The Calling of Saint Matthew

"The Calling of Saint Matthew" Caravaggio 1599-1600

    This painting was in an article entitled "A Dramatic Enlightenment." A good friend pointed me to this online at The Wall Street Journal's Arts & Entertainment section of January 14, 2012. It was written by Willard Spiegelman, Hughes Professor of English at Southern Methodist University. I would like to share portions of what he wrote concerning this painting by Michelanelo Merisi da Caravaggio, painted around 1600, titled, "The Calling of Saint Matthew" as follows:

    "The Calling" dramatizes an interruption, an invitation or, more accurately, a command. Levi is "called" to a new life when he least expects it. ...Jesus catches Matthew off-guard, in the midst of four companions. He looks up as Jesus, his face illuminated but his body otherwise in shadow, extends his right arm in an action deliberately evoking God's to Adam on the Sistine Ceiling. In front of Jesus, slightly bending over and turning away from us, Peter repeats the gesture. The conversion has begun, although only Jesus seems to know it. ...Matthew sits to one side, huddling with his buddies. ...Like the other money counters, they are dressed in a cavalier modern style. Jesus and Peter, calling Levi to a new life, paradoxically wear traditional biblical garb. The surly, handsomest youth, bent over the table at the far left, looks uninterested in anything but his money. So does the older, bespectacled figure above him. ...Matthew seems to say, 'Who, me?' ...Jesus understands that he has accomplished his mission. Although a little hard to see, his bare feet turn away from the table and from his newest convert. He knows that it is time to go. Matthew's vocation has only just begun."

    Do you ever feel that you are being called to a life much different from what you are experiencing now? Does it seem that everyone around you, like Matthew's buddies, is oblivious to what you are hearing as an invitation? If your friends only knew that you are being called to something other than life of worldly pleasures like Matthew.

    Each one of us has within us a desire for fulfillment that can't be satisfied by what this world offers. Are you, as this author states, sitting there in your "cavalier modern style" while trying to ignore the one who beckons you to come? Jesus has done the work on our behalf to make it possible for anyone to follow Him. You're not likely to see Jesus standing at the end of your table with outstretched arm, but through His Spirit we are called. As the title of the article goes, your "Dramatic Enlightenment" may come through the words of a friend, something you read, or maybe God is using this painting to speak to you.

    God is very creative in reaching out to all of us. The important thing is to respond as Matthew did. Today is the day to accept the call of Him who beckons you to come. Today is the day of salvation.

Good Morning Sun

"Morning Sun"  33'x401/4" Acrylic on Canvas

                  Morning Sun

       Another day,

       and here I stand,
            old branches break and fall,
            while trillium push forth to bloom,
       Your Sun calls me,
       with mercies ever new.                     

                             - George L. Richardson

 Great is Your Faithfulness, O Lord!

Biblically Inspired: Ps 139:23, 24: Search me, God, and know my heart; 
test me and know my anxious thoughts. 
See if there is any offensive way in me, 
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Lamentations 3:22-24: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, 
for his compassions never fail. 
They are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness. 
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; 
therefore I will wait for him.”

A portion taken from BreakPoint Daily Commentary by Chuck Colson: MLK and Religious Freedom 1/06/2011

Martin Luther King and Religious Freedom
Mark the Day

    Monday, January 16, is Martin Luther King Day. Most schools recognize the day — as they should. But will they teach students about Dr. King’s Christian faith, which motivated and guided his campaign for civil rights?

    During his Birmingham civil rights campaign, Dr. King required every participant to sign a pledge committing to do ten things. The first was to “meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.” Others included the expectation that all participants would “walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love;” and “pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.”

    To truly understand Martin Luther King, students must learn about his Christian faith. It was at the heart of what he did.

    This year, something else worth celebrating happens to fall on the same day as Martin Luther King Day, and it’s a perfect fit. Every year since 1993, the President proclaims January 16 to be Religious Freedom Day and asks the nation to celebrate its religious liberty. It is the anniversary of the passage in 1786 of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

    The men who drafted the Constitution leaned heavily on Jefferson’s statute in establishing the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom. Today, it is more important than ever that we remind ourselves of that protection.

    Since Martin Luther King Day and Religious Freedom Day fall on the same day this year, it is a perfect time for schools to help students connect the dots between Martin Luther King’s fight for civil rights and the freedom of religious expression in America.  Dr. King’s call for justice was guided by his religious convictions and the liberty to act on those convictions.
   

Embracing Majesty

"Embracing Majesty" 18"x26" Acrylic on Canvas

 Embracing Majesty
A time to lift one’s soul,
A place where truth is found,
Not by chance does nature frame,
His majesty for me,
A juncture when new life begins,
Where peace and love remain.

               - George L. Richardson
Biblically Inspired: John 3:16; Romans 1:20; John 3:35, 36

Creation Inspired: "Inspiration Point" at Letchworth State Park
Aptly named "Inspiration Point," this overlook is breath taking anytime of year, but the calmness of late winter has a special attraction. It is as though God were giving nature the option to either stay frozen or move toward the new life of spring. He provides moments like these to us as well and with very much the same choice.

Comment on "The Lion and the Lamb"

Oh Yeah. I learned a new song - new to me anyway. I hope you all enjoy this too. I hope the question in the opening phrases has been answered for you. If not, ask God, and He will provide your answer. Blessings!

The Lion & The Lamb

Love Keeps Flowing

"Love Keeps Flowing" 2.5"x3.5" Acrylic on MiniCanvas

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

1Corinthians 13:4-8a NIV

     This miniature painting of a creek, yet to freeze over, reminds me of my desire to let the love of God flow through me no matter what the temperature. This temperature might be felt through rumors or flippant remarks. For me, this threatens some points in my stream to nearly freeze or at least cause a skim of ice to form on my being patient or in my ability to persevere. You may have your own points of freezing, and what is troubling is that sometimes we don't even recognize what is on our personal thermometers.

     I learned of an exercise recently to help identify those points. Using the passage above, wherever the word "love" or "it" is written, substitute your name. There is something about saying it out loud that rings forth the truth or not and to what degree.

      The perfect truth in the passage above can only be attributed to Jesus who always kept the love flowing during His earthly ministry, and it is still flowing through His Spirit who wants to reside in each one of us. If the Spirit resides in you maybe you might like to take a little meter reading and see what is going on. We can all improve in the area of love. I pray that your love will keep flowing no matter how cold the temperature gets. Love never fails.

The Struggle

"The Struggle"  11"x14"  Acrylic on Canvas

The Struggle

Take courage in your struggle,
From Him who walks the sea,
Staying true within the course,
To love and like Him be.
            - George L. Richardson

Biblical Inspiration: Mark 6:48, 2 Corinthians 3:17, 18, Romans 7:20-25
Creation Inspired: Having been in the army and not in the navy, I can only imagine that a storm at night, in the middle of an ocean, can bring on its own brand of excitement, i.e, terror. If only one could walk on water or calm the sea like Jesus did. As a follower, we are becoming more like Jesus day by day, but I believe we will never have the divine ability to control much of our natural surroundings, but we can struggle with our character to be more like Him. This is work, as Paul points out in Romans 7:20, but as we exercise our freedom in Christ, we can find that we will be more like Him.  Jesus was a perfect model in His obedience to the Father's will, and He did it in love. This too is possible for us in Christ. So as you stay the course, keep on rowing and take heart with more words from Paul, "Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:25 niv.