Bevie created this piece during the Good Friday service. There is a poem that is written on small pieces of paper in the center (and circumnavigating the center). The lyrics to the poem are below, as well as some comments and things to consider about this piece from the artist.
NO ONE IS IMMUNE, NO NOT ONE.
TO THE SICKNESS INVADING THE FLESH OF US ALL.
LIKE BARK INFESTED WITH TERMITES.
LIKE A HILL OVERRUN BY ANTS.
LIKE A SUNSET POLLUTED BY FUMES AND US IN OUR RAVES AND RANTS.
UNFAITHFUL TO THE FAITHFUL
ADDICTED TO THE GREED.
SHIELDS COVER BREAKABLE HEARTS
RAVAGING LUSTS WE FEED
HOW DO WE FIGHT THE CONSTANT INVASION OF FLESH AND SIN AND TEARS?
HOW DO WE BLOCK THE ARMY OF DARK AND SUFFOCATING FEARS?
HOW DO WE LOVE WHEN LOVE FEELS FRIGID; WHEN LOVE IS MET WITH PAIN IN ONES EYES?
HOW DO WE PRAY TO ONE WHO SEEMS SILENT TO SICKNESS AND TO THE ENEMY IN DISGUISE?
NOT ONE IS IMMUNE, NO NOT ONE. TO THE IMPURE WATER THAT QUENCHES THE SOUL.
LIKE DIRTY SNOW IN WINTER. LIKE GRAFFITI ON A WATERFALL.
LIKE HAIR IN THE SHOWER DRAIN, STRAINING UNBUFFERED WORDS ON THE WALL.
NO ONE IS IMMUNE, NO NOT YOU AND NOT ME.
NO ONE IS IMMUNE, ESCAPING THE UNCLEAN.
Comments and thoughts from Bevie:
As I was thinking about Good Friday I couldn't help but feel like Jeff when he said that he connects more with Good Friday than with Easter. Both in my own life and in the lives of friends and family--both believers and those who don't believe in Jesus, there is a common struggle. We are all so in need of forgiveness and we are capable of intense hurt toward others. The words of the poem I wrote on the painting stemmed from these thoughts--"no one is immune". Our eyes are closed and we need the reversal in our hearts, communities, nations--of our values, of our interests, of our selfishness, and of the way we pursue peace.
There's a lot of imagery and layers in the painting...the upside down cross and closed eye symbolize that reversal of thinking Jesus lives. The bars represent the bondage of our souls, of our minds, and also of the people who are oppressed. The contrast of white and black represents the contrast between our flesh and the evil in and around us and the truth and message that Christ lived and died for. The unfinished lines and messiness of the brush strokes reflects the chaos of our world the way we attempt to run it. The cross is in the center of all of this, covering some parts, and through others. It encompasses all of our struggle to see what Christ sees and live out the reversal of thinking that he died for.
The open eye began as a representation of people in pain and who have been exploited; but in my mind it's evolved to also represent those whose eyes are opened to the pain in the world and who are able to see the world as Jesus does--to the best of our human ability. The eye has deep emotion in it--which I've seen in those hurting and which I've felt for another hurting. I wonder what the image stirs in other people...
The beauty of art is that the meaning evolves from one to another. My interpretation is one piece, how it impacts another may be different. This reflects the alive nature of art...
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