1 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:04,680 All right, everybody, welcome. Welcome. 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:07,840 Welcome. Somane, we are recording. 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,560 Yes. OK, cool. 4 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,560 This is only here to record it for posterity. 5 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,240 Also for Elias's mom. Actually, though, for real. 6 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:20,640 That's not a joke. She asked us to record it, and 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:26,040 we're doing it for Elias's mom. That's why we're all here sort 8 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:33,320 of so, so wow. Thank you all for being here. 9 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,240 Just this is so cool that you're all here and we're packing out 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,360 the loft for our artist in resident Elias. 11 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:49,040 Let's hear it for him. So Elias started his residency 12 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:56,200 back in the fall and you know, we were we were overjoyed to 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:01,240 choose him for this residency. He's he's done so well with it. 14 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,160 He's gone through a faith and arts course with Sumani and he's 15 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,760 been working really hard on his craft. 16 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,000 And there's nothing that I love to see more than someone who is 17 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,840 just an artist who is obsessing over their craft and they're 18 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:23,560 going as deep as they can go into a singular idea. 19 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,320 And I remember we were meeting, I think back in the fall and 20 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:32,240 Elias was like, I'm really obsessed with like Magnolia 21 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:40,200 leaves and also the color brown. And we, and we've been talking 22 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,160 about like all these other ideas of things he could focus and 23 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,840 work on, but he was obsessed with these like detailed things. 24 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,680 And, and we were. And it was just so clear that 25 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,320 that was the way to go. And I think tonight is is kind 26 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,440 of a culmination of that to a certain degree. 27 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:04,000 But it's also like Elias sharing his gifts of this deep, deep 28 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,720 knowledge with all of us. And, you know, sometimes I'm 29 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,720 sure you felt this in your own life and career. 30 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:14,480 You get to this point where you're like, you feel like you 31 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,320 don't know anything. And then you have a moment where 32 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,080 you realize you have a lot to teach other people. 33 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,840 And so I know that that moment is happening for Elias tonight, 34 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,360 and I'm so glad you're all here to to take it all in. 35 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:41,740 So without further ado, Elias. Thanks, Steven. 36 00:02:41,820 --> 00:02:45,300 That was really sweet. Yeah. 37 00:02:45,300 --> 00:02:47,180 Thank you so much for being here. 38 00:02:47,260 --> 00:02:49,300 I'm really grateful for all of you. 39 00:02:51,180 --> 00:02:54,020 I do want to say that I'm not an expert. 40 00:02:55,640 --> 00:03:03,080 I am also not a pastor, so this is not a sermon and it's 41 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,880 definitely a work in progress. But I'm glad that you're here 42 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,280 because I wanted to invite you in and just hear your thoughts, 43 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:17,360 hear what you had to share. All right, and we'll see if this 44 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:25,520 clicker works. All right, So I, I am an artist. 45 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:35,480 I have been mixing colour with clay and paint and pencils ever 46 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:40,040 since I was a child. When I think about colour, 47 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,240 oftentimes something like this comes into my mind. 48 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,280 Still, I think about something that's kind of childish. 49 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:55,200 I might think about crayons or construction paper or play DoH, 50 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,800 and if you're like me, you will think of these things too. 51 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:08,440 But as I look at this screen, I cannot help but wonder, is this 52 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:13,520 really the level at which I was meant to think about color? 53 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:25,240 Otherwise, as Christians, we love to talk about stewardship. 54 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:30,480 We mostly talk about stewardship with money, but we also talk 55 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,320 about it in terms of relationships and skills and 56 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:42,760 spiritual gifts. A few years ago I was studying 57 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,400 theology at La Brie, which some of you might know, but it's a 58 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,280 ministry and this one is in England. 59 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,800 And I was wondering how Christians might consider color. 60 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,080 And just a series of simple questions. 61 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:05,880 One, does the Lord command us to steward all of his gifts? 62 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:14,000 2 is color a gift? And three, if yes to both, then 63 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,280 how are we commanded to steward color? 