All Shall Be Well: I've Got the Joy

"I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy....."

She had some great ideas about melody maps,

of which I immediately replicated on my iPad.

Ah, the "Becoming Van Gogh" exhibit at the Denver Art Museum!

Opened October 21, 2012 and will show until January 20, 2013.

GO. TO. THIS. SHOW.

Plan your visit -----> Becoming Van Gogh

RTG graciously shared his extra ticket, and we were all but first
in a loooong line of art enthusiasts, just waiting
to be let in to view the magnificent works of Vincent.

"Cineraria in a Flowerpot" - 1886

Now, I have to admit, I was NOT a fan of oil paint on canvas.

UNTIL

SAW

THIS

PAINTING!

What little experience I have with oil paintings included those old, schlepped-up, landscapes that we all had hanging in our 1980's basements. Chunky tufts of paint thrown on a canvas with some unknown mountain in the background with a million green trees and a random pond or squirrel. Colorful? Yes. Appealing? No.

THEN, I walked into the Van Gogh gallery on Saturday.

The room where Van Gogh's relationship with color launched.

And I began to understand.

The carefully-placed dollops of oil perfectly accented the petals of the flowers in the above painting. I could have sworn that someone had just watered the artwork - a fresh showering of water droplets, just dripping off of each flower.

Delicate. Fragile. Vibrant.

I'm completely sold on oil on canvas.

"Wheatfield with Sheaves" - 1888

These pictures don't do the actual pieces justice.

To see each tuft of wheat, each curl of the cloud, each blade of grass.

Van Gogh spent a fair amount of time in these wheatfields,

and you could see that he clearly befriended them through these paintings.

"Church Pew with Worshippers" - 1882

This painting cracks me up.

I kidded RTG that this is exactly what the people at
Bethany look like when he's preaching. HA! (VERY untrue!)

Van Gogh painted this is in his early years (which, in a paint-span of 10 years, isn't all that early). I kept humming "All are Welcome", and boy, are they ALL welcome in these pews! Check out the headgear!

WHAT A LECTURE!

The gentlemen on the stage:

Steven Naifeh (co-author of Van Gogh: The Life) - red tie

Louis van Tilborgh (curator of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) - center

Timothy Standring (curator of Painting/Sculpture, Denver) - jeans

I had JUST watched a "60 Minutes" video with Steven Naifeh!

(Co-author Gregory White Smith was too ill to be with us for this lecture.)

Watch here! Part ONE and Part TWO

Standring is actually visiting Bethany during

the Town Hall Lectures of Denver series.

Monday, November 5, 2012. 10:00am.

Click HERE for more info.

Louis, Louis!

From Amsterdam!

The country of my heritage!

I HAD to capture a photo of a sunflower at

church today, in honor of Van Gogh, of course.

We lit candles in honor of those who

struggle with mental illnesses.

So many candles.

So many people afflicted with this dis-order in their lives.

Where else can we find healing but at the Communion rail.

In the name of the Father,

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

We also had a special guest at church today:

country-western singer Michael Peterson.

He's a fierce veteran's advocate, and has used his musical gifts

to connect veterans to social resources.

Operation One Nation is Bethany's veteran's advocacy group.

I helped design the logo you see above.

And here's what the logo looks like on a polo shirt.

Hmm. Not an exact match, but you get the picture.

Oh, little people.

You are a welcome addition to any worship service.

SING ON!

Howdy, Bethany folk!

Too touching to even TRY to capture it all in this photo.

Pastor Ron shared a letter, handwritten by his father during WWII - a prayer his dad wrote before going into battle the next day. Michael crafted a song to go with the text, and yet another prayer was born. Click here to listen to "Dear God..." as a part of the "We are Veterans" CD.

Humble candlelighters.

Family and friends,

caregivers and those seeking help themselves.

Our red, white and blue choir sang along for the last number.

And then, as if the weekend wasn't grand enough, the people of Bethany gave OVER 3 GRAND in gift cards that will be given to military veterans and their families! $3,200 in gift cards! Amazing!