These paintings would not exist without the leadership and community of Imago Dei Church, and I owe them many thanks. The show is from a larger group of paintings done as part of a sermon series on the gospel of John: each painting has as its theme the text and sermon and experience of one Sunday morning of worship at Imago Dei.
Asking questions is one way of living, believing and growing. In this series, questions have become a n integral part of my creative process. As I read the passages, I often start out wondering, do these stories really have anything to do with me? I sometimes try to put myself in the place of a disciple or an onlooker in first-century Palestine, but instead of solving my questions that produces more. The main character of these stories moves so fast sometimes. And if I let go of the Sunday-school familiarity, his actions are odd in the highest degree, alien to the world I think I know. Things are said and done that put in question my very definitions of up and down, of straight and crooked.
Sometimes, while painting, I stumble into transcendence. The more transcendent the truth, the more I cling to simple concrete images, partly as a way of admitting my inadequacy, my inability to express these things. What does peace look like that comes from beyond this world? All I know to say is that it's something like the deepest peace you can find in this world. What does it mean to believe, what does it mean to die? What would it look like to have a room in heaven? The best answer I can give is, Something like this, only much, much better.
Stephanie Gehring, March 2004
