living canvases on loving artists

"You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read just by looking at you. Christ himself wrote it - not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives - and we publish it."

Paul in his second letter to the Corinthian Church in 55 A.D 

The picture above is of my sister Sharon and her husband Craig. They are artists in Northern Ireland who use living canvas and inedible ink as their medium of artistic expression. As you can see from this picture, their own flesh is a walking advertisement for their passion and artistic qualification for this particular artistic discipline. Craig is incredibly talented as the artist and Sharon wonderfully talented as the business manager of their thriving gallery. (Or in the vernacular: "Their Tattoo Parlor") Together they create art that walks off as enduring endorsements.

Recently I went through a complex and encouragingly thorough interview process for a new position in a church where I was applying for a pastoral position. There were many assessments, interviews, and references required before I was offered the position of Pastor of Discipleship. But I wonder what would have happened if they had demanded that I produce a line of living canvases who could prove my capacity and competency as an artist of the complex contextualized multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-linguistic art of spiritual communication in a post-modern setting. 

I cast back into my past and smile when I realize that there really are people who carry artwork that was written while I had the profound privilege of holding my Master's hammer and chisels as He applied the subtle shades of sublime art to the living canvas of a living being that He had sculpted to perfectly carry the exact artwork He was currently sculpting onto their living flesh. 

If you are one of the canvases I'm thinking about I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to watch as your art was applied. 

Are you a canvas for the Master? Or are you just wearing cheap tattoo sleeves that are a pretense of the indelible art? 

Just a thought on a quiet Saturday morning.....