I mentioned earlier that I was on vacation this past week. Our main purpose was to tour two of the colleges where my son Chris has been accepted. One of these was York College which is not far from Gettysburg, PA. The place where the Civil War battle of Gettysburg was fought, so we went on a little tour.
For me personally the highlight of the tour was the Gettysburg Cyclorama, held at the National Civil War Museum and Visitor Center. It’s an amazing work of art painted by an artist named Paul Philippoteaux in 1893. It’s 42 feet tall and about 385 feet long. It is a work of genius. It’s displayed in the round so the viewer can view it while being surrounded by it. Displayed with a diorama leading up to it, one cannot tell where the diorama ends and the painting begins. It’s spectacular. Presented with a narration and a light show it tells the story and a way words alone could never get done.
Viewing this piece, it was hard to keep myself from this vision I have to use art to tell people about Jesus. In the videos it’s clear that someone did that very thing back in the day, but what about today? How can we use this amazing gift of creativity we have been given to tell HIStory? We may not be able to create a piece of this scale or magnitude, but we have technology for spreading the message and telling the story that Philippoteaux could never have dreamed of. How will you use what you have to tell the story of Jesus and God’s love for us? How can you share the vision the Lord has laid on your heart?
This time I don’t want you to just read this. I want you to pray about it and tell me, tell us. Let’s “spur one another on toward love and good deeds…” (Hebrews 10:24) Let’s use our gifts to make 2012 count for the Kingdom.
The next three videos show more about the Cyclorama if you want a more in depth story.
