Look around you.
Near and far
There are objects and music and design and stories and static and moving pictures and portraits
An exponential multitude of evidence of art
Leading us to the hope and love and light of Christmas morning
And the birth and rebirth of another chance to
Hope and love and bring light
Laid before us
Only to receive, retrieve and accept
To heal our hearts and our spirits
And see the glory and beauty thrown into our path.

Your pace slows
or, perhaps, you pause
or you may be brought up short
as you saunter,
stride,
bolt
through your afternoon
your day
your life…
What did you see, hear, explore through the gift of your being?
What, of human creation through the stroke and glide of art,
hitched a ride on hope?
Tell me.
What did you see, hear, explore through the gift of your being?
Do you recall?
I want to know
So I know you.
Where does art carry you toward hope?

And then there’s…
The art of God
How can we miss it?
It’s laid before us
at our feet
above our heads
before our very eyes
our ears
on the tingle on our tongue
or sensations through our fingertips,
even through scent and, sometimes, its wrinkle of distaste.
Creation, over and over again, and its dissolution and evolution,
is offered through the art of God.
I know you know this.

Expectations – joy or dread?
Anticipation – erect or bent?
Where is art’s place to guide us?
Attend to the beauty God places before us?
Attend to memorials created to salve wounds of loss?
What is hope’s place to guide us?
Attend to the glimmering light in the darkness?
Attend to the trust God offers to say that the darkness won’t hurt you?What matters?
To me?
To you?
To our community?
To our society?
Where does the art of God,
of humankind,
touch your hope for now and for then?

From Susan Ceely Philips