From the Pen of the Artist: Entry IV

So, this is not the most traditional Advent image. There are no Christmas trees or manger scenes playing out. No religious iconography in a traditional sense. UPC has allowed me to meditate on the sermon themes and to come up with my own imagery, as opposed to commissioning something specific. We use and are comforted by the rich tradition of artworks and images that past believers have created. However, Christ tells us in Mark 2:22 that “no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” I believe that our tradition helps us, but that faith must be examined and reexamined anew in each of our lives, and thus it is proper and necessary to create new imagery and new artwork that reflects this. God spoke to believers in Christ’s time, in the early Christian period, Medieval times, the Renaissance, and He speaks today to us. It’s New Wine for us to drink, so let’s together find some new wineskins to put it in so we can share it with others in genuineness and authenticity.

by Matt Whitney