I recently saw an exhibit of Byzantine Icons at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Their spiritual power left me breathless. If more people could see how modern art and writing can do that! They say, “My child could paint that.” When accused of overpricing a simple line drawing, Matisse replied, “That simple line drawing took me years of work to produce.” Some ridicule Picasso. They never think: in the 13th Century, Giotto was a modern painter who shocked many. So was Raphael in the 15th, and Cezanne in the 19th. So were the modern poets who inspire new poets, poets who transcended the common, such as T.S. Eliot and E.E. Cummings. “There is no comparison between things.” Picasso said. There is no greater or lesser. An apple is an apple-- never a peach or banana. There is nothing in nature more beautiful than anything else, only things with their own beauty.
I encourage you who view my drawings and poems to look at them for what they are, not for what you expect they should be, that is, as things you are familiar with. There is no discovery, no enlightenment in that. I encourage each person to say, “Isn’t this unique!”--and then search out why it is that way. Creativity is unique to each artist. The open-minded will understand and be enriched; the cursory viewer will see and will not, like people who have never been deeply in love and think lovers crazy.
Christian culture needs a fresh artistic vision to help revive us spiritually. Good painting is like God: it always surprises. It always elicits love, a “How unique!” There is only one Picasso--but many imitators. There is only one Jesus--but, surprisingly, he wants his creative spirit to animate us all.
Have we never wondered why each generation of teens adopts music and dress we find bizarre? Would that their desire for the unique would continue through life! There are Beethovens and Cezannes yet to be known. How sad that we canonize the common and dismiss the creative. We love to imitate the vision of others. This leads to spiritual boredom. “The [creative] spirit gives life.” (John 7: 63)
Every work of Christian art is like God’s written word: to inspire me, I must contemplate it, pray it--and to inspire others, I must help them do the same. Our churches and museums are full of somnambulists. Lord Jesus, may this book light up their hearts to see you, their God desperate to be loved.
FATHER ED GRAVES
Fr. Ed Graves is a retired priest of the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Fine Art in painting from the Memphis College of Art and the University of Mississippi. After his years as a pastor, he is focusing on making his art and writing, especially poetry, a more prominent part of his ministry.
“A priest does not retire to lounge around. He does not retire: he begins a new phase of ministry. I sense God calling me to serve others by using my talents of art and writing--and music.”
My prayer is, “Jesus, use me to live and proclaim your good news that you are a God desperate to be loved; to love as you love and help others love God and others more by modeling your words and deeds--for if our age needs to emphasize one aspect of your teaching, it is this: to love God whole-heartedly and others as ourselves, for this love, being eternal, being the best definition of God, is the greatest thing in the world, the passion of God’s heart, the fuel for all ministry, the healing of all ills--and the only ticket to eternal life. St. Paul says love is the only major worth having in the school of life. Why? Because love is God, God made us to be “[...]sharers in the divine nature.” But, if someone asks, “What is your goal in life?”--how many of us would say, “Love?”
How tragic if I were to waste my life seeking only what, as I breath my last, fades like a mist, and the gates of heaven slam forever shut in my face.
WORKS BY FR. ED GRAVES
A GOD DESPERATE A TO BE LOVED
THE MINSTREL--A Celebration of Praise
A musical celebration of praise and worship consisting of songs and prayerful reflections written, composed, and sung by Fr. Ed Graves. Background vocals: Millie Lace Guitar, Fiddle, Mandolin, Base and Percussion by Tim Crouch. Recorded at Raney Recording Studio.
Matted Prints of each drawing in this book
8 1/2” x 11”, 6” x 9” or 4”x 6”. Please give page number.
Matted Prints of cover painting,
A GOD DESPERATE TO BE LOVED
8 1/2” x 11”, 6” x 9” or 4”x 6”
Prints of THE SAVIOR (sepia color) 8”x10” or 4”x 6”
For pricing information go to
www.fatheredmusings.com
ORDERS PLACED AT:
Fr. Ed Graves
2070 Ridgeway Rd.
Memphis, TN. 38119
870-208-7767
[email protected]
A God Desperate To Be Loved Page 9
