Art Opening & Taizé

Immediately following the Ash Wednesday service in 2011 the people of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Lake Jackson, Texas, gathered to respond to God through photography, drawing and writing.  What you see in this exhibit is the result.

Simone Weil, the French philosopher and mystic, wrote, “Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer”.  Sondra Griner’s candid photos reveal the prayerful concentration that evening, while the portraits bySusan and Jeff Laver show us ‘as we are, without one plea.’  The half-face candid shots by Denis James manifest a sort of playful mystery also present that night as we worked together to create something beautiful for God.

Sheila Conner’s prompt for the artists was simply, “Respond to your experience of Ash Wednesday.”  In the artwork some unlooked for themes emerged: the sanctuary, the cross marked face, the cross of Calvary, the empty tomb, the heart, both broken and overflowing, the light from above, the wounds of Jesus.

In the written pieces we hear cross marked souls speak of faith and doubt, sin and forgiveness, despair and hope.  In prayers, poems and reflections we’re given a glimpse into the Christian heart, “broken, yet most whole.”

Our youngest participant was two, our eldest, one-hundred.  Some of us helped start the church nearly sixty years ago, some of us have only been coming for a few months.  We represent a variety of professions and every political position from left to right.  One of us will be baptized on Easter morning.  One of us is in hospice care.  We are the body of Christ and “Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

The art will be available for viewing through May 22 on Sunday mornings and during weekday office hours.

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