Blogger, https://ArtandTheology.org | Revitalizing the Christian imagination through painting, poetry, music, and morehttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3makju4767k25Rowan Mersh's installation that traces light with thread through a derelict building reminds me of Antoine Bradford's song "Break of Dawn," which recognizes the light of the world shining all around and whose final section is inspired by Psalm 30:5. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/22/advent-day-23-shining-all-around/22 Dec 2025 05:46 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3makju4767k25https://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3majhyo4sws2uThe French group MMK performs 10 Christmas carols, half of French origin & the other half from other parts of Europe & the US. I really like their arrangements! And I appreciated learning 2 new-to-me songs: “D’où viens tu, bergère?” & “Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris.” https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/21/oh-my-goodness-noel-live-by-mmk-french-pop-versions-of-10-christmas-classics/21 Dec 2025 19:40 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3majhyo4sws2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3mahycuhz4k2pI met Nico Melas, a baker & singer-songwriter, at a music festival in Virginia where he performed this song. It anticipates the beauty to come when Christ returns & that bursts forth anytime we do good. I've paired it w/ a painting of confetti falling from the sky. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/21/advent-day-22-beauty/21 Dec 2025 05:27 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3mahycuhz4k2phttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3mafjh2sgzc2t"[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4). Composer Karl Jenkins and artist Max Beckmann respond to this verse in their respective mediums. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/20/advent-day-21-all-tears/20 Dec 2025 05:56 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3mafjh2sgzc2thttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3macwy2onxs2c"Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, and bring the promised day!" Watts apostrophizes in anticipation of the descent of the New Jerusalem. I'm not sure if Revelation 21 was what Webb had in mind when he painted "Epiphany of the Other," but it seems likely, no? https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/19/advent-day-20-new-jerusalem/19 Dec 2025 05:20 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3macwy2onxs2chttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3mabz4sigw22hJulia Esquivel's two poetry collections—Threatened with Resurrection (1982) and The Certainty of Spring (1993)—are works of liberation theology. Here's a poem from the former, describing what the birth of Christ means for her, as a Guatemalan, and her people. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/18/those-who-saw-the-star-by-julia-esquivel/18 Dec 2025 20:26 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3mabz4sigw22hhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3maag7o77zk2kDavid Blow's kaleidoscopic photograph of a new day beyond the haze, about to come into crisp focus, complements this soul tune by the Menahan Street Band. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/18/advent-day-19-new-day/18 Dec 2025 05:15 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3maag7o77zk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3ma5x2o5yac2tThere's a spiritual quality to Bahraini artist Nabeela Al Khayer's "Shather Alfairooz," which shows, as I read it, the dawning (or dawning awareness) of something new within: A longing? A presence? The Day Star that the Brothers of Abriem Harp sing about? https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/17/advent-day-18-day-star/17 Dec 2025 05:38 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma5x2o5yac2thttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3ma3qacijxc2uTwo Advent series I've been enjoying are by Kate Bluett (who's writing poems inspired by "The 12 Days of Christmas") & Elissa Weichbrodt (who's writing art reflections based on the themes of hope, peace, joy & love). Also check out these four new Christmas songs. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/16/roundup-spinoff-12-days-of-christmas-advent-art-elissa-yukiko-weichbrodt-new-christmas-songs/16 Dec 2025 08:31 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma3qacijxc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3ma3kh2sjsk2bEve's redemption draweth nigh, I imagine, in this small sculpture by Kiki Smith. "Awake, awake, for your light has come!" cries a traditional Jewish hymn for Shabbat, anticipating messianic deliverance. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/16/advent-day-17-come-my-beloved/16 Dec 2025 06:47 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma3kh2sjsk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7yvkwmf5c2fA burst of light descends into a forest grove in this watercolor by Charles Burchfield. Consider it alongside Isaiah 9 ("The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light . . ."), excerpts of which were set to music by British composer Alexander L'Estrange. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/15/advent-day-16-a-great-light/15 Dec 2025 05:28 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7yvkwmf5c2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7wfgkmmjk2gKaty Mixon repurposes the wipes she uses to clean her brushes, hands & palette knives in the studio as material for quilted paintings, such as this rainbow-colored one. On this Gaudete Sunday, I proffer it for meditation alongside the song "Joyful" by Paul Zach. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/14/advent-day-15-promise/14 Dec 2025 05:34 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7wfgkmmjk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7vcfqqp7c2jMary's Magnificat is a song of justice, liberation & praise. Here I look at two recent quotes; a video devotion that includes Tissot's "Magnificat" painting; songs by Jane Parker Huber, Jennifer Henry & Simon de Voil; and a sermon clip on Rembrandt's "Visitation." https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/13/magnificat-roundup-visio-divina-with-mary-gardner-for-ages-women-hoped-and-prayed-more/13 Dec 2025 19:07 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7vcfqqp7c2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7tvulbwzc2r"I feel the flames, oh Madonna. I feel the heat of your child . . ." https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/13/advent-day-14-visitation/13 Dec 2025 05:50 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7tvulbwzc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7rdtsblbc2jArtist Pablo Sanaguano sets the Annunciation in the highlands of Ecuador in his painting on the subject, while the Argentine singer-songwriter Ariel Glaser reflects on that profound moment through music. