Epilogue what?

EN80 Heart Spill

EN80heartspill750

The recent Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill is reportedly the worst eco-disaster in US history. The powerful image of this stuff leaking endlessly into an unsuspecting environment is disturbing to say the least. This is the kind of image that Jesus evokes in Matthew 15 when he talks about the natural condition of the human heart. Though wonderfully made in God's image, we are also capable - and regularly achieve - the most polluting of choices.

And by this, I am not necessarily talking about being some kind of Hitler figure. We often recognise that we let ourselves down in ways that seem surprising. When a person looks honestly at their life they often see that life took some darker turns because of deep-rooted selfishness that they were often powerless to prevent.

The Bible is wonderfully clear on the solution to this issue - there is a theme that develops throughout the Old Testament timeline of people being made 'new' in some special way. This culminates in Jesus Christ, who make the explicit promise to not only 'top kill' the rusty pipe of sin, but also replace the flow with something altogether different - something linked to source and giver of life: God Himself.

EN78 Relative Height

EN78relativeheight750

Deuteronomy 33v27: The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. (HT: JT)

Once again a parent-inspired cartoon.

EN77 Worldly/Heavenly Wisdom

EN77worldlyheavenly750previ

Wisdom can take different forms depending on whether it has it's sights set on this world or the next.

Here is the text for the epilogue.

A Shepherd's Blood Type

EN76shepherdhands-blood750

I changed my mind on submitting this for this months' EN. Partly I was really pushed for time and I did most of it in the dark with absurbly minimal amounts of sleep, and partly I did it because I really like this style of work and want to continue pushing it in future work if at all possible.

Anyways - this is a meditation on how I want my hands to be like His hands.

Happy New Year: The Jesus Comic!

What a fab way to start the new year. After two years of work, this was released onto the iPhone/iTouch app store:

sortedadvertWEB


Some blurb from a recent e-newsletter:

Jason Ramasami is an RE teacher who wants to make the Bible memorable and accessible to students who may have little or no interest in following the Christian faith. Two years ago he embarked on the ambitious project of creating a wordless comic of the main events of Jesus' life for visual learners.

Somewhere along the line the project developed further into an iPhone/iPod Touch app that was approved in December for worldwide distribution.

The Jesus Comic (which is easily searchable in iTunes) is a 150 page comic that moves through 12 chapters and is intended as a discussion kick-starter - not a replacement for the Bible. So far feedback has been very positive -

"This comic is really inspiring; the first genuinely fresh retelling of the good news about Jesus that I have seen in ages. It manages to be faithful to the original text, yet visually creative at the same time. Required viewing!"

"It provoked discussion with my wife, our son and daughter. They spotted some stuff that I didn't and I spotted some that they didn't. This was fun!”

The accompanying website gives some further guidance on interpreting the bigger Bible narrative, but the main idea isn't to be a digital tract but an intriguing and fresh way of reflecting on the life of Jesus.

Jason is asking people to have a look and to recommend/rate it if they enjoy what they experience.

More info website:
http://www.thejesuscomic.com

App store link for the full version:
http://www.iTunes.com/apps/jesuscomic

App store link for the free sampler version:
http://www.iTunes.com/apps/jesuscomicnativity

Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Jesus-Comic/222779070030?ref=nf

Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/theJesusComic

EN75 The Son has Risen: let nightmares cease!

EN75nightmareSonRisenWEB750

Based heavily on some recent personal experiences, I have been reflecting on how a parent might bring comfort to a child who is having nightmares. From this I began to move further outwards and think what basis is there for any of us being comforted in the face of the ultimate nightmare of mortality and suffering.

The Big Day: Revelation the 19th

kevkath750

My friends Kev and Kath are getting married in about three weeks. It is a massive chapter change for them and wonderfully they have included us in the celebrations. After stumbling upon a new personal style of adorning text, Kath asked me to do some more and this was the result.

It is an extended meditation on the Christian worldview narrative - from the Creation, to the Fall, to Jesus' Cross-work and finally the consummation.

whenbigday

rev19th

May God richly bless this couple as they step out in awe of the truly BIG day. All the rest will fall into place.

EN71 Light Pollution

EN71lightpollution
zoominclick

The background to this idea was something Peter Woodcock said during the Contagious 09 conference. I was standing with him and Jon Drane on a field looking at stars and he made a comment about the link between suburban light pollution and our inability to comprehend the glory of the vastness of space.

You can take this cartoon in a number of ways but my personal intention was to say that everyday life has immediate distractions that appear to be good while keeping us from comprehending the big thing of Jesus stepping into history and redeeming our broken dark planet.

The Rope of Hope

Fantastic!

I have been asked to revisit a few older EpilogueTV cartoons and reformat them for Sorted magazine. I took one of my first ever pieces (found originally here) and redrew it, making a few changes to the text, composition and pacing. The newer version is much much better and hopefully reflects some personal improvements over the five years I have been pushing these little babies out.

sortedsep09hopeintheropeWEB

Thanks Steve Legg!

Satisfaction and True Peace

Two illustrations to come out of a message preached by Andy Hickford earlier today on Psalm 27.

satisfactionWEB
truepeaceWEB

Psalm 131v2

ps131v2WEB

Hidden Treasure: Matthew 13v44

mt13-treasureWEB


Please contact me if you want to use it and/or if you find it helpful. For fiona.

Psalm 1

psalm1WEB
The Psalm 1 text can be found here.

The Laws of Nature

lawsbroken

Faith requiring action

bungie