As the lights of the easter vigil blaze,
we see the charge of
god’s glory and grandeur
Made Manifest

Too often, we find ourselves in the bleared, smeared, soot-choked alleys of sin and suffering, or trodding aimless and unfeeling along the darkening valley of death.

Yet God’s grandeur cannot be quenched. From the fire and cloud on Sinai to the blinding light on the mount of Transfiguration, from the sun-dark noon of the cross to the peeking dawn of Easter morning: flaming out, shake-shining, gathering to a greatness—such is the overwhelming glory of our God.

From his abundance of life, God showers fresh glory profligate over this world, his beloved creation.

To our weeping, God gives the quiet joy of morning. To our struggle, God balms us with the blaze of the setting sun. To our thirst, God sends the slaking rains. To our bleak and bleary ache, God sends nectar to the petals.

To our death, God raises the Son to resurrection life.

Christ Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection, a forerunner of the cornucopiac harvest which will be the new heavens and new earth. By the Spirit, the Father is seeding the new life which his Son has begun in all who believe. Our sins forgiven, a new name given, a surefire promise of resurrection and life eternal.

It’s a grandeur that a single feast cannot contain—we need a season.

Eastertide stretches seven weeks—a week of weeklong feasts—a space and time to breathe in and drink down God’s greening vigor.

This Eastertide, let us savor the bright brooding, the hints of lightening at the horizon, the glory and promise of God’s grand work in creation and in re-creation.

God has gifted artists

to pause in the trodding
to Clear the Blear and Smear
to open our Senses to the
freshness
deep
down
things

If you have been given and have nurtured creative gifts—gifts in the visual arts (from sculpture to painting to glass-blowing to design), gifts in the narrative arts (poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction), or musical gifts (performance, composition, etc.)—we invite you to devote those gifts unto the Lord’s service. We invite you to make an offering of beauty.

We would love to display your visual art in our Eastertide art gallery, or feature your narrative or musical art in the gallery opening event (and the accompanying arts journal).

In the midst of your Lenten repentance, draw near to the God who is Himself the freshness deep down every blessed thing. Ask him for revelations of his grandeur, glimpses of his glory.

Help us to unshod our calloused feet, help us to feel the earth beneath us, to see and hear and smell and taste again the goodness of God in the witness of creation.

Help us to crave and savor and delight in the bright news we call gospel: that in Christ Jesus there is life abundant, a love strong as and stronger than death, and that this love will be creation’s final word.

Where do you see God greening new life?
Where have you heard his gospel like birdsong?
Where have you felt the warm brooding of God’s dawn against the dark?

If you’re interested

Contact Deacon Zack Clemmons at zachary.clemmons@gmail.com.

We’ll talk details on your project, and any questions you have will be answered!

Deadlines

Saturday, April 15th Deadline for written submissions
Saturday, April 29th Deadline for visual art & music submissions

(But I’m not an artist!)

If you don’t consider yourself a creative person, or can’t contribute artistically to our Eastertide Gallery and Event, there will be other ways to support this event, forthcoming in further communications.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for our gallery opening event on the third Saturday in Eastertide:

April 29th || 6:00pm
Christ the King Anglican Church

2250 Blue Ridge Blvd. | HOover, AL | 35226

This event will be open to the public, so invite friends and neighbors!