This morning started off with me reading the whole of Colossians, which is a great suggestion by Paul Blackham whose video I then watched. I am enjoying his teaching and the things I have taken away from this session are:
Col 1:15: Jesus is the firstborn of all creation Firstborn isn’t simply the first child but the one who will inherit. Therefore Jesus will inherit all of creation. It is all his, a gift on his wedding day with the bride of course being the church and as we are co-heirs with him, then all of creation is ours.
Col 1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Jesus was not just there before creation but is more important than anything else. Athanasius said “The only system in which Jesus Christ will fit is the one in which he is the starting point.” All the laws of nature are Jesus’ laws – he set it all in place. He is the operating system of reality – the logic and light that holds everything together.
As a little light relief I did the bible journalling workshop next but because I don’t have a bible specifically designed to be drawn in I did a picture in my sketch book. I did it along with the video and didn’t really plan it very well because I wrote the words in and then decided to enlarge the tree and put extra branches in. So the words could have been better placed. Going over them again with silver pen helped. Nevertheless it was enjoyable.
I enjoyed the Creative Sermon Notes by Create with Christie and more or less copied what they did, but then added some colour later on. I shall definitely do this sort of thing again – not when I am listening to a sermon but perhaps in the praying about it and in the bible study stage.
As I did some ironing I watched an interview with artist Bonita Ebuehi, entrepreneur behind Bonita Ivie Prints & The Sister Table. She mentioned a 100 Day project in which she did a drawing a day. It reminded me of the challenge I set myself in 2019 to do a drawing every day of that year. I was learning how to draw and knew that the only way was to practice. I started off with drawing whatever I could see in the room, then in May started using a Sketch a Day ap for inspiration (it gives you a different word each day). I digressed into Inktober (during October) when it was an ink drawing. By the end of the year I had had enough, but was very pleased to look back and see the improvement and that I had only missed 15 days.
Bonita also spoke about the importance of journalling and hand writing letters, as well as community and the way that eating together brings us closer together and it is within community that we grow as Christians (something that Paul Blackham said on Day 1). Bonita also spoke about African theologians and that they were part of the laying of theological foundations for the church. We must not conflate Black church with prosperity gospel.
I am not sure if my Afternoon Walk painting is finished or not. I took advice from a Facebook page and was very pleased at how quickly and easily I managed the figure, which shows how 2019 had made a difference.
I will re-visit it tomorrow in prayer and I may do some writing on it. The phrase that has come to mind is “In royal robes I don’t deserve, I live to serve your majesty” which is from a worship song. I would rather write words of scripture on it. If you want the back ground to this picture go to https://lizjonesblog.home.blog/2020/06/18/creative-christianity-summit-day-1/
It has been a long and creative day and I am ready for an evening in with my husband who has also been creative today making bookmarks from his photographs of our various church windows.
I am not sure how much I will be able to engage with the summit on Saturday as I will have to prepare for Sunday worship, including writing a sermon.
Elizabeth Jones' Diary 