| Notes: | PLEASE USE THIS BRIEF CREDIT INFORMATION FOR FREE, NON-COMMERCIAL CONGREGATIONAL PRINTING: Cara B. Hochhalter, A Parable - The Mustard Seed. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57507
FOR OTHER USES: Full credit information can be found below in the Copyright Source field.
COMMENTARY BY THE ARTIST:
A Parable - The Mustard Seed
Luke 13:18-19
"The kingdom (or “kin-dom”) of God, the realm of God, God’s vision for justice and peace—is profuse. Jesus surprises his hearers by using a mustard seed as a metaphor. Everyone knew that mustard was invasive and one would never plant it in a garden. Perhaps Jesus is telling them that a tiny packet of God’s yearning for peace has the potential to grow like a tree and even upset an order of oppression! If we nurture its growth, Jesus says that birds from many nations will long to come and build nests in its branches. For something even as small as a seed of love, can have transforming power and create an environment where others long to reside..." The Rev. Cara B. Hochhalter is a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister. She received her Masters of Divinity from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where she studied the intersections of art, theology and justice. She served the Charlemont Federated Church in Massachusetts for ten years and now lives in Hyde Park, New York.
“Over the last thirty years, through my work as a Christian Educator, a seminary student and UCC minister, I have created images that interpret the powerful stories around the life of Jesus. These stories hold universal truths not limited to Christianity but relevant for all our lives and times. I find that art provides a very special means to break into these texts.”
The images in her book, A Challenging Peace in the Life and Stories of Jesus were created through the simple print-making process of carving out a block, applying ink and pulling a print. Cara says, “The interaction of light and dark is important in each image as we cannot have one without the other. The dark defines the light, and vice versa. I find this to be theological as we look to the whole—the light and the dark, the joy and the despair, the peace and the conflict—all under an umbrella of Divine Love that yearns for wholeness.”
Using her book, Cara also offers three online discussion groups: Jesus and Justice, Parables and Peace-making, and The Paradox of Humility in the Stories of Jesus.
To contact Cara B. Hochhalter for information about her art, to purchase signed prints of the images, or her book, A Challenging Peace in the Life and Stories of Jesus, please email: hochhalter.cara@gmail.com |
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