64 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:22,880 What does that even mean? Is that a stupid question? 65 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,640 That's kind of just been, I've kind of been sitting with this 66 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:33,480 for a while. So since England, I had a good 67 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,240 conversation in England over this lunch discussion. 68 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:42,200 I've returned to DC where I've set up a art studio and have 69 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,640 been working on my oil paintings. 70 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:53,320 As you may know, I've read some books about theology and art. 71 00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:00,200 I have mixed colors and paints, and for this project I really 72 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:05,840 just wanted to see if I could try to have an answer for this 73 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:10,320 question of why does God make color? 74 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:17,200 So I'm going to define color first by just how I think of 75 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:23,320 color as an artist, and then I'll be citing some theologians 76 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:29,600 and professors and a few pieces of scripture to try and answer 77 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:34,360 this question for us. We'll talk about color as a 78 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:39,720 language, a tool, and 3rd an invitation. 79 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,480 And I'm going to try to keep it quick so that we have time for 80 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:45,640 discussion because I do want to hear your thoughts. 81 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:56,480 So what is colour? This might sound like kind of a 82 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,800 silly question, but it's something that I had to learn. 83 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,160 I mean, I guess we're, I'm still learning because I definitely am 84 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:05,920 limited on my scientific knowledge. 85 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:13,400 Artists talk about three things. They talk about value, which is 86 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,800 the grayscale. So when you're editing a photo 87 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,080 on your phone and you just turn the saturation down, you're left 88 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:22,400 with black and white. That's value. 89 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:29,320 They talk about chroma, which is kind of like the quantity of the 90 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,600 color that's present. And then they thirdly talk about 91 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,320 hue, and that's what we think of as colour. 92 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:43,320 For the sake of this talk, I'm going to say colour because I 93 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,640 don't want to sound snobby, but you'll know that I mean hue. 94 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:59,560 So this is the colour wheel. We love the colour wheel. 95 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:01,880 We've seen it since kindergarten. 96 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:08,400 I don't know about you, but I never had someone explain the 97 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:13,120 color wheel to me in a way that was actually in any depth or 98 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,920 felt useful. I always just saw it as a pretty 99 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:23,040 picture. This is called the Munsell color 100 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,120 wheel model. There are a lot of models, but 101 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:29,840 this guy, his name is Albert H Munsell and he was an American 102 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,559 color theorist in the 19th and 20th century. 103 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,960 But he basically devised this way for us to think about the 104 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:41,159 three things that I defined value, chroma and hue. 105 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,160 So we have value is a vertical axis. 106 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,560 You can see hue is kind of this flat plane that all of the 107 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:55,240 blocks are on. And then chroma is the intensity 108 00:08:55,560 --> 00:09:00,800 in, you know, one of these color strings going towards the center 109 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:07,960 and in the center is like this theoretically neutral Gray. 110 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,240 It's kind of weird. It's, it'll come up later. 111 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:23,880 So here are some color schemes that people use to arrange 112 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,520 color. I'm sure you all know these as 113 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,680 well. You, you might even know them 114 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:34,560 better than I do. But if we look at these colour 115 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:38,600 schemes, we can see some interesting things happening as 116 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:43,200 far as order. So we have a straight line 117 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:48,040 that's complementary. We've got a, what's the name for 118 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:52,320 a triangle that's not equilateral, Thank you. 119 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:58,480 Isosceles triangle that we have just in a row that's analogous. 120 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,120 And then we've got our triangle, rectangle and square. 