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/12/advent-day-13-bendita-seas-maria/12 Dec 2025 05:22 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7rdtsblbc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7q6e4evec2sArtist Mark Cazalet has created a set of 12 paintings on bread boards and other domestic objects that walk thru the story of Jesus’s first coming, marked as it was by mystery, vulnerability, risk, and glory. They are on display at Chelmsford Cathedral thru Feb 2. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/11/twelve-advent-stations-by-mark-cazalet/11 Dec 2025 18:11 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7q6e4evec2shttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7ovk5ug2k2bThe parable of the wise and foolish virgins was an immensely popular subject in Norwegian tapestries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Here's one phenomenal example @artsmia.bsky.social. I've paired it with a traditional hymn from Sweden. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/11/advent-day-12-wise-and-foolish-virgins/11 Dec 2025 06:01 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7ovk5ug2k2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7mcggfndk26The Sri Lankan Buddhist artist Hatigammana Uttarananda portrays Jesus as radiant, serene. This glorified visage reminds me of the opening lyric of an African American spiritual I found thru an arrangement by Alice Parker: "When Jesus comes, he'll outshine the sun." https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/10/advent-day-11-hell-outshine-the-sun/10 Dec 2025 05:14 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7mcggfndk26https://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7jrn424o22gAn early Christian mosaic in Rome and a twentieth-century Black gospel song from the US evoke Jesus's returning descent "on the clouds of heaven," as Jesus prophesied in the Gospel of Matthew, borrowing language from one of Daniel's apocalyptic visions. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/09/advent-day-10-coming-on-the-clouds/09 Dec 2025 05:08 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7jrn424o22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7hbqqs6cc27In this painting by Sr. Kim Ok-soon, John baptizes followers in the Jordan River, preparing them for the coming of the Messiah, while the early Christian rock artist Bruce Spelman, a member of the Jesus Movement that emerged in the late 1960s, sings about it. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/08/advent-day-9-baptism-of-repentance/08 Dec 2025 05:18 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7hbqqs6cc27https://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7gitgmnm22sLeighAnna Schesser is one of the best living Christian poets. Her way w/ language, her theological imagination—phenomenal. Here she reflects on the Creator becoming part of creation, taking on a body that has mass, that's subject to gravity, that can be torn & was. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/07/the-purpose-of-the-incarnation-by-leighanna-schesser/07 Dec 2025 21:52 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7gitgmnm22shttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7es5ulzz22sChagall's Peace Window at the UN features a series of vignettes, many drawn from the Bible, including one of the peaceable kingdom. Isaiah's prophecies of the messianic age, which the church revisits during Advent, are the theme of Steve Bell's song "Oracles." https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/07/advent-day-8-vision/07 Dec 2025 05:34 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7es5ulzz22shttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m7cc26kk2c2tThe Hebrew word for "to wait," taken from Psalm 27, splashes across this watercolor by Charlotte Mann Lee, while Psalm Project Africa captures the joyously hopeful tone of the psalm in music. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/06/advent-day-7-take-heart/06 Dec 2025 05:40 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7cc26kk2c2thttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m77s2fiem22k"Let the peoples all delight / In the messianic light / Let the whole earth be glad / At the making all things right."—David Benjamin Blower https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/05/advent-day-6-maranatha/05 Dec 2025 05:49 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m77s2fiem22khttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m75b6g773k2kToday’s two featured works function as a call to care for the tired earth. One is a ritual enactment of said care, tender and consoling, by performance artist Holly Slingsby, and the other is an urgent choral lament by composer Alberto Grau. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/04/advent-day-5-tired/04 Dec 2025 05:41 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m75b6g773k2khttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m72seaoefk27Revelation describes, in the new heavens & the new earth, a tree of life w/ twelve fruits that are for the healing of the nations. The Ukrainian painter Kateryna Shadrina & the Dutch English hymn-writer Fred Kaan reference this passage in today's 2 featured works. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/03/advent-day-4-healing-of-nations/03 Dec 2025 06:11 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m72seaoefk27https://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m6zkqaypac2vUpcoming "Poems of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany" event w/ Brian Volck; controversial "Hear Us" installation @cburycathedral.bsky.social; "Dios con Nosotros" by Kreg Yingst; and songs by Adrian Roberto & Melissa Romero, The Hound + The Fox, and Dan Damon. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/02/roundup-advent-poetry-graffiti-at-canterbury-cathedral-dios-con-nosotros-more/02 Dec 2025 18:22 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6zkqaypac2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m6ybe6agyc2lIn today's featured pieces, Sliman Mansour paints three Palestinian children looking longingly on the city of Bethlehem through a barbed-wire fence, & @overtherhine.bsky.social performs a mournful twist on a classic Christmas carol, praying for an end to violence. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/02/advent-day-3-bethlehem/02 Dec 2025 06:01 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6ybe6agyc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/artandtheology.bsky.social/post/3m6vqbf362c2hCaptured by a photojournalist, an abandoned doll sits beside a bullet-riddled car in Kyiv, Ukraine. Following Russia's invasion, Room For More released a musical lament for Advent; "onto all who are in darkness, shine," the Ternopil-based collective sings. https://artandtheology.org/2025/12/01/advent-day-2-to-all-who-are-in-darkness/01 Dec 2025 05:50 +0000at://did:plc:uflod5tlanmaplbdi2zzag7p/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6vqbf362c2h