Happy Birthday Black Jesus!

For Christmas I would like to share some of my recent artwork dealing with Jesus Christ.

Happy birthday Jesus!!!

I pray that you will be with the poor, the lonely, the humble, 

and the weak on this beautiful day.

I also pray that people will be willing to help those in need,

just a Jesus of the oppressed would (and did) do.

Amen!

A Black Jesus

This poster, with an image of a Black Jesus, is designed to represent James Cone's theology in my Make it Plain art exhibition.  James Cone was a theologian who made the idea of a black Jesus famous.  Cone was responding to the images of a white Jesus and a white God that supported the oppression, murder, enslavement, and oppression of blacks. James Cone responded with the idea that Jesus represents the oppressed peoples, and Jesus therefore was seen as black.

Cone combined the ideas of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.  He took Malcolm's ideas of self love and a added them to Kings philosophy of loving others.  Cone  used MLK Jr's Black Christian theology.  James Cone is known as the founder of Black Liberation Theology (which still had some grit if you read his actual sermons).

The church responded to Cone with the idea "God is not black; God is race-less."  Keep in mind before Cone, God was seen as white often with blonde hair and blue eyes....sorry, God is not European (don't worry I know Jesus was not biologically African either).

For Christmas I would like to wish Jesus a happy birthday and thank him for teaching us to love those our society sees as bad, evil, poor and untouchable. 

European Jesus from Sodahead.com

People who have heard of James Cone in response to the anti Obama campaigns, have heard incredibly distorted views of what black Liberation Theology actually is saying.  These same people seem to forget the circumstances that men like James Cone and Malcolm X were responding to and living with on a daily basis.

Visit my art blog to see more art work from this Make it Plain

Click here to listen to James Cone on NPR.

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Update: I don't believe the BLT is 100% perfect, anything that is "Jesus +" is not the true Gospel. Nor do I believe that Jesus was actually black. This poster was a component of a larger art exhibition.

Best Church Ever!

Ok so Emmaus Road Community Church in Laramie Wyoming may not be the best church in the world...and maybe I shouldn't encourage a competition between churches...and this project is inspired by the church I grew up in.  Anyways, this post is about how much the community and members at Emmaus Road rock.

Three days ago, on Sunday, I announced that there was a family in town that could really use a little help.  I had a wish list consisting of one item per person and asked if the congregation would help out with the gifts.  I gave a little background such as the family just decided to go without Christmas presents this year and that they went several weeks without toilet paper a while back.  The family is currently living in a 5th wheel as well.   I told the congregation that I would love to do more than just the gifts but it would really depend on how many people could help...It was a small service since all the college kids were away, so I was not expecting a lot... However, we will be doing much more than the three suggested gifts. 

Here is a bit of what the church helped the family with in three days. 

 Stockings

 Each family member will get 1 stocking filled with...

  

Personal Hygiene Items 

Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Flossers
Mouthwash
Razors
Deodorant
Hand sanitizer
Lotion
Soap

And a couple small candies.

A Coffee Gift Basket for Mom

Diane from church knows her coffee (and the mom) and offered to get some gourmet coffees.  She found one decent size bag of coffee, 12 single servings in assorted flavors, and 4 flavored dairy creamers.  Go Diane!

I added a scarf for decoration/warmth, a candle, two mugs and a coffee travel cup to the gift basket.
If you haven't noticed yet, I love gift baskets!

$40 for a Medical Alert Bracelet for the Daughter
The daughter in this family has several serious medical conditions and really needs this bracelet.  When I asked the daughter what her and her parents would want this was all she wanted for herself.  She was much more excited about her parents getting gifts.  We still wanted to get her a gift that was for fun and not a necessity.  So we made...


A girly Gift Basket for the Daughter

This basket includes a candle, nail polish, lotion, body spray, shower gel, a loofah and some festive candies. 
Again with the gift baskets :) 

An Amazon Kindle Card for Dad
The dad in this family loves to read.  He has a Kindle, doesn't have room for books, and doesn't have money to buy more.

A $100 Wall-Mart Gift Card for the Family
One church member donated a $100 gift card, which will be perfect.  

&

A Christmas Tree

The tree was donated from a lady that I work with.  

She works at a greenery and was actually looking for a family to give some leftover trees to.
Although this family does not have much living space, the tree will be perfect outside or inside.

$5 from the Dollar tree worth of decorations.
It was simple but really kept decorating the tree from being a family burden.

That was three days worth of love and there is still one more day.  We have around $200 left to spend.  I am looking at purchasing  

A Meal or Two or Three

One gal from our church wanted to buy the family a meal. I am not sure what this will be yet.

I would also like the purchase $50 worth of groceries including

A Christmas Dinner

a small ham

instant mashed potatoes

corn and beans 

3 Movie Tickets

When you work as hard as these guys are, and have their entire lives, you need and deserve to have some fun.

University of Wyoming Gear

The dad is a huge Cowboys fan and I was told by my pastor that he would love anything Cowboys.

I am not sure what this will be yet, but probably a sweatshirt, a hat, or gloves.

