written by Brian Geishler

There are a lot of “New”s going on around Ballard these days. We’ve got the New Year, the new sermon series, and (drumroll please) a new art show! If you walk around the Ballard lobby, you’ll find close to a dozen paintings by Brittany Sponseller. You’ll notice right away that there’s a common style through every work. Each painting is similar to all the others in its combination of color and words, but upon examination, each is distinct in its message.

This technique highlights the beauty of our God and His Word. Each of Brittany’s paintings highlights something unique about God or man, but when we stand back and look at the paintings together, we see they all fit together as one work pointing to one thing. Scripture is the same way. Every passage of Scripture is God-breathed, revealing something unique about God or man. But when we examine these passages a part of a whole, we see that they revolve around one central theme. What is that theme? If you’ve heard a Mars Hill sermon, you probably know the answer. If you’ve heard two Mars Hill sermons, you probably know we’re gonna keep on saying it. For those of you that don’t know it, fortunately Brittany’s one thing and Scripture’s main theme are one in the same. So, let’s journey through a few of her works to find this out.

If you venture over to the lobby’s southwest corner you’ll find a work named Rags. It uses the colors of filth and blood and quotes Isaiah 64:6 in that our righteousness is like filthy rags. This painting is a stark reminder that when we’re honest and compare ourselves to a holy God, no one is righteous, not even one. Our righteousness is like filthy rags, worthy of disposal. As Brittany mentions in her statement, “If the penalty of sin is death, then death is mine”.

As you ponder your sin, move to the left past the map to the far left painting. There you’ll find red. Blood red. Sin red. The penalty of sin stares you in the face. But as you look at this work named How Vast, you’ll see some remarkable words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. You see here the great mystery of Justice and Mercy colliding as Jesus, God Himself, dies on Cross for your sins while forgiving you until His final breath. When you scan down the painting, you’ll then see the words, “It is finished”. God, in the supreme act of love, bore once and for all the penalty of sin and death on your behalf!

And then, all of the other paintings start to fit into their proper place. You see in the work named Return, a call from God to “Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22). Wander over to get some coffee, and on the way you’ll find a painting called Behold reminding you that if you are in Christ, then you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Go from painting to painting and you will find that they all, in some form or another, point to redemption in Christ. In the different works, you will find realizations that we’re sinners, quotes from Jesus, reminders of salvation, seeing the world through God’s eyes, and other statements, but taken together, all of them exhort us to fall at Jesus’ feet and worship Him. So, next time you step into the Ballard lobby, we hope Brittany’s art reminds you of Christ. We hope you’ll know His grace and the everlasting life found in Him alone.