About the Show
What is that force that draws the sapling to become a giant tree? What is it that pulls us like the One unwinding silk thread from a single cocoon into a single silk thread and a priceless garment? This pull of God is both a draw towards Himself and reconciliation with others. Why is it that we are never happy and content in alienation? Why is it that to grow in God we are drawn to love our neighbor? Why does dissatisfaction follow so closely after we gain the things we think we wanted?
Nicholas of Cuza said God is that which we desire in all desire. This tug beneath every desire is telos. This pull of desire is more primal than sin and passions. In fact, the passions are but misdirected desire for God. When I long for comfort in things that do not ultimately comfort me, it is a shadow of the true desire for the comfort of the Comforter.
What if your greatest frustrations and spiritual struggles were but shadows of a deeper longing only to be more fully alive in God and community? And why is it that when three or more are gathered we begin to sense the Divine presence in our midst, the formation of a collective awareness like jazz musicians who act as one, dancers who, while separate people, move as a single organism, a body? How is it that when we are drawn to God we love our neighbor and when we love our neighbor we meet God? And perhaps, how can we pay attention to the tug of the kite string and respond?
About the Artist
Joel Klepac studied fine art painting at Asbury University where he was first inspired by the work of Georges Rouault. Later he worked in Romania for 9 years with children at risk and youth living on the street as well as holding painting exhibits in the local art guild gallery and designing and creating oil paintings for the community center chapel and classrooms. After completing a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling at Asbury Theological Seminary he worked in community mental health and then in a college mental health center until the present.
He also teaches adjunct in the School of Counseling at Asbury Seminary and sings in the choir at St Andrew Antiochian Orthodox church.
Besides being a licensed marriage and family therapist, he was also the art director and contributor to Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, and his latest painting exhibit before “Drawn:Telos and Koinonia” was entitled, “Apparition, Brilliance and Connection” including 9 oil paintings. He has also published “Rouault’s Hope-Giving Images” for In Communion and “Artist in the Rubble” in the CIVA Journal. He presented the paper entitled, “The Healing Poetics of Georges Rouault: Veils of Veronica” at The Theological Vision of Georges Rouault Symposium, soon to now published by InterVarsity Press. Also, he has published his first book, MIserere Mei: A Journey of Self-Discovery through the Art of Georges Rouault.
Pronunciation note: Miserere Mei = “Mee-Zay-Ray-Ray May” | Rouault = “Rew- owe”