Monthly Archives: November 2018

Books, chaplain, Icon Retreats, icons, non denominational ministry, Prayer ministry, , , , ,

Kingdom Arts Ministry Blog: November 2018

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Thankfulness Becomes Gratitude.

I will always remember sitting with Christine in church, this Thanksgiving morning, and realizing how profoundly thankful I was to be there. I had a deep resonating gratitude. My thankfulness developed into a well of gratitude which I still draw from weeks later.

New York snow plough
New York snow plough

Part of it came from a safe arrival at 3:30 am that same morning after a 1300 mile cold drive from New York, part of it came from a wonderful sermon on how we are called to be thankful as Christians at all times, but most of it came from being with Christine and worshipping together.

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Icons

Christine has been very busy with icon commissions and has recently completed one on the ‘Harrowing of Hell’ where Jesus is pulling out of death and hell Adam and Eve and the saints who passed before His i resurrection. She has also been working on a large ‘Blessed Mother’  icon for St Patrick’s church near Palm Beach.

Harrowing of Hell Icon by Christine Simoneau Hales
Harrowing of Hell Icon by Christine Simoneau Hales

I have been so grateful to have time to thoroughly read her book, Eyes of Fire, and receive the richness of her experience, strength and hope from it. Her book is a really valuable tool to understand what Icons are, how they relate to contemporary art and their place in our spiritual lives. For those people who are Christians but cannot relate to Icons this is a ‘must read’ to get an understanding of this whole rich spiritual life.

Eyes of Fire Icon Book
Eyes of Fire Icon Book

Thankfulness

There is a song line which says, ‘we do not know what we have till it is gone.’  Sadly, there is a lot of truth in it. Being thankful for what we have, whether relationships, possessions, security or freedom to worship the God of our own choice, is a directive Christ gives us so we can live life in all its fullness. When there is no thanks in our lives ‘for all things’, whether good or not so good, there is a lack and where there is a lack the demonic will try to fill it with something else, perhaps alcohol, food, medications, sex, shopping, watching TV: the list goes on. Each one of these ‘fillers’, when used in a balanced and righteous way are part of a full life, but when they are used to fill a lack or emptiness they can become addictive and destructive, a part of the demonic’s arsenal.

 

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From Thankfulness Turns To Action

Volunteering in a homeless day shelter this week, I got to pray on the street for a lady who was donating some clothes to the shelter and also looking for her brother, whom she had not seen for a year, but she knew he had used the shelter in the past. We prayed in the street that she could be reunited with her brother. She was so grateful for the prayer that she decided to immediately start to volunteer at the shelter. Thankfulness had moved to gratitude and was causing her to take positive Godly action, to donate her time to help those in need.

Parrots at the Sarasota Jungle Garden
Parrots at the Sarasota Jungle Garden

When praying for the sick, most of my prayers are just thanking God. Repeating over and over again, ‘Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus for your presence.’  When we are in a place of gratitude with the Holy Spirit the demonic is pushed out and healing can take place. That is why even when something horrible has happened, if we can stay in a place of gratitude and in contact with God, the demonic is not able to use that horrible event to cause further destruction by attaching unforgiveness, or resentment, anger, envy, hatred, revenge; anything to keep the horror of the event alive and burning in our lives. Anything that keeps us from having peace.

But that is not God’s will, as we read in Colossians 3:

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Please keep us in prayers as we move into this new season in our lives, that we may always be thankful for what God is doing in our lives.

Also please let us know how we can pray for you.

Love you all,

Mick’s Website    Christine’s Icons 

Click here to Purchase Christine’s Icon Book

Love, not Fear and Hate

Books, chaplain, Icon Retreats, icons, non denominational ministry, Prayer ministry, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

Dear Friends and Family:

Icon Class at Immaculate Conception Seminary
Icon Class at Immaculate Conception Seminary

Christine had a wonderful Icon writing retreat at the former Roman Catholic Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, in Lloyd Harbor, NY.

It was a privilege to be able to spend time in a seminary building which had so many priests pass through its doors for many years. Although no longer a seminary, as such, a lot of retreats and teaching classes continue in the extraordinary building and grounds.

Icon Painting Class with Christine Hales
Icon Painting Class with Christine Hales

Christine was teaching Iconography to a wonderful group of students keen to learn how to write an icon and practice this spiritual discipline over the Columbus Day weekend. The building has an extraordinary collection of religious paintings, stonework, ironwork and all manor of crafts and a deep presence of prayer.

Eyes of Fire Getting Great Reviews!

Christine’s book has been getting wonderful reviews and is #1 new release in spiritual books on Amazon!! If you have not had a chance to order a copy yet please go for it.

Eyes of Fire Icon Book
Eyes of Fire Icon Book

It is wonderful to see how God has worked through her struggle as an artist to come up with a vibrant position to talk to artists as wells Christians. This is a well resourced book for this who are interested in writing Icons, but it is also a deep revelation of her walk and faith in using the gifts God has given her.

Here are two links for you to get a copy.  Book of the Month Club    and   direct link to  Amazon.   Get your copy today!!

 

Our Move is Coming Along!!

We achieved a major move from the Hudson Valley, NY, to Bradenton, FL. It is by no means completed yet but the major part has been done.

Paintings and photographs preparing to move
Paintings and photographs preparing to move

Moving is thought to be one of the five most stressful situations normal life offers. Certainly driving a heavy loaded truck 1400 miles is stressful, let alone all the packing and now unpacking, all the decisions about what should be kept and what should be given away or discarded.

We were Blessed though, we knew where we were going and that people at our destination were glad we were coming.

 

Our thoughts and prayers though go out to the much maligned people who have lost a safe place to live in their homes in Honduras and as best they can are travelling on foot to find a safer life. This is the ‘Caravan’, desperate people fleeing because they no longer have safe homes. They have become a political football for the Trump administration to build fears about immigrants, even though they are still one thousand miles away from the US border travelling by foot, 5200 troops are being sent to ‘guard’ the borders. President Trump has described the coming midterm elections as the ‘Election of the Caravan’. It is alarmist rhetoric which is fueling hatred in our country leading to political and anti semetic violence.

As a Christian I have to say this is not of God. As a Christian I have to say this nation is heading in a hedonistic direction which is contrary to its values of the past.

Attending to homeless in NYC
Attending to homeless in NYC

As a Christian I refer to scripture,

Isaiah 58:6-8 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed[a] go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Children learning Franklin D Roosevelt's Four Freedoms
Children learning Franklin D Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms

It is worth going back to Franklin D Roosevelt’s speech known as the Four Freedoms made in January 1941, where he talks of the freedom of speech and expression,  that every person can worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These four freedoms he declared are for everywhere in the world and attainable in our own time and generation. America seems to have turned in on itself and lost the vision of a caring leader of freedom in the world.

This is a time where prayer for this nation, with all of it’s power and wealth, for all of its responsibilities to the world as a whole, would be guided by the Holy Spirit and a heart of love not hatred and fear. Let us all come together and seek before God His wisdom on the direction of this nation in prayer.

Love and Prayers,

Michael and Christine