Kyrie Eleison Image License (Isaiah 57:14-19)
Kyrie Eleison Image License (Isaiah 57:14-19)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FOR ONE-TIME LICENSE
Interested in licensing a single image for worship or ministry use? This one-time license grants you permission to use this image for ministry purposes. Print the image as bulletin cover art or project the art and engage with it during worship, Sunday School, or Youth Group. We hope you might use our images as tools for spiritual formation.
If you are interested in an art print of this piece, please visit our print shop.
Kyrie Eleison
Digital painting
By Anna Strickland
Inspired by Isaiah 57:14-19
Order includes:
high-res image file for print or projection
A PDF of the Artist's statements & scripture reference for the visual
A visio divina Bible Study Guide for you to use this image in a group study session that incorporates the ancient Benedictine spiritual practice of "divine seeing."
Credit Info:
When printing and sharing online, please always include the following credits:
Artist's name | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org
FROM THE ARTIST:
The marvelous thing about Christmas is that God comes to be with us. With us. God is not on some lofty throne in the heavens, but right here, born in the mess we call home. God didn’t wait for peace to break into the world. They came in the midst of war and occupation, born not as the son of Caesar but the son of an impoverished Palestinian teenager.
Today the cries for peace are louder, more urgent, more desperate than ever in the land where God chose to be born. I imagine God’s peace like lightning striking down the walls that separate Israel from Palestine, Jews from Muslims, neighbors from neighbors, family from family, children of God from children of God.
In this image, the Hebrew and Arabic words for peace (shalom and salaam, respectively) are graffitied on the border wall, cries for peace so ancient that they’re beginning to fade. They’re painted in gold, traditionally used to indicate God’s presence. God is in our cries for peace. God is in every tear we shed. God is surrounding us in our longest nights. God is here among us, Emmanuel.
The figure in the foreground is wrapped in a head covering patterned with the words Kyrie eleison, Lord have mercy. She wraps herself in cries for mercy as ancient as the land she inhabits. Her face is covered with words affirming her identity as a child of God, made in God’s own image, and called very good. If only it were so plain on each person’s face, perhaps we wouldn’t be so quick to drop bombs.
Her tears glitter gold. They are holy tears, mourning each child of God killed at the hands of their siblings, praying desperately for a ceasefire, hoping against hope for the safe return of all captives, begging for peace. Isaiah says that God will comfort the mourners and bring the peace and healing we so desperately need.
May it be so. Please, God, may it be so.
—Anna Strickland
