Rowan Mersh's installation that traces light with thread through a derelict building reminds me of Antoine Bradford's song "Break of Dawn," which recognizes the light of the world shining all around and whose final section is inspired by Psalm 30:5. artandtheology.org/2025/12/22/a...

The French group MMK performs 10 Christmas carols, half of French origin & the other half from other parts of Europe & the US. I really like their arrangements! And I appreciated learning 2 new-to-me songs: “D’où viens tu, bergère?” & “Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris.” artandtheology.org/2025/12/21/o...

I met Nico Melas, a baker & singer-songwriter, at a music festival in Virginia where he performed this song. It anticipates the beauty to come when Christ returns & that bursts forth anytime we do good. I've paired it w/ a painting of confetti falling from the sky. artandtheology.org/2025/12/21/a...

"[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4). Composer Karl Jenkins and artist Max Beckmann respond to this verse in their respective mediums. artandtheology.org/2025/12/20/a...

"Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, and bring the promised day!" Watts apostrophizes in anticipation of the descent of the New Jerusalem. I'm not sure if Revelation 21 was what Webb had in mind when he painted "Epiphany of the Other," but it seems likely, no? artandtheology.org/2025/12/19/a...

Julia Esquivel's two poetry collections—Threatened with Resurrection (1982) and The Certainty of Spring (1993)—are works of liberation theology. Here's a poem from the former, describing what the birth of Christ means for her, as a Guatemalan, and her people. artandtheology.org/2025/12/18/t...

David Blow's kaleidoscopic photograph of a new day beyond the haze, about to come into crisp focus, complements this soul tune by the Menahan Street Band. artandtheology.org/2025/12/18/a...

There's a spiritual quality to Bahraini artist Nabeela Al Khayer's "Shather Alfairooz," which shows, as I read it, the dawning (or dawning awareness) of something new within: A longing? A presence? The Day Star that the Brothers of Abriem Harp sing about? artandtheology.org/2025/12/17/a...

Two Advent series I've been enjoying are by Kate Bluett (who's writing poems inspired by "The 12 Days of Christmas") & Elissa Weichbrodt (who's writing art reflections based on the themes of hope, peace, joy & love). Also check out these four new Christmas songs. artandtheology.org/2025/12/16/r...

Eve's redemption draweth nigh, I imagine, in this small sculpture by Kiki Smith. "Awake, awake, for your light has come!" cries a traditional Jewish hymn for Shabbat, anticipating messianic deliverance. artandtheology.org/2025/12/16/a...

A burst of light descends into a forest grove in this watercolor by Charles Burchfield. Consider it alongside Isaiah 9 ("The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light . . ."), excerpts of which were set to music by British composer Alexander L'Estrange. artandtheology.org/2025/12/15/a...

Katy Mixon repurposes the wipes she uses to clean her brushes, hands & palette knives in the studio as material for quilted paintings, such as this rainbow-colored one. On this Gaudete Sunday, I proffer it for meditation alongside the song "Joyful" by Paul Zach. artandtheology.org/2025/12/14/a...

Mary's Magnificat is a song of justice, liberation & praise. Here I look at two recent quotes; a video devotion that includes Tissot's "Magnificat" painting; songs by Jane Parker Huber, Jennifer Henry & Simon de Voil; and a sermon clip on Rembrandt's "Visitation." artandtheology.org/2025/12/13/m...

"I feel the flames, oh Madonna. I feel the heat of your child . . ." artandtheology.org/2025/12/13/a...

Artist Pablo Sanaguano sets the Annunciation in the highlands of Ecuador in his painting on the subject, while the Argentine singer-songwriter Ariel Glaser reflects on that profound moment through music. artandtheology.org/2025/12/12/a...

Artist Mark Cazalet has created a set of 12 paintings on bread boards and other domestic objects that walk thru the story of Jesus’s first coming, marked as it was by mystery, vulnerability, risk, and glory. They are on display at Chelmsford Cathedral thru Feb 2. artandtheology.org/2025/12/11/t...

The parable of the wise and foolish virgins was an immensely popular subject in Norwegian tapestries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Here's one phenomenal example @artsmia.bsky.social. I've paired it with a traditional hymn from Sweden. artandtheology.org/2025/12/11/a...