121 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,680 And the monochromatic 1 might be harder to like visualize, at 122 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:10,600 least it was for me. But if we go back to this one, 123 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,920 you can think about it, it's like one of these little blocks 124 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:22,720 just on a vertical axis, if that makes sense, starting with 125 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:31,760 complementary. There is this idea of semi 126 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:37,840 neutrals in art. So there is a 19th century 127 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:43,240 American physicist named Ogden Nicholas Rude who writes about 128 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:45,840 this in his book on color theory. 129 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,680 I have yet to figure out if he's the first one to come up with 130 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:57,600 this, but it's generally accepted that in order to create 131 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,920 colour harmony, if you take colours that are opposite each 132 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:06,000 other on the colour wheel and mix them together, you'll create 133 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,800 a string of colours that are all kind of beautiful together. 134 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:18,800 And I think what's interesting here is you can see, if you are 135 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:23,720 attentive to nature, you can see this happening in things like 136 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:33,640 fish and plants and birds. So there's a lot of order in 137 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:40,640 color that we see keep getting. It's wrong, it's down. 138 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:46,000 Here's another example of color harmony in nature. 139 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:51,000 We've got the monochromatic and I actually pulled these. 140 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,560 I used the little ink blotter to pull these from the images to 141 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:58,240 like be legitimate, not just making this up. 142 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:08,920 You've got analogous here in this parrot and Tri attic in 143 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:14,720 these pansies. So it's fun to think about. 144 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:20,960 It shows something about our creator and artists use this all 145 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,680 the time. It's called, yeah, complementary 146 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:28,480 muting. So this is Irises by Vincent van 147 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:32,280 Gogh. I'm not sure. 148 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:35,600 I'm not sure which paints he's using here. 149 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:40,560 I'm guessing it's like cobalt blue and cadmium yellow that he 150 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:45,640 mixes together to create this more muddy or muted, not muddy, 151 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:56,820 muted green in the background. Another thing that artists think 152 00:12:56,820 --> 00:13:02,580 of is just the ratio of color. And designers think about this a 153 00:13:02,580 --> 00:13:07,460 lot. There's a common design ratio to 154 00:13:07,460 --> 00:13:11,820 balance kind of the presence of different elements called the 155 00:13:11,820 --> 00:13:17,260 603010. So we have, if you're thinking 156 00:13:17,260 --> 00:13:22,040 about it in terms of hue, you can have 60% of your painting or 157 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:29,360 artwork be a dominant hue, 30% be secondary and then 10% is the 158 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:38,640 color that you want to make pop. So in this 160% green, 30% red, 159 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:48,400 10% flesh, and you can notice similar things in these other 160 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,920 paintings. I think that's a drawing. 161 00:13:56,860 --> 00:14:03,180 Here we have a combination of the color schemes applied and 162 00:14:03,380 --> 00:14:08,700 the 603010 ratio. So whether or not this living 163 00:14:08,700 --> 00:14:14,300 room just kind of strikes you as too loud, you can kind of see 164 00:14:14,300 --> 00:14:20,360 the harmony in using this color pattern and then just using it 165 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:25,720 as a guide to create something that hopefully feels homey for 166 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:36,540 this person. So humans are sensory beings. 167 00:14:37,300 --> 00:14:44,140 We have three cone cells. We are made to see color. 168 00:14:45,420 --> 00:14:49,540 And this also makes us different from the animals. 169 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,120 Some people, this is a side note, but some people say that 170 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,920 color exists on its own outside of perception. 171 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:05,400 Other people say that color only exists because we see it, 172 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,600 because that's how our eye is processing light. 173 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:16,480 But there is an article from the NIH that says people who are 174 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:24,640 depressed might not see color as vividly because they have what 175 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,560 scientists call less contrast sensitivity. 176 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:37,680 So it's interesting. How can we think about color as 177 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:45,360 Christians though? This was my question and for our 178 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,600 answer 3 categories have come up with that are that kind of stood 179 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,680 out to me. Color is a language, it's a tool 180 00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,720 and it's an invitation. How can color be a language? 181 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:05,080 Don't we all experience it differently? 182 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:13,480 Well, I got to talk with Doctor Rachel Smith, who is our very 183 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:22,600 own Jared's mother from from Taylor University, and had a 184 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:27,680 great conversation with her. She was so helpful and I asked 185 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,960 her about how people experience color. 