An Electric Blanket
Living in a 5th wheel in Laramie Wyoming's weather gets cold.
An electric blanket will keep them from midnight runs to get more propane, keep them warn and save money all at the same time.

2 More Gift Cards

One for the daughter and one for the parents.  

This will be the remainder of the money.

And I gave the daughter (who is a close friend) a small painting

Hey God, I would like to close with a short prayer.  

First of all thank you for placing this family in our lives and town.  Thank you for blessing them this Christmas season.  I pray that you would help these gifts make a significant impact and help this family pay off some of their medical bills.  I pray for the mother and daughter's health and the fathers strength.  Please please please lord help this project expand so that we can make some major changes in the community.  This is for me, but I would love to see our church do this for more than one family in the future.

Thank you for softening the hearts of those you have blessed. 

Amen!

Update: I absolutely believe that the church should be the ones taking care of the poor. It is the churches job, not the governments. I do not, however, believe that adding anything to the gospel is appropriate. If it become "Jesus + serving the poor" then it is not Biblical. Also, sharing the Gospel is a humans most basic need. Sharing the gospel should be the priority.

Peanut Butter Balls Dipped in Chocolate

Around Christmas I always crave chocolate covered goodies.  I love dipping strawberries, bananas, and cherries.  This year I wanted to add something more to a gift that I was creating for a family white elephant present.  Fruit doesn't do well traveling for over a week, the person who I was giving the gift to is allergic to wheat and we didn't have peanuts so I tried something new.  Here they are.

Ingredients:


2 scoops Peanut Butter
1/2 scoop butter
and Powdered sugar

Mix butter and peanut butter
Add powdered sugar until the mixture is thick.
Prepare Almond Bark or another form of meltable chocolate
Place in the freezer for 10 – 15 minutes
Roll mixture into balls and dip in chocolate mixture using a fork, your fingers, a spoon or you can use a toothpick.
Allow to cool on wax paper. You can add sprinkles or chocolate chips to decorate.

You can also dip pretzels, fruit or peanuts into the chocolate dip.  If you get pretzel sticks you can mix them and peanuts to create clusters.

Simple Christmas Gift Idea

Bath Salt is a last minute gift idea that you still have time to make before Christmas.  This gift looks great, smells great and from what I have read seems to be the cure all gift.

You will need…
Epsom Salt
Fragrance (essential oils)
Food coloring
And
Some empty jars that can be sealed (I used both a jelly canning jar and some containers from the dollar store with rubber bands plastic bags and ribbon to cover the band)

1. You can either poor the whole bag of salt into a bowl or poor just the amount you need in. I placed salt in the final containers then poured it into a bowl so that I would make just the amount I needed.

2. Mix the salt and food coloring together keep adding coloring until it is the color you want. I used neon food coloring because I knew that I wanted purple and didn’t already have the standard colors. If you have the standard colors, the box will have the number of drops to create the desired color listed.

I made frosting using this green and it was awesome!

3. Add fragrance – If you use oils the mixture will be fairly dry but if you use a liquid fragrance it will be a bit sloppy.  The sloppy slushiness it not a problem but will cause the next  step to take longer.

4. Lay out in a baking pan to dry. I let oils set for about an hour. You just want it to be a similar consistency to what it was before you added the color and fragrance
5. Measure into containers.
6. Tie a ribbon around the top and place in a gift basket or wrap.

To create the layered affect just poor salt into two bowls, adding fragrance to both but color to one.  Then poor into container alternating colors. 

Merry Christmas!

God I pray that we could all have a wonderful holiday 

and time sharing gifts with family and friends 

but I also ask that you would 

help us to remember Jesus and his birth in this busy time.

AMEN!

Christmas Prayer

God, I would like to pray for those that don’t know you and don’t know about Jesus. 

I pray that they could find you in this holiday season.

I especially pray for those who don’t have a family, friends or a home. 

I pray that they would feel safe and warm.

Please help people leave their selfishness behind, if even for a day.

I pray for Chino and Daniella as well as Crazy Horse (maybe I will share these stories).

Please keep those on the streets safe. 

I pray for the Rapid City Mission and similar organizations.

Please help the Soup Kitchen find volunteers for this holiday season.

Help those of us who have much to share with others who have less.

I pray for people living with and dying from disease.

I pray for my pastors (Todd, JeriAnn, Brad, Diane, Layne, Jennifer and their families).

I also lift up the prayers of others in this holiday season.

(Please add a comment for a prayer that you have…)

AMEN!

Christmas Star or Snowflake Ornament

A lot of you are asking for art, being an artist this is an enjoyable task...so here you go...  This ornament is simple to create, requires only a few supplies and is low cost. I created each star differently as I made up the design. This process is simple and there is a lot of room for creativity (even error).  

Supplies

Wire about 25 – 30 inches long, 24 gage if possible, 22 will work but is more difficult (you can purchase this at a hardware store).
5 long skinny beads of a similar length. I used paper beads that I spray-painted gold (I have a tutorial for making those as well).
10 seed or glass beads of your choice.
Round-tip pliers are optional.  Round-tip do work better than needle nose priers because they manipulate the wire much smoother.