These are dry times. Summer slips away faster than you can catch it – a dime down the drain. The sky hangs damp and icy today. Across the globe, powerful little men toy with the world’s future like it’s a game of chicken. Hurricanes have ravaged large parts of our earth. Families will suffer the effects for years to come. Terrorists won’t let London sleep.
This planet can get so ugly. So broken. So disordered. So many of our mirrors are shattered.
There is order in beauty. A divine order, I believe, but whatever your theology you can feel it. The affirmation of disparate parts falling into place.
Jennifer Berkenbosch’s Cultivar matters because the world needs beauty today. We need to be reminded that there is goodness. There is a solid bed beneath this wild river.
I am sitting at a table with Lorraine Mansbridge. She is briefing me for an on air spot we are about to film. She is asking me questions about Bleeding Heart Art Space and I think I am ready. But I am not. When Lorraine asks me about our name–why we chose the name Bleeding Heart Art Space–I freeze. Nevermind, she says. It’s not important. We won’t talk about that. I feel like a failure.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
They say that God is in the details, but I’m not so sure. I’m beginning to notice a whole lot of details that seem left entirely up to you and I. The amount of influence we have in this world–for good or evil–is a sobering thought.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Not an aphorism I typically use for God. But it’s been floating around my mind for a week or two. The feather has fallen, perhaps, from the wings of friends I’ve watched fly out the open windows of churches over the years.
Sitting with a new friend over coffee, the image takes shape. He tells me how he’s tried to leave his faith behind, but has remained within its ever-expanding walls. The problem is Jesus, he tells me.
He just cannot get over Jesus. Jesus sticks. Like a feather, I think.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
I am thinking about how relationships work. How time spent together plus proximity equals intimacy.
I am thinking about friends, just back in town. How easy it is to slide back into a groove. How time apart presses pause, except for the milestones. This person had a baby. That person moved. This job now. That death. I am thinking about how little the milestones matter when it comes to intimacy. How important the details are.
I am wondering whether the same rules apply to my relationship with God.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
I’m asking myself how faith affects my life. My art. The Bleeding Heart project. I’m asking myself if faith still matters, and if so, how.
It would all be easier if it did not. At least it feels that way at times. If the Bleeding Heart were a project about "art, hope and love” rather than “art, faith, hope and love”, so many conversations would get less awkward. I feel, at least, like different doors might open. After all, we’re talking about a very old and rather unpopular Christian faith in this case.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Five Fingers pointing you in five directions for art, faith, hope and love in the days ahead!
Each finger has a role to play. Here is your guide.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Becoming your authentic self seems to be the work of a lifetime. Every once an a while someone comes along to speed up that process. Brené Brown researches shame, fear and vulnerability, so she has a lot to say about authentic living. That is the focus of her book, The Gifts of Imperfection
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Here at The Bleeding Heart Art Space, we've taken some runs at creative worship gatherings – events where people gather together to grow spiritually with the help of creativity and the arts. Thankfully, we haven't had to do this alone. We've been able to stand on the shoulders of many giants. There is a long and rich history of creative faith. Today, I'll share some of the resources we've encountered on the journey. Hopefully some of them can breathe new creative life into your community and your faith.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
