In a world driven by social media algorithms, *Art Pastor Live* slows down to contemplate Scripture through visual art. Explore Isaiah 55 and Matthew 14 as we uncover how God’s abundant feast emerges in the deepest shadows of grief and tyranny, transforming simple fish and loaves into 12 baskets of grace.

Page 2. Bockman Hall in the Morning Light July 28, 2026medium: gouache The morning sun hitting the eastern side of Bockman Hall's front porch has captured me since I started working here in the summer of 2022. It seemed important to frame the image with the branches...

Abundance in the shadow of tyranny. That is the theme I see in the readings this week.

Genesis 32:22-31
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

It is anchored in the Gospel reading. Jesus learns that John the Baptist has been beheaded by Herod. This is an act of pure tyranny and corruption. Herod was trapped by Herodius to deliver John’s head to her on a platter. Jesus is mortified by this news. He goes out on a boat to be alone and to grieve. When he returns he finds a massive crowd of hungry people, like lost sheep roaming the countryside.

A member of The Art Pastor’s Network is a missionary in Peru. She offered to translate these pages for me. I’m so grateful and pleased to share them with you.

What if the way you measure your spiritual growth is based on a flawed concept of time?
In our fast-paced, modern culture, we are subtly trained to view life as a straight line. We draw charts, track metrics, and calculate progress on an upward, left-to-right slope. We treat spiritual formation like a ladder: you start at the bottom as a struggling novice and climb toward efficiency, agency, and spiritual perfection.

But when Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, he rarely uses the language of industrial progress or linear ladders. Instead, he talks about seeds quietly dying in dirt, yeast permeating dough, nets cast into mysterious depths, and tiny mustard grains expanding into sheltering trees.

In this Art Pastor Live session, we explored Matthew 13 alongside reflections on how different cultures understand time. By pairing Jesus’ parables with visual art, we paused to ask a fundamental question: Is life a line or a circle—and how does the Kingdom of God grow within us?

Page 1. The Norwegian Celtic Cross July 21, 2026medium: gouache This is a replica of a Celtic cross from about 1000 A.D., believed to be the first Christian symbol erected in Norway. It was given to Luther Seminary in 1956 by the Nordfjord Youth and stands in front of...

This image is from page 9 in A Cartoonist’s Guide to MatthewThe Gospel of Matthew collects Jesus' parables about the Kingdom of Heaven into one convenient package in Matthew 13:1-53. I want to make an observation about how these parables are structured. Jesus is in...

On Thursday, July 16 at 4:00pm CT I livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook for an hour. This contemplative session reflects Psalm 139:1-24.  The art is created in the Procreate app on my iPad Pro....

On Thursday, July 9 at 4:00pm CT I livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook for an hour. This contemplative session reflects Exodus 34:6-7. Learn more here. The art is created in the Procreate app on my iPad Pro....

I got to be the Artist-in-Residence at Camp House again this summer. It was only for three days, but it was fun. Here are the pieces I created while there. Enjoy!We read the story of Jesus and the Woman at the Well in Samaria. This was my visual meditation on the...