Fellowship of Christians in Portraiture

Dr. Thomas K. Tewell has been, since 1994, the Senior Pastor of New York's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He is a graduate of Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, from which he also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree. He has a Masters of Divinity Degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey. Dr. Tewell has served pastorates in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and New Providence, New Jersey. He left the 5,000-member Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas, to become Senior Pastor at Fifth Avenue.

A Special Message for Portrait Artists

What If Jesus Stepped Out of the Portrait?
by The Reverend Dr. Thomas K. Tewell

The American Society of Portrait Artists presented their 2000 Portrait Arts Festival in New York City June 1-4, 2000. On Sunday, June 4, a special chapel service was presented for the artists attending the Festival, at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The Senior Pastor, The Reverend Dr. Thomas K. Tewell, greeted the artists visiting from 34 states and eight nations, and offered the meditation which follows. In the meditation, Dr. Tewell referred to the Portrait of Christ by artist John Howard Sanden, which has hung on the west wall of the Fifth Avenue Chapel since 1980.

want to begin my message by reading a brief passage from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John. This is a wonderful little vignette into the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ. "Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda, surrounded by five porticos. In these lay many invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time Jesus said to him, 'Do you want to be healed?' The sick man answered, 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the water when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.' Jesus said to the man, 'Rise, take up your pallet and walk.' And at once the man was made well. And he took up his pallet and he walked." Would you pray with me?

Oh, gracious God, it's an early morning and we know people have come from a busy day yesterday and confront a very busy day today. I pray that, no matter how we've come, energized or exhausted, that everyone would be met at their point of need by you, O God, and we pray that this message might really transform our lives. To that end, pour through me the gift of preaching - that in these few brief moments these words might touch and transform us. All this we pray with great anticipation. We pray in the strong name of Jesus, the risen and the reigning Christ. Amen.

The great theologian, William Barclay, says there are two great days in a person's life--the day you are born and the day you discover why. Now I must tell you that on the outside of our church building - on the little signboard just outside the Fifty-fifth Street entrance to the church that all of you came in this morning - there are six words. Those six words literally have helped to transform the lives of countless people in this city. You may not have noticed the six words when you came in this morning, but maybe you'll notice them when you go out. The six words are: "The chapel is open for prayer."

Believe it or not, those words draw all sorts of passers-by who walk down Fifth Avenue or busy Fifty-fifth Street. They come in this chapel looking for a moment of solace, a place of direction, a little wisdom from God. I'm thinking of a young man named Raymond who came in this chapel. I knew Raymond rather well. He sat in this chapel and he prayed. He had in his hand a little box, and in it was a diamond engagement ring. On his way to ask Valerie to be his wife, he stopped in the chapel for prayer. He asked God that she would say "yes" and that God would guide him as he was about to go. As he was leaving the chapel that Saturday afternoon, I was in this church getting ready for a wedding. I saw Raymond slipping out, and I asked him what he was doing. He called me over privately, and he opened the little box, and showed me the beautiful diamond ring. He said, "I'm on my way tonight to have dinner with Valerie and I'm going to ask her to be my wife."

So, I said, "well, gee, Raymond; I'll be praying for you, and I'd love to know how it goes." He replied, "Well, in church tomorrow morning, if she said 'yes,' I'll have thumbs up. If she said 'no,' I won't be in church tomorrow morning." So the next morning, as I stepped into the pulpit, as I was doing the announcements, I looked out and the whole row where Raymond and Valerie were sitting - the whole row - all of them - had their thumbs up!

Portrait of Christ by John Howard Sanden
In the Chapel of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City

But, you know, many things happen in this chapel, and it's not always so joyful. Leon came in this chapel when he was on the verge of bankruptcy, and, to be honest, he didn't know what was ahead for him. To be very honest, Leon was facing one of the most difficult vocational decisions of his life. He didn't know whether to file for bankruptcy or try to see his struggling company through. He had to make a decision, so he came to this chapel. While in here he kept staring at that portrait, the portrait of Christ. The portrait of Jesus wouldn't let him go.

