" FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY "
James Christensen

275 Signed & Numbered Giclee Canvas 26" x 34" Email-price
100 Signed & Numbered Giclee Canvas 40" x 53" Email-price
550 Signed & Numbered Lithograph Print 22" x 29" Email-price

 

July 2002 - Faith, Hope and Charity - James Christensen

 

 

" Inspired by a recent mural project, James Christensen set out on an awfully big adventure. Wanting to do something grand and romantic while exploring the texture, surface and richness of paint, James chose for his subject three of Paul's greatest virtues - in the form of three women. "This piece is a little bit of a departure," Jim says. "But these gifts of the spirit are important qualities for us to remind each other about." The words in gold leaf identify the three as their names appear in the original Greek Biblical text. "

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; 

but the greatest of these is charity." - I Corinthians 13:13

“I’ve always felt that defining a spiritual experience is very much like trying to define love. Writers and poets have tried to express ‘love’ in words for hundreds of years. Some things we read give us a feeling or a cue about what love is like, but nothing ever really gets it right. Love is beyond words. It is nonverbal and the attempt to explain it in language trivializes the moment to some extent.

“Every once in a while the Lord will give you an ‘aha’ moment when he deems that you need one. For me, he chose trash night. I was carrying the trash can down the driveway and all of a sudden I just lit up. I was consumed with light and warmth. I can remember it today as clearly as the moment it happened. I thought I was on fire. My soul was filled. I just stood there for seconds, holding the trash can, feeling out of space and time. It then just gradually dissipated. 

“No words were spoken out loud, but when I set the trash can down, I thought, ‘I’m going to be called to serve the Church.’ Even though I was anxious and felt overwhelmed and under qualified, I knew that the Lord wanted me there and I knew that with his help, I could fulfill the calling. 

“I painted the fire in this image with gold leaf, so when from across the room, the gold catches the light and reminds me of a twenty-nine-year-old junior high school teacher taking out the trash.”

Faith, Hope and Charity- James Christensen

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