I had the blessing of going to the Asheville Art Museum with a group of women from my new church, First Presbyterian, Asheville. It was fun to walk over and was so impressed by the collection and can’t wait to build deeper relationships with more people at FPCA.

Being around art always brings to mind my favorite verse, Ephesians 2:10—“We are God’s masterpieces, created in Christ, to do good works, prepared in advance for us to do.” As I wandered through the museum and saw many masterpieces, I couldn’t help but be reminded that we are God’s masterpieces.

This photo is of an unnamed piece created out of iron wire by Ruth Asawa about 1954. She was known for creating wire pieces by knitting and crocheting. As I imagined making such a beautiful sculpture out of such an unexpected material, I thought what a wonderful parallel to what God seems to do with us. We seem to be unlikely candidates to share God’s love and grace with others—yet that is what God does with us daily. Every day we have new circumstances in which we can choose, through the power of the Spirit, to show God’s love.

While I have only minimal experience with knitting and crocheting, I can’t imagine the discomfort that she experienced in creating these pieces. When I first considered that, I thought about the discomfort that I feel in my transformation—but then I wondered if God feels discomfort in our transformation? I know when my children hurt, I hurt. We know that Jesus experienced extreme discomfort and pain while on earth. We know he wept at the pain of his friends. Yet it seems that masterpieces are worth the pain.  

The other piece or part of this is the stunning shadow that is formed by the piece. God has created masterpieces in us that are to create beauty as we bathe in God’s light. What is the shadow you are casting? What is the shadow you want to cast?

Go let God use you to create beauty in our world!

Rev. Shannon Jordan is an associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church, in Asheville, NC.  To receive notifications when there is a new post click on the menu (three horizontal lines) at the top right, scroll down and enter your email where it says “Follow Blog Via Email”. To see the previous blog, click on the arrow under the menu, or if you want to see more blogs, click on the grid under the arrow. On the main page, if you hover over a photo, you will be given an option to read the blog. On that page the arrow will take you to another page of blog photos. Enjoy!

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