186 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:36,840 She's an art historian. And in response, she cited this 187 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:44,000 Israeli American psychologist named Daniel Kahneman, who wrote 188 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:51,400 this theory in he published this theory that basically has two 189 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:56,960 categories or prompts for how people interpret or react to 190 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:02,120 color. The first system prompt, he 191 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,800 says, is innate. It's it's system 1. 192 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:13,200 So we might have kind of a an innate response to the color 193 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:19,520 green as associating it with life, for example, because of 194 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,920 nature, because of all the green that we see. 195 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:29,720 Or we might have an instinctive aversion to the color red 196 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:36,040 because of blood. But those are not the only ways 197 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:40,640 that we respond to color because we're also seeing color, excuse 198 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:45,320 me, in our culture. So that's why we have system 2 199 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,200 prompts, according to this theorist. 200 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,240 And these are culturally programmed responses. 201 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:58,040 So we might think of red as symbolizing love if we see a red 202 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:03,280 rose. And then Doctor Smith also said 203 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,840 that individuals might have traumatic experiences with color 204 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:11,800 and we might have good experiences with certain colors 205 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:18,160 too, so that that changes how individuals respond to colours. 206 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:25,760 But regardless of this theory, I think people have pretty strong 207 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:38,200 responses to colour. So if we pay attention, colours, 208 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:48,120 tell us stories, we might notice that people are not feeling well 209 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:53,440 if they're the wrong color. Or when we're a giant looking at 210 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:59,120 a watermelon, if there's kind of a mustardy tint, we might avoid 211 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:01,960 buying it because maybe that means that it is rotten. 212 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,320 When I was a teenager, just I guess to make it a little bit 213 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:14,760 more personal, I had a a brief period of mild depression. 214 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:21,200 And I remember 1 moment that really struck me was when I was 215 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,760 folding laundry in my room and I looked in my drawer and I 216 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:30,880 noticed that every single T-shirt was a type of grey. 217 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,760 And I had not planned that. I wasn't, I didn't think that I 218 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:41,480 was trying to be Moody, but it it told me something about 219 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:46,680 myself. So this is something that I want 220 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,760 to ask you about at the end. But for now, I guess I think 221 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:58,080 colors communicate. People communicate through color 222 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:05,720 is my second point. Now I understand the risk in 223 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,840 commenting on what a painter is trying to do. 224 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:15,040 With a painting, so I won't try to do that here, but we have 225 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:20,200 this painting by Kupka, his Czech painter, and it's called 226 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:28,600 the yellow scale. Our, our, our cultural 227 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:35,640 connotations with yellow are that it's cheery and light. 228 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:43,640 We think of the sun maybe, but in this painting, to me it's 229 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:49,160 kind of overpowering the, the, I think this is actually a 230 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:53,080 self-portrait, the painter's face and it it actually does 231 00:20:53,080 --> 00:21:00,480 make him look kind of ill. So to me it's kind of upsetting 232 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,320 to look at. But regardless of what's going 233 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:10,640 on here, we know that something is being communicated through 234 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:18,480 this use of yellow. Am I going too fast also or. 235 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:23,400 OK, cool, thank you. So the other thing that Doctor 236 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:28,000 Smith helped me out with was talking about colors importance 237 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:34,080 in our traditions. So we tell stories through color 238 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:41,000 and when we when we make a wreath at Christmas, we can 239 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:47,120 think about the evergreens symbolizing the everlasting life 240 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:52,640 that we will have in Christ. When we look at the red of the 241 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:57,960 holly, we can think about the blood of Christ that he gave for 242 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,600 us. Same with Easter. 243 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:08,200 We think about using white to symbolize purity and to make us 244 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,480 remember, help us remember the resurrection. 