This is a painting that my brother in law, Michael Lynn Adams, recently completed titled, "Bread and Wine". He dedicated is to Robin and me. What an honor that is, to have something so beautiful and lovingly created dedicated to us. Michael is married to Robin's sister, Penny Yost Adams who is also an artist who works mostly in the digital arts field right now. What an amazingly talented couple. I think Michael looks like a movie star, but maybe that's just because he lives in Southern California and has a full head of hair!
What's really exciting about the painting is that we are going to bring it home! Sometime this summer it will be on display at Wednesday Wines. In June Robin and I are recreating our honeymoon trip and heading down the Oregon coast to California. They'll be a few changes in the trip now, 30 years after the original. Number one, we'll stay in hotels instead of a tent! Number two, visits to a number of wineries will be included.
I love the painting that Michael has made for us. I love the aesthetics of it and the theology of it. Bread and wine are central symbols of faith for me. Every Sunday when we worship we gather around the table and share a meal of bread and wine. They are the basic necessities of life, and signs of God's great blessing to us. Those blessings are especially evident to those of us who live in Oregon. They are all around us in creation--in the green forests, in the mountains and the ocean, and in the amazing wines that are grown and produced right in our backyard.
This afternoon I'm teaching a School of Wednesday Wines class at Hillside Retirement Community. I set up the gig as a co-owner of the wine shop, but didn't identify myself as a pastor. A friend was checking on the arrangements for me and the activities directed said to him, "You know it funny, there's also a pastor in town with that same name." You can't blame people for automatically assuming that a pastor could NOT be part owner of a wine shop. It's not natural, it's weird, and it's one of the reasons Michael did this painting with us in mind.
You can watch a video of the actual steps Michael took to create the painting . It's starts with a simple pencil sketch and then shows all of the layers and textures of paint that get added to that original idea. Check it out at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Lynn-Adams/48040909921