Mary has come into this chapel many times. Mary was married here in this chapel. She was married for less than ten years. Her husband died of a rare form of cancer that infected the lining of his heart. The memorial service for Mary's husband was held here. Mary still comes here. Sometimes she and I meet here to pray. We read all the great passages that talk about eternal life. Sometimes, when Mary is at her lowest ebb, she just comes in quietly and she thinks of the wedding and the memorial service, and her beloved husband who died. She looks up at that portrait. She looks into the face of Jesus, and she tries to get some understanding and some wisdom in her life. Many people come into this chapel and they often say to me, "How do you learn how to pray? How is it that you can pray to God and really get an answer? How does prayer work?"

I have said this three dozen times (if I've said it once) - my recommendation is just talk to the person in the portrait. If you don't know how to pray, just look at the face of Jesus and just talk to Him for I believe that Jesus in that portrait is not just a person out there that John Sanden found on the street and asked to pose for this portrait. That person in that portrait is not a human being only. The person in that portrait is not simply a dim religious figure of history who lived two thousand years ago. I think the miracle is that the person in that portrait is God Almighty. The person in that portrait can come out of the portrait and can really change your life.

I'm thinking of the story of the little boy who was born when his father was away in World War II. The mother and father had conceived. The mother was going to bear a child, but the father was called away to the war and was gone for almost three years. The little boy was born. He'd never seen his daddy physically, so the mom would always hold up a little picture of the dad and show the little boy the daddy's picture. It was on the breakfast table where the mommy and the little boy had breakfast every morning.

Well, by this time the little boy was three years old and the daddy was coming home from war. When the daddy got to the front door in his army uniform, he opened his arms to the little boy - the son he'd never seen - and he said "Daddy's home!" The mommy was so happy. She said to the little boy: "Daddy's home. This is your Daddy." The little boy shook his head. He went into the kitchen table. He picked up the picture there, and he said: "This is my Daddy." It took the little boy some weeks of getting to know this stranger. But one day, when the stranger had won the little boys' heart, and the stranger held the little boy on his lap, the little boy jumped off the daddy's lap, ran in, got the picture, sat back on the daddy's lap, held the daddy and the picture, and said "they're both the same daddy."

See, that's what I'd like you to realize. That the Jesus of history is the Christ of faith. The Jesus in the portrait is not only a picture of someone who lived two thousand years ago that you put on your breakfast table. The person in the portrait can come out of the portrait and change your life. That's what happened to the man that was lying by the pool for thirty-eight years.

Could you imagine being lame, not able to walk, begging for alms, and lying there, having a real pity-party for himself, for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked the man (did you notice), "Do you want to be made well?" The man didn't answer the question. He simply recited this endless litany of all the things that were wrong. "Lord, before I can get down into the water, and the water is troubled…" (The belief at that time was that when water bubbled up, if you got into the water first, as the bubbling started, you would be healed.) But this man said, "Every time the water bubbles up, and I try to get down there, somebody jumps in line ahead of me and they get in first and they're healed. I've been here for thirty-eight years." He recited this endless litany of pity and why all these terrible things had happened to him. In the midst of the pity party, Jesus crashes it and comes right in and looks him in the eye and says, "Do you want to be healed?" The man goes on with his litany. So, Jesus crashes the pity party and says to the man, "Rise, take up your pallet and walk." The man walked - one shaky step in front of the other. The man was able to walk. He was healed!

What if - artists from 34 states and around the world - what if this Jesus, this morning, right here in this chapel, as you're on your way to a day filled with activities and learning, and receptions and meeting artists, and learning and studying, and perfecting your skills -what if this Jesus were to step right out of the portrait and into our heart? What if God were to meet you and me at a place in our life where we're lame, where we need to take a step, but we've never taken that step? Unless I miss my guess, there is someone here in this chapel today for whom Jesus has maybe been a dim religious figure of history, but never really become the Christ of faith. Unless I miss my guess, there's someone who's never put your real weight down on Jesus Christ. Unless I miss my guess, there's someone here struggling with a difficult decision and needing guidance, but not sure how to have the Jesus come out of the portrait and into your heart.

Carol was like that. Carol was facing the worst decision that she had ever had to face. Her father was dying of cancer. Carol loved her dad but Carol had never found a way to talk to her dad about faith. Carol believed in Jesus Christ with all her heart but Carol didn't know how to talk to her dad about faith. Every time she tried, her tongue would get tied or her words would get twisted and she could never find the way to talk to her father and really ask him if he really knew Jesus Christ in a personal way, not just as a dim religious figure. Her father went to church. Carol wondered, "Does my dad really know God?" So one day Carol went to see her pastor. "I just can't talk to my father about faith. Would you go and talk to him?" The pastor said he'd be delighted.

