In The Garden Of Resurrection – An artistic journey – Episode 1

[notice]Join us on a monthly “In The Garden Of Resurrection” journey towards a unique Christian prophetic art exhibition around the glorious theme of Christ’s resurrection. In this first episode, Catherine van Schoor shares about the inspiration behind the exhibition which will run in Cape Town from October 4 to 7. Join the discussion by commenting below. If you tick the notification box you will receive emails notifying you of the latest comments.[/notice]

In 2008, I took a trip to Israel and while I was there I spent almost all my   time in Jerusalem praying the night watch at the house of prayer there, so I didn’t have much opportunity to travel apart from going to Bethlehem, which is a 10 minute drive from where I was staying in Jerusalem (oh and Jericho). While I was there however I did have time to explore old Jerusalem, where I saw the many splendoured Church of the Holy Sepulchre built on the very spot where Christ was said to have been crucified. In Bethlehem, I visited the Church of the Nativity, a vast and jeweled cavern that you enter by way of a small and lowly door so that we can always remember our humble king. Up on the hill is the star ceilinged cave where Jesus was said to have been born. Before I could go to Galilee the Khamsin wind blew in from the Sahara carrying a fine red dust, and everyone, especially me fell very ill and that was the end of my travels. I landed in South Africa and went straight from the airport to the hospital.

Its walls the colour of sunrise

During my month long convalescence I had a dream. In the dream I was back in the Holy Land and Jesus was taking me on a tour of the country. It was beautiful, much greener. He said to me, “I am going to show you something more beautiful than the Church of the Nativity; and I am going to show you something more beautiful than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre”. I wondered what could be more beautiful than the place He was born in or the place He was crucified. In the dream he took me to a church that was more of a monastery, its walls the colour of sunrise – outside people were nervous to enter. He said to me, “it’s the Church of the Resurrection”.  I realized as I looked at the surrounds that the land which was clothed with beauty and the air which was infused with glory was in fact Muizenberg/Kalk Bay – and that to him this corner of Cape Town was part of his Holy Land. I was amazed, moreover because the Resurrection is never something I had spent much time meditating on. I realized I had given little thought to the Resurrection till then.

Search for the deeper meaining

In the years that followed I approached the subject of the Resurrection from many different angles, but I must confess always feeling that a deeper, truer meaning was somehow eluding me.

Fast forward three years later to 2011. I am leading a ministry of worship and intercession and I have another dream. In the dream, two girls I had gotten to know not long before walk into one of our prayer meetings. What makes these girls special is they’re both artists. The one was a skilled artist, the other just painted for the fun of it – for the sake of expressing herself to her God, without making any effort to make it look pretty.  As they walked into the room my bank account pin code appeared over the head of the skilled artist – a girl who herself has started a prophetic art ministry. The pin code was to a bank account set up specifically to save money for my calling.

I woke up moved with the feeling that God was talking. He was really saying something significant. Prophetic art – both skilled and unskilled – was a key to spiritual wealth and a key to what we were trying to do through this ministry of worship and intercession – change the spiritual atmosphere until the glory of the Lord covers the earth.

The following Sunday I went to church with sketch pad and pencils in hand – ready for anything. But I was dry and uninspired – the blank page gaped at me, and my pencil twirled to the sound of the music, dancing instead of drawing. Then I remembered that dream I had had about the resurrection and how I never seemed to be able to really grasp the mystery of everything the resurrection bespoke. I started to draw.

That moment – when Jesus says “Mary” and she knows it’s Him, and he says “I am going to my Father and your Father, my God and your God” has been to me the fullest, most beautiful, intimate and glorious moment in the grand love story that is our Bible. I thought about drawing it – but how do you?

So I thought, draw her after she has seen him, and she is departing to tell Peter and the disciples, filled with the knowledge of His resurrection. She had gone mourning in the shadow of death, but was leaving filled with the new light of Christ’s life. As I drew her eyes, revelation came to me – of the deep joy of that moment, a powerful flood of new life washing Mary with joy upon joy, light upon light. It’s very hard to put into words what I suddenly understood. But in a moment I began to understand through experience – the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But I wanted more, was hungry for more. That glimpse was only the beginning.

But how do I deepen in revelation of this most remarkable event in all of finite time? The resurrec-
tion is the shoreline moment when the life of Christ meets our lives, washes up over it, again and again and again – without it the cross would not mean what it means. I came away feeling that in order to go deeper in Christ I had to do it with others.

Imagine Christian artists meditating together on the resurrection for eight months. Creating art that is the fruit of that meditation – art filled with the power of that knowledge. The art would testify to the new hope, confront each life with the beautiful life of Christ.

Then an exhibition. Visitors would come to the exhibition and see art, buy art that is beautiful, skilled and anointed. They would hang it in their homes and it would continually testify of Christ’s resurrection and our salvation.

Exhibition from October 4 to 7

And that is what is happening this year. Join me on this eight month journey, culminating in an exhibition that will take place from October 4 to 7. The exhibition will be launched on the evening of Thursday, October 4. Christian musicians will play instrumental worship music. Artists will be available to the public, and intercessors will pray in a back room.

Artists can submit up to five pieces, with a maximum of three pieces selected for exhibition. Fine art, sculpture, video, installation and photography can be submitted. The art should be produced for the exhibition or be a maximum of two years old. We encourage everyone to join in this journey of contemplation of the resurrection through art. However, a panel of accomplished Christian artists will select the art to be exhibited.

The venue will be a gallery in Muizenberg/Kalk Bay. For more information – to take part in the exhibition as an artist, a musician, poet or intercessor contact Catherine@esst.org.za

• Catherine van Schoor is a creative director at the Educational Support Services Trust. She is a writer, researcher, documentary producer and graphic designer. Together with a team of worship leaders and intercessors she spends her time in worship and intercession at the Prayer Furnace at Bay Community Church in Muizenberg.