Painting A Picture of Jesus

In our ongoing Sunday message series entitled: "Urban Legends: debunking spiritual myths", we talked about how Jesus doesn't look like a white, blonde haired, blue eyed, Republican male.

We looked at imagery throughout history that depicted Jesus as Asian, hispanic, african, and anglo-saxon. Would it offend us if we used this imagery in our churches. What makes us think that Jesus looked and talked like us? It is funny how we often make him into OUR image- instead of the other way around.

It was a sobering Sunday to say the least. As a worship leader and the MediaShout guru- it makes me think twice about the imagery I use as backgrounds in worship. Some churches avoid pictures of Jesus altogether for this very reason. Some only use silhouetted pictures of Him. And, by the way, where are the Jewish depictions of Jesus?

I struggle with this- for I still see beauty in a many of the sculptures and depictions of Jesus. On the other hand- I want to make sure that I'm not communicating visually that we have a "white man's Messiah".

Here's a photo I did (with some Photoshop action of course) that I'm pretty proud of. I still like it. I still want to use it in a worship setting.

I wonder how many churches are sensitive to these type topics or wrestle with them at all. We communicate so much through the imagery we use- for better or for worse. May we always strive as artists, as photographers, as musicians, as vocalists, and as sculptures that we strive to more clearly capture the heart of the gospel. May we use our giftings to illuminate the dark places with its Divine light. May we always seek to paint a brighter picture of Jesus.

-chris