Blind Bart and the Luther Rose

Julie Monnard, Zion Lutheran Church

Mark 10:46-52, Reformation Sunday B, October 25, 2015

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

In Seminary, I studied this text about blind Bartimaeus for a final project. In addition to the paper, I also had to create some sort of integrative project. I knew that crocheting would take too long, so I decided to paint my learning. 

When Bart cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" he was using loaded terms. By calling Jesus "Son of David," he was confessing that he believed all that was told about him in the Old Testament. More specifically, he may have been referencing Psalm 110:1 which is quoted in Mark 12. So, that is what I painted in the speech bubble.

Now, here's the truth: I am not proud of this painting. I wasn't then and I am not now. I don't even want to hang this up in the privacy of my own home.

 

Where's Jesus

A wise pastor friend once taught me that once a canvas has served its purpose, it is time to wipe it clean and start fresh. Some art is not meant to last forever! So, this past week, I did just that. I took this bad painting of blind Bart, painted it white, and started fresh.
 

As I considered what to paint, I thought about blind Bart's confession of faith. If I had to visually confess my faith, what would I use? Well, on this Reformation Day, of course I would use a Luther Rose. Luther put some careful thought into this symbol, and I still stand behind all that it represents. The background is the liturgical calendar. 

Now, I'm still a bad painter. I had more fun figuring out the math of how to get each of the 52 wedges the same size than I did painting it in. I even had to trace the Rose and the Heart! 

This represents for me the cycles of faith and how I experience God in the Lutheran tradition. 

If you had to represent your faith in visual terms, what would you create?