EVERY TRIBE & TONGUE
Watercolor with pen & ink

This image was on my heart for over a year. I believe that the most important thing in life is not about what WE do, but what SOMEONE ELSE has done for us. What Jesus did on that cross was an amazing incomprehensible thing. He nailed our sins through His own body on the cross and in exchange, if we choose, we can receive His own friendship and righteousness. One of the many facets of this work was not only restoring us to Himself, but in bringing ethnicities together...restoring us to one another. (See Ephesians 2:11-16 and Revelation 5:9)

This painting to me speaks of the power of God’s redemptive work. Hands from every nation drawing near to be washed in the cleansing blood of Christ. To be this close to the cross, they become close to one another. I can imagine the smells of body odor, the stepping on of feet, the moving of bodies here and there to get closer...

The large African/African-American hand is central in the piece and is important to me. Being of the majority culture here in America has much privilege attached to it. I reap of that privilege every day and most of the time do not even think about it. I am learning that other cultures have to fight a battle I don’t... the battle involving the color of their skin. Many endure subtle dismissals, to outright racist slurs and other abuses daily. Our American history in this context is bleak and is continually horrific. In this painting, I have chosen to put the African-American first. The Lord shows no favoritism among men. Yet, in the scriptures He constantly helps and puts His attention toward the oppressed, the marginalized, the foreigner...

I may have much privilege today in America, but at the cross I am loved not because of the color of my skin, but because God chose to die in my place...in our place. Let's humbly come together to celebrate Christ and also to celebrate one another in how uniquely different and beautiful He has made all of us.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2:3-4 NIV