fun – WELangford

1st John: new creation

Warren Langford — Wed, 01 May 2024 15:42:35 +0000

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

In the aftermath of Easter, I have been very thankful for the truth of these verses from Isaiah, because we have a faith that calls for hope from memory. Brueggamann would remind us of the center of the resurrected life which enables allow us to serve each other with grace and faith.

We are people called to boundary-crossing generosity. We must rest in the ironic center of our faith: pain that transforms (cross and resurrection). We find hope from memory and seek long-term miracles (life with eternity in mind). Lastly, we are gifted with a new chance in Christ. We embrace the realities of resurrection – “new creation” cannot be shaved down to fit our interests, or to accommodate our conventional reality. The imagination that brought you resurrection, is the same that can bring hopeful alternatives. (Brueggemann, A Way Other Than Our Own)

“What does this new creation look like?” Let’s ask John …

Henry

Warren Langford — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 21:47:25 +0000

An incredible young man gave me a drawing after church. I have several by the young artists in his family on my office door, so I wanted to reciprocate out of appreciation for how welcome he made me feel when I became his pastor. I took his tree and merged it with elements from Byzantine icons, so that what we ended up with was the Tree of Life and River of Life – symbols of a restored Eden (Rev 22) – with Adam and Eve (humanity) climbing out of the grave. We created an Eden where all humanity is invited to ascend. We shall title it Rev 22:3a – “No longer will there be any curse”

Thank you Henry and church family for seeking to create, renew, and reconfigure the beautiful frailty of our humanity into something eternal.

Journaling: Smelling the Roses

Warren Langford — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 22:52:07 +0000

Life moves pretty fast. … (wait that’s Ferris Bueller).

Tonight, the SPR reminded me that one’s rest, self-reflection, and relationship with God are connected. This counsel led to me perusing through 10 years’ worth of journals. Most of them begin around Christmas time. Journaling and Advent are a time of anticipation – a mixing of expectation and hope.

I begin each journal with a title. I noticed that running them all together said something profound about how we wait for (and in) those moments of rest, self-reflection, and divine relationship…
“The End (or the beginning of someone new)” – “The Days Following” – “It Begins and Ends, And Does So Again” – “There is Always More to Learn” – “Feeling My Way Forward.”

Notice the repetition that life holds. We seem to always be in transformation … giving and receiving, winning and losing, forgetting and remembering … as we seek rest, an authentic self, and the grace of God.

Maybe you’re waiting right now for something; anticipating who you might become as you experience God and life. Waiting can be stressful and rough. Look what was in one of my journals …
Eric Speir notes 5 reasons why God makes us wait.
Waiting(1) reveals our true motives, (2) builds patience in our lives, (3) builds anticipation, (4) transforms our character, (5) builds intimacy and dependence on God. (Relevant magazine).

If the waiting is weighing on you, you might look at some of the Psalms (69 is a good one) because the Psalmists seem to be always waiting on God.

… “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Valentine’s Day

Warren Langford — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:31:50 +0000

Why be a Calvinist, when you can be a hopeful romantic.

Total attention
Unconditional acceptance
Limitless affection
Irresistible grace
Perseverance

Chance

Warren Langford — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:47:57 +0000

There is an element of chance in life, yet it doesn’t overpower the importance of perseverance and dedication. Things change but it is hardly by chance. Chance is that moment of uncertainty after a choice is made. The duration of change (the emotional) is proportional to the amount of time between choice and action. Before I get to far off in the philosophical and leave behind the playful – the fear of chance is the moment between when my daughter choses to change the paper doll’s clothes and the act of putting on new clothes: nakedness. Naked seems to be a good word to describe the point in which we feel all our emotions at once – joy/excitement and fear/uncertainty concerning the future. I have been trying to express this in art … this is what I have so far.

The Belfry

Warren Langford — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 22:04:10 +0000

These are 2 prints I did for the Youth at FUMC New Iberia. One is of the Belfry (bell tower) of the church and the other is of the stain glass window in the belfry printed on old hymnal pages.

Embracing

Warren Langford — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 21:54:04 +0000

I used to say with pride that I was a Texan, then I realized that I have lived in Louisiana for over half my life. So, now I say I’m from South Louisiana. This might have saddened me 15 years ago, but now I revel in the mysteries and adventures this area brings. Its just backwoods enough to have a great oral folklore, but modern enough to call it folklore.

I once loved calling myself a wandering nomad, now I am growing roots in the shade of majestic live oaks. I have been working on this piece for over a year allowing where I live to flow through me and the brush.

Grace Wheel

Warren Langford — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 00:51:36 +0000

Grace is often described in black and white terms. In the religious tradition I was raised, there was grace and then there was dismissal. With age I have learned that grace is experienced in a spectrum. Expressions of grace are colored by the giver – his/her character, life experience, self-identity, etc.

The black and white dichotomy of grace comes out of a theological need for clean pure lines in the sand, yet while we may see God in these terms, life and humanity are not so easily pigeon holed. These 8 paintings seek to display the essence of grace – the playful, colorful, excitement found in giving and receiving acceptance, forgiveness, and community. Grace may shine with different hues and shades depending on how we view it or understand our actions, but the imprint of the divine hopes to bring a consistency to how one welcomes grace and in turn passes it on. A life of grace is a life shared. Grace – it can be as simple as a smile, a game, flowers, or sharing a swing.

Midnight: G15.5

Warren Langford — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 20:26:29 +0000

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

The beginning of a grand religious narrative filled with interesting characters and promise like prophets who took flight into the dessert, kings who danced in the streets. To imagine, it started with a promise to a starry eyed nomad far away from his homeland.
Leave it to the divine to make the night sky a family tree. Leave it to man to look too much to the future. The divine and babies keep us on our toes while the future evolves out of the present moment.

Ancestral Dance

Warren Langford — Sat, 18 Jan 2014 01:57:17 +0000

The struggle between ‘who we are’ and ‘who we can be’ is a mysterious dance between what we were taught (up bringing) and what we have learned (personal experience). Ancestry can be a weight as well as a gem. Life is what happens between our roots and new growth. From Hans Christian Andersen’s The Stork or the phoenix myth large waterfowl are connected to birth and creation, and are seen as an oracle of great character(s). Whether in the bayous or the land of Canaan, identity is a dance – stepping out beyond our roots without forgetting them.