December 27, 2019 ~ God’s People in Cities
Story @ Revelation Chapters 2 & 3
This painting illustrates that Jesus meets us where we are – with what we have – by way of a bridge. This is, in essence, a CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) principle from John Perkims: “Go to the people, live among them, learn from them, love them, start with what they know, build on what they have, but of the best leaders, when their task is done, the people will remark, “We have done it ourselves.’” Jesus is a gentleman because he’s got so much he wants to tell me that I can’t bear to hear him now. The more I know the more it might twist my brain. I am never in a place that is impossible for him to reach.

I appreciate and relate to this oil painting, “Nocturne in Blue and Green, Old Battersea Bridge,” because of the fireworks, used for aesthetic purposes, and the one star in the sky, drawn from a partial picture of Jesus. It is also the last of the Battersea Bridge images, reaching perfection or maturing in relationship to the bridge.  Whistler produces different perspectives in different media of the same bridge – which reminds me to stay humble and open minded to different ways to think. Someday, I will walk across the full length of Battersea Bridgge when I travel to one of  my origins, €ngland.

— §tacy §weeney

Battersea Bridge is a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers crossing the River Thames in London, England. It is situated on a sharp bend in the river, and links Battersea south of the river with Chelsea to the north. Wikipedia