The Jesus Painting
- Former user (Deleted)
First-Person Testimony by Chrissy Aldin (Christiane Stauffacher-Aldin), who helped to Paint the Jesus Mural
The account below is the complete text of an original email dated June 16, 2009, to Sandy Kirkwood Rivers, another former Biola student who helped wash Chrissy's brushes during the painting project, and to Karen Myers, a history student in the graduating class of 2010. Chrissy submitted this for the Biola Wiki Project, all the way from her home in France. Sandy currently lives in Downey, CA, and Karen in La Mirada.
What a thrill to find out such a class was offered with such a
reknown[ed]
artist
[
]
that has done so many big paintings all around LA! A total joy, didn't want to miss that class at all! Learning a new technique from a professional! Too cool!
A joy too to paint something that really made a statement, that
was big, that was to stay for a long while. It was a great time up on the scafolding
[sic]
painting little piece at a time; got us tired at times, but it was great working all together. But I do believe the artist had to finish it all up himself, we couldn't get it done in one semester!
We learned little by little the whole idea behind the painting. I think that as artists , you're less shocked by things since many times we use your art to make a statement or get a message across.So the artist proposition of Jesus standing in the clouds with a Bible didn't seem too
extrava[g]ant.
We also had some nasty comments of other students coming around; students that already ju
[d]ged
negatively any kind of art, and any kind of artists.... and of course art students!
I guess they never realised the meaning God puts on art. In making the ark, as in the temple, He always called upon the best artists in the molding, sculpturing, painting... God places great importance in art...He himself is a creator!
I remember thinking this Jesus standing there so high with the Bible in his hands made an incredible statement! Sure it wasn't a typical
[Bible]
picture like the one of a
shep[h]erd
holding his lost sheep, or Jesus by the well, or feeding the multitude, but it brought together 2 incredible biblical/theological notions: God made flesh and Jesus being the Word! A condensed approach of John chapter one!
At the time, it wasn't Jesus being a white
[E]uropean
type that took the slack (nobody even noticed that then!), it was the fact that the artist dared paint Christ, up in the clouds, and to top it off with a Bible in hand... which was claimed as a totally unbiblical image of Jesus-Christ! The fear came up that people would bow down to such an image, and not to God himself!
That's not quite understanding the painting, nor it's impact. Such a big painting brings you above such thinking, brings you to really realise what a great big God we do have, and that his Word is precious (he holds it in his own hands!) and worth reading... and that he's a God worth knowing for real!!!
I was and still am proud to have participated in that painting. It is a great accomplishment, sends off a great message, and gives Biola an incredible aura.
I am so sorry to hear the controversy that is now around it. A
[controversy]
brought up by a few that probably don't understand this painting. A
controvers[y]
that seems such a waste of time! Do we go back on all the paintings & artwork done years ago to re-read them according to the events and dilemmas hitting us now? No!
Shouldn't we instead take
concret[e]
action, not just words, against what we feel is wrong in our society today? The painting up there or not, will NOT make any difference in whether or not we integrate others!!!! It is our heart that we have to change, not a painting! It is an good attitude, not slogans and documents that bring real change.
We are called, as God called all his people in Deuteronomy 10:19, to love those who are aliens among us; called to put into actions our compassion and our care to others. It is a call to host all those that are strangers (Hebrews 13:2). Why not put our energy and time into that?
And if anything, the Jesus painting invites all of us to "accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God", Romans 15:7!
There's the message, the Word of God, made flesh, reminding us what He died for each of us and calling us, as the people of God, to show his love to others in order to give all the glory to Him!
May the Jesus painting keep inspiring us in giving God all glory and praise!