Jesus Works Miracles
Each of us have been given talents, passions, resources, and experiences in this world— raw material at our disposals to use or not as we please.
And therein lies the opportunity for creation—the opportunity to shape those God-given materials into something new. It is in that opportunity that real creativity lives.
What we build from the foundations of God’s creation is up to each of us. God has given us the choice to bring about beauty or destruction through what we create, to embrace our raw materials’ potential or squander it, to connect humanity or tear it apart. Ultimately, God gives us the choice to create in order to bring glory to him or to this world.
We asked a handful of artists at Summit—designers, painters, photographers, and writers—to take a simple prompt, “Jesus works miracles,” and to use their medium to express it. To take a truth about Jesus and use some of their God-given materials to share it with the world. Just as God uses his creation to reveal himself more fully to each of us, we, as image-bearers of God, can choose to use our creativity to show the world who he is.
Crater Lake
Alexandria Marcello
Acrylic on canvas
11” x 14”
The closest I feel to God is when I sit under the stars. It is a calm that I only find in the still of night. Experiencing God’s presence is something that I think we, in the modern world, often take for granted. It is difficult to “be still” and simply feel it. But this was one of Jesus’ most wonderful miracles. In his greatest sacrifice he restored our personal connection to God. He gave us the gift of relationship with our Father. It is in these times, sitting under the stars, reveling in the majesty of his creations, that I am reminded of this gift and I feel most at peace.
A Widow’s Son
L.J. Judy
Charcoal on newsprint
18” x 23”
One thing I've loved when reading about the miracles of Jesus in Scripture is the connection point of hands. Whether it was Jesus’ touch healing someone, men carrying their sick friend, or a small amount bread and fish being blessed then passed out to feed 5,000; hands created the pathways for miracles to take place. I wanted to find a way to be visually inspired by these hands; to tell their story because God used and still uses them to make his glory known. I asked my friend, who is a teacher of the Deaf/hard of hearing, to sign the passage of Luke 7:11-17. Her hands, the motions and use of space, created an interpretation of the story through a visual language that then inspired my movements and strokes of charcoal.
A Miracle Every Evening
Mark Volz
Digital photography
To me, "Jesus works miracles" is a tough phrase to connect with a visual photo. When I think of miracles, I think of people healed from serious illness or someone saved from a natural disaster. But then it dawned on me that miracles don't just have to be huge. There are a million miracles that happen everyday around us. Think of the way the moon creates the tides in our oceans. Think of how the water in our lakes evaporates to create clouds which then scatter the light molecules to create beautiful colors for sunset every evening. This world we live on—everyday is such a beautiful miracle in itself.
Six Jars—Changed
Greg Perkins
Digital media
When Jesus was among us, he had one foot on earth while the other was firmly planted in heaven. When I think about how Jesus secretly turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana, I like to consider how that seemingly scientific and alchemic process occurred. The privileged few at the party who witnessed the contents of six jars of water change must have seen this miracle occur in a mere instant. But could it have actually been hard work that took heavenly time to achieve? Did the divine nature of a very human Jesus reach out into heaven and bend time while simultaneously existing on earth? Imagine the force it must have taken to create something so mysterious and miraculous. This first recorded miracle of Jesus was so profoundly loud, but silent like ripples of water quietly turning into wine.
Jesus Works Miracles
Jimmy Kaufholz
Poetry
Our Messiah, fully God and fully man
The bridge between Heaven and earth
Born and raised, schooled, and sustained
By us, this wicked generation,
We desperately beg for a sign
Proof beyond revelation - something we can run our fingers over
So in His mercy, Jesus nods in agreement
Water, wine, and immovable muscles
Brought to life - the girl’s father breaks down
He gets to brush her hair once again
The blind are given sight, the mute cry out
The dead are brought to life.
We are alive in Him, we are alive and
A sign is given unto us
He too feels pain and weeps and hungers
And still, he says to come to me and rest
He eases us down onto soft cool earth
And watches over us while we sleep
We wake and feel alive in him, healed
His work is done through us - we benefit
From his healing hand and saving grace