The Sri Lankan Buddhist artist Hatigammana Uttarananda portrays Jesus as radiant, serene. This glorified visage reminds me of the opening lyric of an African American spiritual I found thru an arrangement by Alice Parker: "When Jesus comes, he'll outshine the sun." artandtheology.org/2025/12/10/a...

An early Christian mosaic in Rome and a twentieth-century Black gospel song from the US evoke Jesus's returning descent "on the clouds of heaven," as Jesus prophesied in the Gospel of Matthew, borrowing language from one of Daniel's apocalyptic visions. artandtheology.org/2025/12/09/a...

In this painting by Sr. Kim Ok-soon, John baptizes followers in the Jordan River, preparing them for the coming of the Messiah, while the early Christian rock artist Bruce Spelman, a member of the Jesus Movement that emerged in the late 1960s, sings about it. artandtheology.org/2025/12/08/a...

LeighAnna Schesser is one of the best living Christian poets. Her way w/ language, her theological imagination—phenomenal. Here she reflects on the Creator becoming part of creation, taking on a body that has mass, that's subject to gravity, that can be torn & was. artandtheology.org/2025/12/07/t...

Chagall's Peace Window at the UN features a series of vignettes, many drawn from the Bible, including one of the peaceable kingdom. Isaiah's prophecies of the messianic age, which the church revisits during Advent, are the theme of Steve Bell's song "Oracles." artandtheology.org/2025/12/07/a...

The visitation (1981) by Sadao Watanabe. 訪問。渡辺禎雄作品 (1981年)。 #sadaowatanabe #渡辺禎雄 #民芸 #型絵染 #合羽摺 #型染版画 #聖書版画 #artandfaith #sacredart #sadaohanga #たいこうせつ #待降節 #출현 #Advent #Avent #Adviento #アドベント @sadaohanga.bsky.social

The Hebrew word for "to wait," taken from Psalm 27, splashes across this watercolor by Charlotte Mann Lee, while Psalm Project Africa captures the joyously hopeful tone of the psalm in music. artandtheology.org/2025/12/06/a...

"Let the peoples all delight / In the messianic light / Let the whole earth be glad / At the making all things right."—David Benjamin Blower artandtheology.org/2025/12/05/a...

Today’s two featured works function as a call to care for the tired earth. One is a ritual enactment of said care, tender and consoling, by performance artist Holly Slingsby, and the other is an urgent choral lament by composer Alberto Grau. artandtheology.org/2025/12/04/a...

Revelation describes, in the new heavens & the new earth, a tree of life w/ twelve fruits that are for the healing of the nations. The Ukrainian painter Kateryna Shadrina & the Dutch English hymn-writer Fred Kaan reference this passage in today's 2 featured works. artandtheology.org/2025/12/03/a...

Upcoming "Poems of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany" event w/ Brian Volck; controversial "Hear Us" installation @cburycathedral.bsky.social; "Dios con Nosotros" by Kreg Yingst; and songs by Adrian Roberto & Melissa Romero, The Hound + The Fox, and Dan Damon. artandtheology.org/2025/12/02/r...

In today's featured pieces, Sliman Mansour paints three Palestinian children looking longingly on the city of Bethlehem through a barbed-wire fence, & @overtherhine.bsky.social performs a mournful twist on a classic Christmas carol, praying for an end to violence. artandtheology.org/2025/12/02/a...

Captured by a photojournalist, an abandoned doll sits beside a bullet-riddled car in Kyiv, Ukraine. Following Russia's invasion, Room For More released a musical lament for Advent; "onto all who are in darkness, shine," the Ternopil-based collective sings. artandtheology.org/2025/12/01/a...

"Father enthroned on high, holy, holy, ancient, eternal Light, hear our prayer . . ." artandtheology.org/2025/11/30/a...

Tomorrow marks the start of Advent and a new liturgical year. Have you opened every door to the coming Christ? artandtheology.org/2025/11/29/a...

John Frederick Nims, Lucille Clifton, Amit Majmudar, William Blake, A. E. Stallings—these are among the poets featured in my fourth annual compilation of poems for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. artandtheology.org/2025/11/29/2...

