Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit in on a Bethany class? Are you curious about the content and connecting together the name, photo, and classes taught by the professor? Or maybe you would simply like to pause the busyness in your life to learn more about mathematics, music, communication, chemistry, etc.?
Amid the Trees highlights the expertise of our professors at Bethany by inviting you into their classroom and seeing a sample writing of their outstanding work.
The Incarnation of an Artwork
By Jason Jaspersen, Associate Professor of Studio Art
The beginning of an artwork is in the mind of the artist. The artist may have an inspiring experience such as realizing the beautiful light in a place or watching quiet generosity unfold. The artist is lovingly impressed by such moments. A lived moment can catch the attention of an artist igniting a desire to share the experience with others. This desire to share can be nurtured and guided through a creative process that later becomes an expression. When the expression is completed, others are invited in. The expression offers a limited glimpse into the grand intentions of the artist. Viewers may find something familiar or be awakened. In the end, the artwork is lovingly expressed and everyone feels a little more connected.
In the beginning of the Old Testament we read about God’s original artwork. The days of creation reveal His studio practice in ways that are powerful, inventive, and orderly. By His Word came the foundations of reality. Light! Water! Space! Time! Life! The closer we look, the farther we look, the longer we look at the natural world…the more cohesive, complex, and surprising it becomes. Get curious about God’s magnificent creation! Be impressed and learn to share your appreciation.
In the beginning of the New Testament that God, THE GOD, maker of heaven and earth speaks again. By His Word a new creative chapter opens. It started in His intention, was hinted at through promises, and had finally been revealed to the public. When everything had been arranged, the Word became flesh. As if a curtain was pulled away, He became visible. God with us! The promised expression of God’s love had arrived in the person of Jesus. He emerged from unseen to seen. In Him we have access to God’s brightly burning holiness. Rather than being struck down, we can actually look at Him. By Him we understand that God is more than powerful, He loves us. In Him all humanity is invited to re-join with God’s presence. He taught us that no one has to be alone.
Watch His quiet generosity unfold. At every scale He was the antidote to sin. He offers free access to heaven to all humanity. It’s far beyond my feeble reach or understanding. But I can marvel at God’s generous delight in Adam and Eve, His grand project to bring humanity back into the Garden, and the dazzlingly relatable expression of that love in Jesus. Marvel at the humility of God! Watch Him save us from ourselves. By faith, I can be impressed so that I might also express. Though dimly, my work has a chance to reflect His work.
Artists take vocational consolation and encouragement in the incarnation of Jesus. The fact that God chose to become visible flesh implies much. God became imminent, near. The invisible was revealed, made visible. The history of salvation parallels the creative process as it gradually moved from intention to actuality. First there was the Word, then it dwelled among us, and we still “taste and see that the Lord is good”. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper continue to verify God’s loving intentions through the combination of potent Word and humble physical elements. God’s creative actions validate artworks which begin in the mind and end in material form. By all this, I know that my creative practice is necessary, though mysterious, work. In Him we apprentice.