More painting on the walls. It’s basically a colourful olive tree and a big ol’ dove – not the official title but yeah….
Stream-of-conscious thoughts behind this painting: burning bush / consuming fire / olive tree / tree of Life / wheat / chaff / noah’s dove / holy spirit / holy rest / shabbat shalom / peace
Yahweh (God) can be a consuming or devouring fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3; Hebrews 12:29) that separates the wheat from the chaff (examples: Luke 3, Psalm 83, Jeremiah 23); a burning tree or bush that isn’t consumed while on fire, ready to deliver His people (Exodus 3).
God is also a God of peace. Olive trees are connected to peace: peace after a storm, peace amongst nations, between God and the earth, between God and humanity. Olive trees produce olives which produce the oil representative of God’s Spirit in scripture.
And Trees are a big theme throughout the collection of books called the Bible – Hebrew scripture and the New Testament writings. The Tree of Life in the Garden; strength, steadfastness; and representative of people.
All these ideas are mixed up in this tree image. The dove in the corner was a bit of an afterthought, but it’s appropriate to the peace/calm element of the painting.
