It is Finished!

It Is Finished!

Phew! I have to say it never gets easier. All Thursday and particularly Good Friday I had a sense of dread hanging over me as much as I tried to shake it. What if I can't finish this time? What if I just get lost in this thing and while on a stage, this time completely alone on a stage, in front of a packed audience I don't finish this assignment?

Most of the day I thought about my dread not at all comparing to what must have been Christ's dread when he faced an undeserved execution, and knew very well how He was about to die. All day long before the first guard began to hit him, He knew what was coming. 

My dread descended into my thoughts Thursday just after dawn when I recalled gathering up the photos I use for reference, but I couldn't recall putting those photos in my briefcase. Most of the drive I replayed my 5 am packing in my thoughts over and over again until I was pretty sure that I would not find them when I opened all the luggage. This was not the first crucifixion on wood I painted as a 90-minute concert performance, however it was about to be the first I ever painted from memory. And the last one was eight years ago. All the assurance I received from those who knew what was coming couldn't remove the responsibility that I had. I must finish well.

So for me this was an experience that was a hint of the very thing I was painting. Bearing a responsibility with a sigh, even with dread, and trusting that in the end it would all work out well. My accomplishment last week ended in a finished painting carried along by both classical and contemporary music, weaving a majestic tapestry of sound, creating a thing of beauty in a moving performance. Christ's accomplishment that we remembered last week wove together a majestic tapestry of lives and history and the sacrifice of a Father for the redemption of the world.  In exactly 90 minutes, according to those who timed it, I laid my brushes down, and thought to myself, "it is finished." Millenia ago, in a perfectly formed moment, Jesus laid His own life down and according to those who heard it, said to His entire creation and to His Father, "It is finished." Such a thing of beauty no paint can ever describe.

We are grateful to St Peter's Anglican Church in Tallahasse for sharing their video recording of the live performance with us. 

 You may view and listen to the concert performance in its entirety at this link:http://vimeo.com/m/63081980