245 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,720 And we think about the purple just meaning Christ's royalty. 246 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,880 We also use colors Don pointed out in Oh, She's Not Here. 247 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,560 We also use colors in the Wordless book to tell the 248 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,120 Gospel. And we use colors in our church 249 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:36,480 calendar to keep time. So it's a language. 250 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,360 All right, my second observation. 251 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:55,360 Color is a tool. So color is a tool that we can 252 00:22:55,360 --> 00:23:07,920 use for good or evil. There is there is a marketing 253 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:13,280 professor, I'm going to butcher his name named Satyendra Singe, 254 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:20,080 who says that McDonald's is probably red and yellow because 255 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:26,840 red simulates appetite, because we associate it with energy and 256 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:32,040 excitement, and yellow we associate with happiness. 257 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,360 And it's also the same colors as ketchup and mustard. 258 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:42,800 So watch out. You might be manipulated, be 259 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:47,200 being manipulated through color. If you're not attentive. 260 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:53,320 Drug advertisements will also use color. 261 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,680 They might start out kind of Gray and then get colorful to 262 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,960 try to get you to get on their drug. 263 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,880 So. So color is a tool that affects 264 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:10,920 us psychologically. How else is color a tool? 265 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:20,320 Well, color can help us. So appreciating color can help 266 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:25,920 us to slow down and reconnect with our embodiment. 267 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:33,640 I'm not sure about you, but I feel I spend way too much time 268 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:41,120 looking at screens and it makes my head hurt and I feel tired 269 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,760 and it also makes me feel disembodied. 270 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,240 We really call it virtual reality for a reason, right? 271 00:24:55,240 --> 00:25:00,120 This can come with serious issues, and I think it's 272 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:05,520 important to be physically present and to work work for 273 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:10,880 that in light of today where we have so much technology. 274 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:21,040 Some of you will know this is a beloved professor of art at 275 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,960 Covenant College. Her name is Doctor Alyssa 276 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:31,640 Weichbrought, and she wrote a book called Redeeming Vision, 277 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:36,080 which you can see pictured here in 2023. 278 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:43,680 It is about art, specifically, it's about how to view art as 279 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:49,160 Christians. So she's writing about going to 280 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,880 an Art Museum, but I think it applies to us for the sake of 281 00:25:52,880 --> 00:26:02,360 this talk. So Doctor Wiper has this idea 282 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:12,320 called embodied vision, and she starts out by this will take me 283 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,800 a little while to walk through, but I think it's worth it. 284 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:20,360 She starts out by saying that God meets us materially. 285 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:27,480 He meets us through Jesus, through sending Jesus to us. 286 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:34,400 But we also can encounter him physically, she says. 287 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,920 And the example that she says might be most powerful is 288 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:47,920 through the Lord's Supper. So when looking at art, Doctor 289 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:53,560 Weichbrought has a few steps. The 1st is looking with 290 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,720 intentionality, she says in her book. 291 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:07,640 Get up close, take a step back, walk around the art and pay 292 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,800 attention to how your body responds. 293 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,280 Her second point is to acknowledge our place in a 294 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:23,520 culture. She says that anytime we are 295 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:29,040 looking at something, we are looking through a lens of our 296 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:37,080 time and our place, and we can remember this and see it as a 297 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:43,360 symbolic of our finitude. And she says that we can we can 298 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:49,200 praise God that we are finite beings and we can approach the 299 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:54,360 things that we look at with humility, knowing that we might 300 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:57,800 not understand all of the cultural nuances. 301 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,360 But her Third Point is to begin from a place of love. 302 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,720 And she says that if we adopt A principle of looking to look 303 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:19,040 from a posture of love, then we can expect to be changed. 