Resurrection Words Day 3: Risen

 

Day 3: Risen

"When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. "Don't be alarmed," he said, "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here." Mark 16:4-6

"God has raised this Jesus to life." Acts 2:32

"...Who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 1:4

"The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him [Abraham] alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." Romans 4:23-25

"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain."

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  Romans 10:9

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Romans 6:4

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you." Romans 8:11

The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and we are now reconciled with God. But the cross alone it not the Good News; it is the cross and the resurrection together that are the Good News of God. 

The verses above tell us that the resurrection confirmed that Jesus is the Son of God; that the Son of God was raised for our justification, and through His resurrection we are saved. Because of his death and resurrection His Spirit lives in those who by faith believe, and we now have a new life. This is the Good News of God! 

"The cross and the resurrection of Christ both are the defining events that shape the way of life we are called to live as Christ followers.

The cross calls us to live a life of sacrifice, mercy, generosity, and obedience as modeled by Christ in his life and in his death.

The resurrection provides us with the means by which we live lives that are holy, hope-filled and Spirit empowered."

This sums up well what my intent in exploring the resurrection life in the days ahead.

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you." Romans 8:11

Share your response to today's word and Scripture readings in the Words Art & Faith Challenge Group on Facebook. Or share on social media with #resurrectionwords. 

Tips for Using Old Books and Papers in Art Journaling

From time to time I receive questions from blog readers, Pinterest followers, Etsy customers, and members from groups I belong to. So I want to take some time throughout this month to answer some of them in a series of blog posts. I'll start with old books since so much of this started here for me.

The first time I made an altered book art journal I was hooked. I started going to book sales and buying books, making journals, using the book pages on my art journal pages, and stacking up books in my studio/office. I started my Etsy Shop, {found on brighton}, as a way to use up the books and leftover insides that were accumulating in my house.

So, what do I do with the book pages? It is quite rare that I make an art journal page where book text isn't peaking out of it somewhere, in some way. I love the look of book text in my backgrounds peaking out through subtle layers of gesso or paint.

I like to cut shapes and letters out of painted book paper.

Or make mosaics.

So these are some of the ways I use old books and book paper in my art journaling. Altered book journals and themed paper packs are available in my Etsy shop.

Are there ways you use books or book paper in your art journaling different than the ways I listed?

30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 7. I missed posting yesterday, so now they are not consecutive. But I press on with the challenge!

Collage Therapy

There has not been much time for making art over the past ten days or so. The end of the school year has kept me very busy with the school our church has adopted. An exciting thing that happened last week was that our public school system held a meeting pulling their faith based partners together. We adopted a public school ten years ago and have long had a dream of seeing a church connected with each of the 40 elementary schools. Our new superintendent has been very open to this and we are now halfway to our goal. It was a great half-day event hearing the stories of the many different ways the partner churches are serving the schools. As much as I love networking and being at events such as this, as an introvert, I find that once the adrenaline wears off my energy just drains from my mind and my body and leaks out through my toes. The hard part about this past week was that after having events during the day each day, I then had events in the evenings. Not much time or energy left for creativity! 

I have had an idea floating around in my head for quite some time that I finally started putting to paper before this 10 day stretch of activity. So each day I tried to sit down for 10 or 15 or 30 minutes and do a little work on my page. I love collage and taking pieces of paper and making a design with them. I have taken magazine paper or painted papers and made sunburst designs to serve as backgrounds.

I even collaged circles inside a sunburst.

I have collaged strips of paper to fill a page or to simply make borders.

I have used pieces of paper to make objects, such as the nest on this page.

And of course I have collaged circles.

The idea that has been in my head for quite a while is to use paper to collage a mosaic or stained glass effect. So in the little bits of time this past week I cut small pieces of painted papers and glued them into a design...

And that became my page for this week's Take Me Deeper devotion.

Now, I realize that this may seem tedious and a lot of work for an art journal page background, but it is amazing to me how therapeutic cutting and gluing little pieces of paper can be. So throughout this busy stretch those bits of time were like being on an oasis during a long desert journey. Those bits of time each day would refresh me. Those bits of time in the evening combined with time in prayer and the Bible each morning restored the energy I need to keep the busy pace of a long stretch of high activity. And now that I finally got that idea out of my head, I'm quite pleased with it and looking forward to doing more. 

Last weekend the His Kingdom Come Foundation Team launched a collaborative class that we did together while on our retreat last month in Florida. The class is called The Zigzag Postcard Book and we each taught the others how to do a technique which then became five postcards and the basis for the book. I taught the other ladies how to do a paper collage sunburst - big surprise, huh?! Here are some glimpses of the book I put together. I used Psalm 51 as a theme for my book. What was really fun was how different all five books ended up.

If you would like to participate in the class you can pop over to the His Kingdom Come website. You will need to join the site, which is free, in order to sign up for the class. And while you're there consider joining our weekly devotion and faithart challenge, Take Me Deeper. We offer a weekly devotion with Bible study ideas and challenge our group to express what they read and studied through their favorite creative medium. Shameless plugs, I know!

Enjoy your holiday today!