serve as the soundtrack of our summer, and i make several copies and share them with others as well.  they probably get it in the mail and laugh at me, but i don't really care.  i simply love doing it. this is my fifth summer cd in a row, and you can see the artwork for it above.  the theme is the word "world," as you can see from the songs i chose (also, please remember that my target audience here is the family demographic).   here ar...

in deuteronomy 4, moses is telling the people about life in the promised land, even though he knows he won't be entering with them, and he's describing what life will be like.  he warns them to be careful not to become like the surrounding people, not to become corrupt, and not to worship idols.  he talks about how miserable life can become for them if they give into to these temptations, but then he says this,      "but if from there you seek YHWH, your God, you will find what you seek, if      you seek with all your heart and all your soul." (Deut. 4:29). from there. i love those words.  especially in this season.  from there. from where?  from the 'promised land' where the only promises you can see are broken to bits and lying in pieces, littering the ground.  from there. from the place where you have gotten yourself when you have made idols or gotten sidetracked, or lost the plot, or grown selfish or lazy or a...

"bread alone" mixed media collage (bread tabs, cut paper, acrylic paint, glue on stretched canvas) february, 2019 gregory a. milinovich "one does not live by bread alone," said Jesus, when he was out in his own spiritual wilderness, feeling hungry and tempted to use his power to satisfy his own wishes.  the voice of the tempter came to him, saying, "c'mon....look at all these stones...if you wanted, you could easily turn them to bread...you could satisfy your hunger, and instantly meet all the needs of the world."  it had to be tempting.  but Jesus knew that there was more than just bread and stones at stake here.  he knew that "easy fixes" wouldn't really be an answer to the problem of evil and brokenness.  he knew that bread was going to need to be broken, in order to really provide the wholeness that the world was so desperately hungry for.  so he quoted scripture.  he recalled deuteronomy 8, where the israelites we...

"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...

""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...

"claimed" paper collage (found papers, acrylic paint, glue) on book board gregory a. milinovich october 2018 But now thus says the  Lord ,      he who created you, O Jacob,      he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;      I have called you by name, you are mine. "you are mine," says God.  "do not be afraid.  i have redeemed you.  i have claimed you.  i got this." in a messy world full of pipe bombs and synagogue shootings; in a broken mess of hate and fear, i believe a certain kind of fearlessness based in a love that is perfect and holy.  i believe that the light defeats the darkness.  i believe we are claimed.  

"weapon of the word" mixed media collage (found papers, acrylic paint, glue on book board) gregory a. milinovich september, 2018 "a bible used as a weapon against other human beings is always a bible misused."  -kristen rosser i know this new collage i made a few weeks ago isn't going to win any beauty contests, but i wasn't trying to make something pretty.  i was reflecting on how i so often feel about how some Jesus-followers sometimes use the bible.  standing on a foundation of fear, they pack the bible like a pistol, loaded and aimed at anyone who challenges them.  it gets aimed at those who are different.  it gets aimed at those who interpret it in different ways.  in this way the word is weaponized in order to silence the voices of those who would ask questions.   for me, the bible is much more a love letter than a loaded weapon.  it invites relationship not retribution.  it gives life, not death.  it cr...

if i was going to start something awesome, i'd probably start with the most attractive thing i could.  i mean, it's marketing 101, right?  you've got to attract people, tell them that you've got something great, and that they need it.  so think about it: if i was going to start a club for steelers fans who also love indie music, i would probably start by hiring my graphic designer wife to make some super awesome brochures or posters or something, and i would make sure they looked interesting and inviting.  next, i would look for some cool people to join my club, maybe even some people that people know .  i mean, it would be great if i could get the Avett Brothers to join my club, or JuJu Smith-Schuster, or someone that would attract others to join my club.  and we'd have snacks.  maybe little black-and-gold cookies in the shape of a banjo or something.  but not Jesus.  that's now how Jesus operates.  (well, maybe the snacks...h...

last week i tried to remind myself and any of you reading that Jesus isn't interested in calling only the squeaky-clean or those who have all of their cracks and tears all covered up and hidden.  but somehow many of us still let ourselves "off the hook," by assuming that the people that Jesus is really interested in are the religious people.  people like priests and pastors.  people like walt, the guy who leads two different bible studies at church, always attends the special church events, and reads bible commentaries in his spare time.  we sometimes allow ourselves to buy the lie that says, "those are the real Jesus-followers.  you don't have time for that.  you've got your career and your family and your retirement and your hobbies and your busy schedule to worry about...you can follow Jesus just by going to church sometimes."  and we do.  and we check the box.  but i happen to think that Jesus is actually inviting people - regul...

so here's the thing: i call myself a Christian.  actually, i don't even use that word as much anymore, because it ends up being a wedge between me and many other people as soon as i use it.  instead, i like to say that i'm a Christ-follower (which is closer to the way the very first Christ-followers talked about it anyway).  to be a Christ-follower is to - wait for it - follow Christ .  i know, surprising, right?  well, it shouldn't be a shock to us that being a Christ-follower, or a Christian, means following Christ, but in America in 2018 calling yourself a Christian often has far too little to do with actually following Jesus.  when people call themselves Christians in america today, they may mean any number of things, such as: -i went to a church sometimes when i grew up; -i once got 'saved' at a christian camp or crusade; -i believe in God; -i am in favor of traditional american evangelical political positions; -i say merry christmas instead ...