Old View of the Boat-bridge at Sano in Kōzuke Province, Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1830 This snowscape depicts the “bridge of boats” at Sano, Gunma Prefecture. Noted in the cartouche as an “ancient view,” the pontoon bridge was famous in early poetry but no longer existed by Hokusai’s time. The print features a geometric composition with a bold curve toward the … Read More
Week 6 – Politics & The Nervous System
Speaker Bio: Rev. Jess Shults is a pastor, teacher, and keynote speaker who brings deep pastoral wisdom to conversations about leadership, formation, and life together in divided times. She spent nearly two decades serving a local congregation, where she learned to guide communities through disagreement with patience, clarity, and care. At The Colossian Forum, Jess works closely with partners to … Read More
Week 5 – Presence in Another’s Pain
Pietà by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 1864 The government of Napoleon III kept Carpeaux busy with official projects, involving decorative sculpture and portraiture, but it is clear from the evidence of the private moments that he occasionally seized to sketch sacred subjects, as here, that he would have been one of the most powerful of all religious artists had he been freer … Read More
Week 4 – Presence in our Pain
Broken Vessel, by Sam Gutierrez In this piece, God’s grace (in the form of water) flows down from heaven and fills the individual human heart or entire body – represented by the broken vessel. The image could also be seen communally – the vessel is the church – a community of broken pieces gathered together and held together by God’s … Read More
Week 2 – Presence with Ourselves
Eve by Augustine Rodin, modeled 1881, cast 1890 As an independent sculpture, Eve is a physical manifesto of remorse; her body twisted in suffering, her face imprisoned within a gesture of anguish. The bronze casts of Adam and Eve were commissioned for the Met in 1910 from plaster models in the sculptor’s studio. (The MET, NY)
Week 1 – Presence in a Wandering World
Dr. Jessica Stovall Jessica Stovall serves as Assistant Professor-in-Residence of Counseling at Western Theological Seminary and as a limited licensed counselor at Leadlight Counseling. She earned a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. In her clinical practice, Jessica is honored to counsel individuals, couples, and families experiencing the pain of relational trauma and disconnection. … Read More
You Are Invited
Beginning on June 24 and continuing on Wednesday evenings through August 5, we invite you to join us for this year’s Christ in the City summer series, which we are calling, “Presence in a Wandering World: People, Pain & Politics”. In a world that is ridden with distraction, endless numbing strategies, and profound division, our invitation comes from Allen Levi’s … Read More
Week Six
So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross by himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of … Read More