Discounted Advent series by Tamara Hill Murphy; Advent intro by Ashley Tumlin Wallace; "Prepare the Way" by @maverickcitymusic.bsky.social & TRIBL, & by Christopher Walker; "Advent Caravan" series by Sarah Quezada; Jouluradio's annually refreshed "Hoosianna" hymn. artandtheology.org/2025/11/25/r...

The Protoevangelium of James and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew describe Mary undergoing the sotah ritual described in Numbers 5. The church in the East has occasionally portrayed it visually. artandtheology.org/2025/11/21/t...

Advent musings @wdavidotaylor.bsky.social; Linda Gregerson on "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"; Sylvie Vanhoozer on Provençal crèches; "Advent calendar" of Bible-inspired artworks from around the world; 5 films to help you observe Advent; beach art from Devon, UK. artandtheology.org/2025/11/18/r...

Thomas Hoffman invites us to "grow large" this Advent, like Mary, waiting in eager expectation for the Christ who is to come. artandtheology.org/2025/11/15/e...

I'll be publishing daily art-and-music posts for the duration of Advent and Christmastide, starting with a "prelude" on November 29. I hope you'll join me as time unfolds across four hallowed weeks of expectant waiting and then Twelve Days of festivity and wonder. artandtheology.org/2025/11/13/a...

Brian Zahnd on Dostoevsky's most prophetic novel; LAFSC on how to watch a movie (as a Christian); documentary about men in Missouri prison who make quilts; "To Breathe—Mokum" explores migration & belonging; new poems by A. E. Stallings & Anna A. Friedrich. artandtheology.org/2025/11/11/r...

Rachel Hicks' debut poetry collection is an exploration of "home" as place & idea. Having lived in 7 countries, she reflects on her experience as a "perpetual pilgrim," a Christian moving toward a destination attuned to the significance of each moment along the way artandtheology.org/2025/11/10/b...

This month's playlist includes songs by Cree composer Andrew Balfour, Comanche flutist Doc Tate Nevaquaya & Tuscarora singer Jennifer Kreisburg. Also: Balfour's NAGAMO; Josh Rodriguez interprets Wendell Berry in new choral work; religiously charged art of Paul Thek artandtheology.org/2025/11/04/r...

On All Saints' Day we remember not only the canonized saints but also our personal dead who've joined that great cloud of witnesses. In this prayer-poem Reeser expresses thanks for the ongoing presence & influence of her gparents in her life, even beyond the grave. artandtheology.org/2025/11/01/o...

Musicians Matthew Clark & Ordinary Time are performing in MD! Also: new books by Grace Hamman (on medieval virtues) & Ben Palpant (interviews w/ 17 poets); @lantadavis.bsky.social on a bone-decorated crypt in Rome; & a song by Mark Shiiba inspired by said crypt. artandtheology.org/2025/10/28/r...

The 17th-century Golden Chamber inside the Basilica of St. Ursula in Cologne is decorated with thousands of human bones—allegedly those of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgin companions, whose feast is today. There are other sights worth seeing at this church too. artandtheology.org/2025/10/21/b...

This year KMSKA gave its Old Masters galleries a contemporary injection, bringing in works from the past half-century, loaned from private collections, to dialogue with medieval/Renaissance & Baroque masterpieces on themes such as motherhood, suffering & heaven. artandtheology.org/2025/10/16/k...

Kolumba is the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne. They started by collecting medieval German art but then shifted to contemporary. They display works from both eras side-by-side, creating intriguing dialogues. Here are 3 room highlights from my recent visit. artandtheology.org/2025/10/15/k...

In this poem from his new collection THE LOCUST YEARS, @pauljpastor.bsky.social reflects on the dissonance between our earthbound reality—marked by misrule, violence, and famine—and the new-earthly reality that awaits us. artandtheology.org/2025/10/06/t...

This (mostly) poetry-themed roundup—there's also my new Spotify playlist—features poems by Kobayashi Issa, Lucille Clifton, Hester Pulter, Rafael Campo, Paul J. Pastor, Michael Stalcup, Richard Crashaw, Franz Wright & more, most of them accompanied by commentary. artandtheology.org/2025/10/02/r...

This fifteenth-century tapestry from Tournai, then a leading center of production, depicts Christ Carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. artandtheology.org/2025/09/28/f...