Over the weeks and the months of Carol's father's illness, Carol's pastor visited countless times. The day Carol's father died, Carol made all the funeral arrangements and on her way home she drove by the church. She told her pastor that her father had died and she thanked him for all the many visits he had made. The pastor reached out and took Carol's hand. He said, "You know, you're father was the most interesting person. He had a hard time praying to God. He had a hard time picturing what God was like. So you know what I did? It's interesting. I had a just a little picture of the Richard Hook portrait of what Jesus might have looked like. I brought that to your father whenever I visited him. I would put the little picture in a chair. I would place the little picture right over near the edge of the bed. I would just tell your father to just talk to the Jesus in the chair. Your father was able to begin a prayer life talking to Jesus as if Jesus was right in that chair."

Carol began to cry and she began to sob. The pastor reached over and hugged her for a moment. "Carol, I know it's hard you're father's died." She said, "Oh, yes, it's very hard, but that's not why I'm crying." He said, "Why are you crying?" She said, "Now I understand something that I never knew before." The pastor said, "What do you mean?" She said, "Well, when my father died earlier today, I was not in the room. I had gone out to run a quick errand and when I came back and went in the room, the nurse said she had found that my father had died. But you know, it was the most interesting thing. There was a chair near my father's bed. What I couldn't explain until now, now I know. When my father died, his body was in the bed, but his head and shoulders were not in the bed. His head and shoulders were in the chair next to the bed." Then Carol knew that her dad had put his full weight down on Jesus Christ. Jesus had stepped out of the portrait and into her dad's life.

I have a question for you gifted artists. Looking up at this Portrait of Christ painted by John Sanden, I know that for him Jesus has stepped out of the portrait and into John's life. And for all of us - whatever is our gift - the question of life is, is Jesus merely a dim religious figure of history, or is he the Christ of faith who can step out of the portrait as He did for the lame man, and heal that lame man. As He did for Carol's father. Is He the one on whom we put our weight down?

Unless I miss my guess, there's also someone here today who needs to take a step. Maybe it's in your artistic life. Maybe you've never become fully the artist you could be. Maybe there's a risky step that God wants you to take. Maybe you know you should take it - and you want to take it - but you've never quite been able to take it. Maybe today is your moment.

Maybe God could step - maybe Jesus could step - out of that portrait right into your life and give you courage to take that step that you've never taken. Maybe it's in your marriage, maybe it's with your son or daughter, maybe it's with a parent or sibling. Maybe it's in your life as an artist. Maybe it's in your business. Maybe there's some risky step that God wants you to take. Maybe you know what it is and you've never been able to do it, but maybe today is your moment. There is a story about Leonardo da Vinci that I love. Maybe you know it - it's one of my favorites. Da Vinci - like maybe some of you do with your students - da Vinci would call his students around him as he would paint. As da Vinci was painting a scene, he was describing to his students how he did it and how he matched all the color and the texture. As da Vinci was painting, there came the moment when he was almost finished, and the painting was almost done. He stepped back. His students made room for him, and he stepped way back, and he looked up at that picture. All the students were waiting to see how the final brushstrokes would make the picture complete. Da Vinci took his brush, handed it to a startled student and said "Here, you finish it." Well, the startled student didn't know what to say!

The student said, "Master, with all respect, I couldn't finish your work. You're the great master. How could I finish it?" Da Vinci said, "Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?" And the student finished the picture.

We're on the face of the earth, I believe, to continue the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. I wonder what brushstrokes God wants you to paint today. I wonder, maybe Jesus is handing you the paintbrush and asking you to finish the work he has started.

William Barclay says there are two great days in a person's life - the day you are born and the day you discover why.

You and I are not only on the face of the earth to make great music. We're not only on the face of the earth to paint great portraits. We're on the face of the earth to finish the work of the Master. What if - what if He handed you the paintbrush? What if He stepped right out of the portrait, handed you the paintbrush and said: "Here, you finish it!" I believe He wants to do that today. The question is: "Will you, will I, take the paintbrush and will I paint, will you paint, will we paint to the glory of God?"

The Rev. Dr. Thomas K. Tewell
Senior Pastor, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York