"Psalm 52:8 - Olive Tree"

Original Mixed Media Collage
Worship Painting

15" x 22" - SOLD

Part of the Water into Word series, this was painted at a conference focusing on intercession at Light of Christ Church in Marietta, Georgia yesterday. At the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem, the olive trees are extremely old and have massive trunks. On one side of the church near the doors is a wall of stone with olive trees planted in the ground above the wall. In reality the trees above the wall are not as old as those in the garden on the other side and certainly not as massive as the one in this painting. I wanted to paint this tree as weathered, substantial, strong, green and alive. The olive tree is a symbol of the anointing of God. One of the conference participants asked me what the wall represented. I didn't have a particular reason (not unusual for me as an artist...) other than having seen the wall at Gethesmane and wanting to use it in the artwork. She, however, had thought it was the wall of intercession, and I told her I thought she was right. I think worship painting in church or at a conference is not just about what God inspires me to paint or what I interpret the meaning to be - it's also about what he speaks to others through it, and in this case, it is a great example of how he gave someone else an interpretative element of the painting that brought a deeper significance to it, especially regarding the gift and ministry of intercession.