A bird with broken wings

April 2001: I began a series of drawings that marked the first time I had ventured deep into my own soul to express emotions associated with seeing a friend depart for Europe. Not only was she a friend, my wife and I counseled her for six months, as she "rose from the ashes" of a broken life in which she lost everything: a husband who deserted her for another woman, plus all her possessions, and a house by the ocean. She came into our lives as "a bird with broken wings," and she rose again healed, strong in her faith, and determined to get up and start again. I wrote about her experience in a poem. A month later, I felt inspired to express the emotions and thoughts of that poem into a series of drawings. The drawings sold and regrettably, I failed to take photographs for my archives. Yet the healing memories are still vivid over ten years later. It wouldn’t be the first time I experienced the healing blessing of creative expression such as in the similar series titled: “Soulscapes.” Perhaps Sallie McFague’s concept of a “new sensibility” for a contemporary theology could include a creative expression of Paul Jones’ “Theological Worlds,” through art – an art of the spirit that heals.

“Soulscape 1,” by Gerrit Verstraete. 2001. 17 X 25. Silverpoint and graphite on metalpoint ground on dark grey paper (images for “Bird with broken wings,” were not available – “Soulscape 1,” followed the “Bird with broken wings.”)

Lost and found in Cathedral Forest

The drawing is one of many ink drawings I completed in Cathedral Forest, a grove of ancient old-growth trees some dating back 1000 years. It’s located about twenty minutes northwest of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. I go there often, especially during the off-season when the forest is quiet. I have a choice to make. Do I stay in the carefully kept pathways that lead from the parking lot to the most obvious of tall stately trees, or do I follow narrower unmarked trails that lead to some surprisingly sublime places, some as small as a rivulet of water coursing among moss-covered rocks, or the impressive height of a tall Douglas Fir whose wood content is enough to build 2 two-storey houses? It’s not difficult to get lost once you are tempted to follow a trail to its origins deep in the forest. But, a keen sense of direction gets me back to the parking lot. Such is the case of examining the dilemma of humankind and the promise of resolution in context of a complex forest of many trees that represent the divergent worlds of systematic theology. Each author has a unique story to tell about a very personal journey through the worlds of theology and experience, such as Paul Jones in his book, Theological Worlds: Understanding the Alternative Rhythms of Christian Belief. Without question, a stately commentary among the many other trees of conventional and not-so-conventional systematic theologies. But, I am forewarned to keep a keen sense of direction, namely that the entire journey begins at a profound centre. That centre is Jesus Christ.

“Cathedral Forest,” from the series by Gerrit Verstraete. 9 X 12, brown ink on paper.