304 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:27,240 She cites James KA Smith, who says that we are what we love, 305 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:33,480 and our love is shaped, primed and aimed by liturgical 306 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,960 practices that take hold of our gut and aim our hearts to 307 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,160 certain ends. That's that's James KA Smith's 308 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,480 quote. So these are habits and 309 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:52,240 practices and rituals that we can adopt of looking that will 310 00:28:52,240 --> 00:29:04,890 form our identity. One way that we could apply 311 00:29:04,890 --> 00:29:08,210 this, according to Doctor Weichbrought, is to take what 312 00:29:08,210 --> 00:29:14,650 she calls a color walk. So she started a few years ago 313 00:29:15,290 --> 00:29:21,120 going on a walk and looking for a specific color in the wild. 314 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,560 She would say, I, I think it might have started out with 315 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,680 just, I'll look for blue. But eventually she started 316 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,360 saying I'll look for teal or coral. 317 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:41,280 And just doing that practice helped her to be more aware of 318 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:43,800 her surroundings and of how she was feeling. 319 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:55,000 How else is color a tool? We can know and care for each 320 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:02,760 other through color. A few months ago, I had coffee 321 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:06,600 with Dawn Luke. I just said her name wrong. 322 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:12,200 Luke, thank you. And she let me know that she was 323 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:16,480 seeing a friend and she was buying her friend purple flowers 324 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,440 because she knew that her friend loved purple. 325 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,280 I have a few. Well, I have one color that I 326 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,400 can think of that I know is a favorite of one of my friends. 327 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,600 And then whenever I I see that color, I will think of this 328 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,840 friend. So you might be able to do this 329 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,920 and just use it as an opportunity to think of people 330 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:45,800 and to maybe pray for them when you see that color. 331 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:54,640 I this doesn't really fit into the presentation here, but I 332 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:59,960 also want to say that the more I think about color, the more I 333 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:04,280 see it. So I've been thinking about 334 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:11,400 color a lot this last year. And I notice even on just like 335 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:17,680 my morning run, I've just noticed myself being kind of 336 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:24,520 struck by the beauty and the harmony in the lighting and in 337 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:29,480 the green of the trees and the, you know, the overcast sky or 338 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:36,680 however it looks that day. So we can use color to just 339 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:43,680 appreciate individuality of other people and appreciate how 340 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,760 different we are, our different responses to color. 341 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:52,600 And it helps to be sensitive, which is useful in general to be 342 00:31:52,600 --> 00:32:03,000 aware of our surroundings. OK, My Third Point is that color 343 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,800 is an invitation. This is the most kind of 344 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,600 abstract. So I'm asking you to bear with 345 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:18,560 me, but it's an invitation to marvel our Creator, worship God 346 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:24,120 and imagine heaven and become more like the Lord. 347 00:32:31,350 --> 00:32:40,150 OK, first one, our Creator pays attention to the sparrows that 348 00:32:40,150 --> 00:32:46,400 fall on the ground. I took cohort recently through 349 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:51,000 this church and I think I mentioned to my small group that 350 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,840 when I read Jonah, I was really struck by God's care for the 351 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:03,280 animals and Jonah. He when God is talking to Jonah 352 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:09,320 about his compassion, he says, quote, should I not pity Nineveh 353 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:14,600 in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know 354 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:19,800 their right hand from their left and also much cattle? 355 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:33,720 Isn't that so sweet? God loves the people of Nineveh, 356 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:39,720 but He also loves his cattle and he pays attention to them and He 357 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,600 expects Jonah to respect them and pay attention to them too. 358 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:51,080 He cares for all the animals that he makes, and we don't know 359 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:55,360 how many animals there are, just like I don't think we really 360 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,240 know how many colors or hues there are. 361 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:07,840 But I think the animals and the colors show his delight in what 362 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:14,960 he makes, and it shows his care in sustaining so many colors and 363 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,880 so many animals. I think they just show his 364 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:28,080 extravagance toward us. The second thing that color 365 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,679 invites us to is to worship and imagine. 