We, The Chapel Creatives, are pleased to open an offering to the Lord— expanded and accessible spaces for the worship arts—a visual arts gallery and a virtual stage for singer songwriters. We hope these new spaces will inspire more authentic worship and creative energy for the glory of Christ. Our prayer for the future is that art will be displayed in calendared shows and concerts sometimes highlighting the vision of artists in and around our faith community, sometimes complementing a sermon series and sometimes focusing on a challenge or blessing in our current experiences. We’ll be learning along the way and welcome feedback. If you’d like to learn more about why we were inspired to start this project, click here.

May the creative God we serve lead us in our arts as worship and our worship as an art.

“70 Year Anniversary of

walking by faith at the

Virginia Beach

Community Chapel”

The Chapel Creatives are excited to present this show accenting the theme of faith. It was Abraham who set the pace by exercising faith when he followed Jehovah’s call. The paintings on display highlight events in his life of faith. Many thanks to our artists— Mary Gregory, Susan Hall, Claudia Finn, Lupe Santoyo, and Mandy Poe!

Abraham’s dependence on Jehovah was indeed special but even more unique was God’s promise to spread his faith to al the peoples around the world!

“… in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:3”

The world is on God’s heart and it his plan to bring blessing to those who have put their faith in Him. This same faith, the faith of Abraham, continues in many lives touched through the 70 years of ministry at the Virginia Beach Community Chapel. We share in the faith of Abraham and in the grace-filled redemptive plan and purposes of our faithful God. The thrill of sharing faith in Jesus with our friends in Hampton Roads and the joy of sending missionaries around the world with the Gospel has been our privilege and joy! This is the focus of our worship and thanksgiving this Fall. He is worthy of our praise—what a plan!

The introductory painting following was created by the Esperat and Southerland as a celebration of the faith of Abraham that is going into the whole world with the wonderful news of Gospel. It displays the connection between one man’s faith, our Father Abraham, and the unfolding and extension of God’s plan to bring renewal and hope to the world through the faith in Jesus Christ.

"Genesis 12 - God Appears to Abram at the Great Tree of Moreh”

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaries were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offering I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 1:1-4, 6-7

As I read Genesis 12, I expected to focus my process on Abram’s obedience; however, as I read the passage and prayed, I was increasingly moved by God’s incredible faithfulness, by the extravagance of the good promises he made to Abram, and by the absolute certainty he spoke with as if there was no way they wouldn’t all come to pass. It was beautiful to gaze upon and to reflect on the kind of joy and security being cared for by that powerful, faithful, and generous God brings!

What other response is there but worship? That’s what my painting seeks to convey — Abram’s response to His faithful, powerful God at the great tree of Moreh. May our hearts find rest in the purity of His promises!

"Wanderer”

Keith McCune

Teach me about rest,

Teach me about pain—

To wander like Abraham,

Not like Cain

"Abraham and Lot: Genesis 13”

Claudia Finn

My subject is from the passage about Abraham’s generosity to Lot.

So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all the the had, and Lot with him, into the Negev. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negem as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; of their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling int he land. Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the Land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD. The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look down from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of MAmre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.
Genesis 13:1-18

I wanted to convey the contrast in attitudes between the hands of Abraham and Lot

"Genesis 15:5”

Lupe Santoyo

Genesis 15:5 says, “Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have’”.

Praise God for His faithfulness as we are descendants and among the Nations promised to Abraham.

We are told in Philippians 2: 14 &15,

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”" Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.

We have the hope & faithfulness of God that “Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith” Hebrews 12:2

"All I’ve Ever Wanted: Genesis 17”

Susan Hall

“God had promised that Abraham would have a son. But as the years turned into decades, the divine promise became more and more difficult to believe. Finally, after Abraham was over a hundred years old and Sarah over the age of ninety (Genesis 17:17, 21:5) she agave birth to a son, Isaac. This was clearly divine intervention, and so Isaac’s name meant ‘laughter’, a reference to both his parents’ joy and to their difficulty in believing that tGod would ever give them what He promised.

The years of agonized waiting and taken their toll, as any couple struggling with infertility can attest. The nearly endless delays refined Abraham’s faith, which was crucially important. However, the years of infertility had also had another effect. No man had ever longed for a son more than Abraham. He had given up everything else to wait for this. When his son came, he felt, then his community would finally see he hadn’t been a fool to give up everything to trust God’s word. Then he would finally have an heir, a son in his own likeness, the thing all Middle Eastern patriarchs wanted. He had waited and sacrificed, and finally his wife had a baby and it was a boy! But the question was — had he been waiting and sacrificing for God, or for the boy? Was God just a means to an end? To whom was Abraham ultimately giving his heart? Did Abraham have the peace, humility, boldness and unmovable poise that come to those who trust in God rather than in circumstances, public opinion, or their own competence? Had he learned to trust God alone, to love God for Himself, not just for what he could get out of God? No, not yet.”

From Counterfeit Gods, by Tim Keller

"Faith Tested: Abraham’s Supreme Climb in Genesis 22”

Mary Gregory

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham.’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. Then God said, ‘your son your only son, Isaac, whose you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about’.” Genesis 22:1-2

Abraham obeyed and left early the next morning. he went through every step believing and trusting in God to the very point of reaching for the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him and stopped him.

“Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld me from your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket saw a ram caught by his horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. So, Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said ‘on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided’.” Genesis 22:12-14

“By faith Abraham when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, Even though God had said to him it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead and figuratively speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” Hebrews 11:17

In the painting, I wanted to picture the ending of what must have been a great ordeal for Abraham to go through.

Reflection

This is the joy of staying true to God like Abraham’s example—no matter what, and finding the beauty in the heart of God towards us to perfect our faith. The picture highlights how the ram is in the place of Isaac and points to the promise of Jesus the savior of the world and author and finisher of our faith. he is the only one, the Good Shepherd, who can keep us and present us blameless before his throne in heaven.