Persecution, painted live at the L4 Congress in Seoul, Korea 2024 during a service for Christian Martyrs. 63x80” acrylic on canvas. A collaboration by Bryn Gillette and Alexis Newsom.
Lexi and I had attended a special dinner the night of this service and didn’t think we would have time to paint. Despite having set up and had a painting ready, we arrived late to the session not knowing what to expect, and were instantly swept up in the weight and emotion of the scale of contemporary persecution of Christians as told that night by survivors. We ended up painting the image in little over half an hour, in only crimson “blood” red, allowing the paint to drip “up” from below by flipping the canvas in the beginning. This felt like the blood of the martyrs rising up and calling out “How Long Oh Lord.” We scratch and splattered, rubbed our hands through the bloody mess, and openly cried as we felt the impact of so closely identifying with those killed for the gospel of Jesus. When we’d finished… I sat on the floor and wept, unable to stand up, and welcoming the full emotion of the cost of the lives of my brothers and sisters to see the good news of Jesus Kingdom advance to wash over me. How often do we walk through our day oblivious to the cries of our spiritual siblings who are suffering? It felt good and right to grieve deeply… and out from the bloody mess of this costly sacrifice emerges the victorious and beautiful Bride of Christ; triumphant, beautiful, and washed clean.
