Whatsoever |
Whatsoever |
Gathering together fragments to make something pleasing and interesting and unexpected. (This image was made by arranging scrapings from my painting palette) The word and idea of gathering has a whole range of meanings and resonances. Searching through a collection of postcards I have explored some of these. Gathering - bringing in the harvest These are images of things being gathered from the land and sea - the bounty provided and the basket to collect, the effort of finding just the right thing and the net to trawl it in. Carrying of things on the head as you walk along. The beauty of the grain stacks Ethiopia which are like my fragment ‘painting’ - which it therefore turns out is not a tukul but a tef-stack! In each of these there is something purposeful and joyful because the goodness to be gathered is always there.
Gathering life These two images are very different. The two hands show the gathering of a couple together and is therefore so hard and poignant - I still bear the rings but the hand has so long gone. He has been ‘gathered home’The rings are the reminder and reality of this vital gathering in my life. The other is so different: sitting alone with books, surrounded by arches and memories and symbols and the world beyond. Perhaps these two have to be together as they are different stages of my life indicated. Gathering with God And then four wonderful images of gathering with God. God is a gathering of three in one. This is not just ‘one thing’ but a trinity of Father, Son and Spirit - all different, coming together to help us understand the whole. We are allowed to come into the gathering. Mary was our forerunner as she came closest, but we can come and pray at the sunrise and sunset. We can be part of the gathering of God. Bible references with the idea of gathering.
Genesis, in creation accounts, has God gathering the world together The manna and quail in the desert have to be gathered, in the right amount, each day. Isaiah 40 Ecclesiastes 3:5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them Psalm 104: [27]All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. 28] When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. [30] When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. [33] I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. [34] May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. John 6/ Matthew 16 - gathering over what is left after the feeding of the thousands. Matthew 23:37 God wants to gather us close. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. There is something peaceful about gathering, and joyful.
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WhatsoeverThe posts are 'postcards' on my journey through faith and art. The name 'Whatsoever' comes from Philippians 4:8 in the Bible : Categories
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