Greetings Friends and Family:
Christine has been working on a major icon commission of St Patrick for a church near Palm Beach of that name. She has been under a deadline to complete the work before the end of April, and has been working diligently to finish it. So with great joy we delivered it on time last week and to Father Aidan and a group of excited parishioners.
They love the work Christine has done and it may stand as a definitive icon because it includes twelve depictions of scenes from St Patrick’s life. Part of Christine’s ministry involves deeply researching the subject of the icon she is working on. That involves reading and searching as much as possible about a subject and then through prayer portraying it as she is led by the Holy Spirit.
So for the St Patrick figure which she came up with is younger than often depicted with a wonderful peaceful and confident demeanor.
Christine has also been preparing to lead a week’s retreat and icon writing class at Ghost Ranch, in New Mexico, where Georgia O’Keefe had her influential painting studio. Christine’s icon workshops always are very powerful spiritually because the time is spent in a prayerful creative environment. Many people receive deep inner healing through these retreats and a more intimacy with our living God.
We both had a powerful ministry evening with a group who had asked us to go further on teaching about the Holy Spirit and our experience with prayer, healing and art. It was a wonderful evening, full of the Holy Spirit touching lives, and we came away realizing we have a lot to offer in this field. So often we do not comprehend how much has been deposited in us and how others need to know more about the Holy Spirit.
Taking the bus a lot recently gives me a view of the less fortunate in our society. There are many in this area of Florida who sleep out on the streets, or on the beaches. The bus system is of course one of their main means of transport. Yesterday, out of the blue on the bus a lady started to preach the gospel out loud. She was preaching out of the Great Commission from Mark 16: 15-16.
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
It is such a blessing to see people be filled with the Holy Spirit enough to witness in every day situations. Putting out into the world a word which is so seldom heard in daily life. That is what St Patrick did, evangelized in such a way that people could receive new teaching without being threatened.
The St Mark’s text talks of ‘proclaiming the gospel to the whole creation.’ It is through creation that God often preaches to us. The extraordinary world that we are surrounded by is for me always a reminder that there is a creative God who has blessed us with the joy of being creative as well. God loves to watch how we are creative in all we do.
Please let us know how we can pray for you and keep us in your prayers too.
Love and Prayers,
Michael and Christine
Kingdom Arts Ministry 