366 00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:45,880 I had no more pictures for this. In Matthew 26, there is a story 367 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:51,400 of a woman, you know it, who anoints the head of Jesus with a 368 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:57,840 very expensive ointment. I called Soleimani today to ask 369 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,800 if I could double check this language to make sure I was 370 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,040 speaking truth about this passage. 371 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:12,240 But she worships Jesus through the senses of touch and smell, 372 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:18,880 and Jesus in that story calls it a beautiful thing. 373 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:28,880 The psalmist in Psalm 34 eight says, O taste and see that the 374 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:37,520 Lord is good. Music is really important for 375 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:42,560 Christians, and we know that the Lord delights in hearing our 376 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:47,120 music and we know that we can praise Him through creating 377 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:51,240 harmony and beauty and the sounds that we make. 378 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:59,840 I think that we can worship Him through color as well in the way 379 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:05,920 that we arrange it and create harmony according to the 380 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,440 structures that He has built for us. 381 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,760 The second point, I'm sorry that I don't have more interesting 382 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,120 slides for this point. It's just the same. 383 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,960 But the second point here is that color can help us imagine. 384 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:32,320 Doctor Wyck Bro talks about how the Holy Spirit allows us to 385 00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:38,600 imagine heaven through the art that we create. 386 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:46,080 I'm reading another book called Heaven that's written by Randy 387 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:50,400 Alcorn. I'm sure you know him, but he 388 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:55,120 wrote this great paragraph about imagining heaven that I wanted 389 00:36:55,120 --> 00:37:01,320 to share. He says we cannot anticipate or 390 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:08,560 desire what we cannot imagine. That's why I believe God has 391 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:13,840 given us glimpses of heaven in the Bible to fire up our 392 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:18,960 imagination and kindle a desire for heaven in our hearts. 393 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:25,480 And that's why Satan will always discourage our imagination or 394 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:30,840 misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate Scripture. 395 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:39,120 So color is an invitation to worship and imagine. 396 00:37:45,310 --> 00:37:51,430 Lastly, color is a way that we can know and share the love of 397 00:37:51,430 --> 00:37:58,960 God. God has been watching His people 398 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:04,800 since the beginning of creation, and He continues to watch us 399 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:11,440 today. Seeing is integral to His nature 400 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:15,720 now. Doctor Wiper cites a lot of 401 00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:21,680 examples of God seeing in Scripture, but one of them 402 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:28,000 struck me as really powerful that I wanted to share, and I'm 403 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,240 just going to read a direct quote because she tells the 404 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:37,840 story better than I could. In Genesis 16, the Egyptian 405 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:45,760 maidservant Hagar is on the run, pregnant by her Master Abram and 406 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:51,920 abused by her mistress Sarai. Hagar desperately flees into the 407 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:59,240 desert, but as she rests by a spring, the Angel of the Lord, 408 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:05,160 speaking as God in the first person, addresses her directly 409 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,560 he tail. He tells Hagar to return to 410 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:16,360 Sarai and promises to bless her offspring, making them too many 411 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:20,160 to count. The son she carries will be 412 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:25,920 called Ishmael. God hears because God has heard 413 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:31,280 her distress. Then, for the time in the 414 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,560 biblical narrative. For the first time in the 415 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:37,160 biblical narrative, Hagar speaks. 416 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:45,040 You are El Roy, the God who sees me. 417 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:55,720 Weichbrot says it like this. God seeing Hagar changes 418 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,920 everything. It makes her feel loved. 419 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:06,680 And from that knowledge, Hagar steps into obedience, confident 420 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,840 that her longings will be fulfilled. 421 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,120 So folks. Why does the Lord color 422 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,520 everything? I think this is a very 423 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:26,800 mysterious question and I don't have all the answers, but I 424 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:30,360 think the answer that I am most confident to give at this point 425 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:37,120 is because He loves us. Thanks for thanks for listening.