Artstimulant Archive

Events that shape human history are resident as some part of the complex which makes up each person. We whose faith tells us that God is our Maker believe God is shaping the human race to fulfill God's ultimate design for the universe. So, I identify personally with the ancients and hold hope for the eternal becoming of our destiny.

Scripture tells us that in the beginning God spoke and creation was. Since that was written humanity has exalted verbiage to such a height that we picture God talking like us in order to get the universe going.

In the beginning expression was more than words; it was Deed. Early in our history words were honored and writing them was holy. Today they are much cheaper and as abundant as sand; a sort of verbal inflation of astronomical proportions as demonstrated by massive book stores and media broadcasting non-stop. People say or listen to things being said and gain a kind of satisfaction that something has been accomplished. In the scheme of creation a word was meant to be a sort of life form, a capsule of references to real life, a code representing reality. The Bible is a code book representing reality beyond the page or voice preaching it. God's word is deed. Christ is called the Word because he is Life, not only talk.

"What is spoken
Before a breath vibrates a throat,
To be clipped and sorted by tongue, teeth,
Nose and lips formed from dust?
What is said
Before an ear exists to take the waves breaking upon it,
Before the rhythm and silence make a pattern
Organized by cells connected for meaning?
What code of sounds is used
Before creatures relate enough
To agree what calls and responses
Apply about anything?

"Before dust ever gravitated
Into globes where speaking was an act,
Before place ever opened
For pieces to drift,
Idea made physical,
To be known
And, now,
Oh, now,
On the ever moving tip,
To marvel upon these words."

Mark R. Turner
Julian, CA
November 20, 2007
Related scriptures: Genesis 1, John 1

In the middle of my challenges and needs I've been contemplating the appearances of the risen Jesus. Physical conditions change but still they are physical.

In John 21 the disciples, reviewing their options, had to go make a livelihood with the skills they had. They dealt with the nets, boat, knowledge of fish and weather, strength; the time it took to get to the beach, launch out, cast all night; always planning how to get the fish to the market in time to get a good price... And what would they eat until they sold the catch, bought the groceries and cooked?

God did not wait for humanity to take care of their circumstances. Jesus stands on our beach having already cooked our breakfast.

Here is a poetic meditation I have written on John 21.

"Knowing he was there before,
Now unseen, he's left us
Knowing just our work and needs,
We ply our hand for livelihood.
Doing the familiar
Reassures of concrete reality.
It's a kind of faith to carry on.
But casting all night
Reminds how vacant
Is our world.

"And he stands on the beach
Knowing the larger picture,
Gets our attention before we remember,
While he is still unexpected,
Interjects a common suggestion
Made divine guidance,
Mundanity embraced by his will,
Transforming routine
To the glory we had hoped for,
Unites concrete with ineffable,
Recalls our memory of signs we thought
Had been turned to misdirections.

"So stricken in self-concept,
We throw ourselves out swimming to be close,
Leave the concrete and routine,
Wanting him to cling,
To reconcile,
To pick-up where we left off before.

"There we are
Breakfasting in the middle of the world
Where not all is as it was meant to be.
He would not wait until eons of trial and error
Kept trying to catch some universal solution,
But eats and converses,
Watches and works,
Cares and calls
And after breakfast walks
With us on the beach
Clarifying redemption of all
This sand and fish,
Sandals and fire,
Water, body, mind and spirit.

"Then we, like him,
Go stand on beaches,
Unexpectedly call our people,
Unrecognized, transform the common
Until they realize and remember,
Cast themselves swimming
To embrace the breakfast cooking,
Bring their offering where
We reunite the dangling ends
Of our nets."

Mark R. Turner
February 19-21, 2008
Related scriptures: John 21 and 20:9

Creation continues. We are both the medium and the agents of the power working in all the universe cooking, splitting, fusing, shaping, coloring... making life. So much of humanity's building seems futile and contrary to our Maker's design. Still, God chooses to live here in the place God expands to accommodate more and more of us. As we have been formed from the dust and have received the Spirit of the Maker, we do our parts to birth others; to participate in the formation and transformation.

"How You raise the edifice
Turning stones to light
Fitted about that cornerstone
Night builders discarded
For temples made with hands,
Stacked crushing blocks,
Yet tripped over daylight.

"But, unquenched,
You piece together the Day
As, one-by-one, day child
Springs from that corner
Sparking and sizzling
Glints of solar prominences,
Exalted into place
As nova beams
Blind out the night.

"And rises the household,
Blessing and calling
Into the glory dwell,
Fusion transformed;
Rejoicing this
Is the Day."

Mark Robert Turner
Sept. 28, 2007
Julian, California
Related Scriptures: Psalm 118:22-29; I Peter 2:4-10; Hebrews 9:11,24; John 1:4-5; Ephesians 2:19-22

Again we celebrate the ultimate dichotomy: the Infinite indwells the finite, the Almighty assumes the most vulnerable form, the Eternal appears in the temporal, the Spirit enters the physical, the Ineffable becomes the Word... I have put a poem of these things together with music, sound effects and an oil painting. You can watch this film in its entirety (4 minutes, 54 seconds) on-line here. It is free of charge. I hope it will help renew your wonder and hope at the miracle of God coming to be among us.

Following is the text of the film's spoken word:

Angel comforting hovers
Round Mary announcing
Heart’s desires
Ignited in the womb.

Nine months formation:
Dying of doubt,
Weeping of fear,
Scandalous object
Of love bereft
Reaching
As from the tomb.

Taken away,
An arduous stranger
Scrambling with the crowd
For a spot
Away from home.

Frightening pain
Irresistible,
Killing first labor,
Disaster upon her,
Lost, all alone,
‘Til wonder arises
Up from the womb.

Joseph comforting hovers
‘Round mother exhausted;
The Light wrapped up
Fragile,
Unknown,
Eternal.

Mark Robert Turner
Julian, California
June 28-Aug. 28, 2007

Contemplate yourself as the culmination of countless generations linked back into the unknown past. Contemplate this moment as the time to which all time past has been building. Each of us at this moment is the result of a physical family line. We can also acknowledge our spiritual family line, to accept our direct link to the larger reality, to live and move and be the offspring of God.

"Bearing the Family Name,
Present flesh and blood,
Bone of bone past,
Being that One walking
On water, or changing it to wine,
Saying "Hush! Be still!"
And "Come out!"
And "Come forth!"
Breaking bread
'Till all are fed
More than enough.

"There they ate and drank
This One,
Became fruitful
And multiplied
'Till I was born
For water walking, or wine making,
Hushing storms,
Chasing demons,
Calling out dead
Brothers and sisters,
Making insignificant lunches
Feasts for masses,
Radiating from the unstoppable beginning,
Creation glory
Always expanding."

Mark Robert Turner
Julian, California
July 11, 2005
Related Scriptures: John 14; I John 3

The solitary artist. The solitary writer. Even though it is essential for many of us to get alone and create, eventually we have to appear in some form where others receive what we make. But often we meet walls and gate keepers which block the delivery of the treasure we have labored over in private. We know there are people who need and want what has been inspired in us. We can try to "go it alone" seeking ways to reach the people, but I recommend being a member of a community of believers who receive from God beyond themselves; who move together, share vision and facilitate inspiration.

"It's too slow,
Searching for cracks
In walls around people.
I'm too solitary,
No army of crack seekers with me.
But it's not the cracks that are so important.
It's the sunlight in this box I carry.
Someone inside has called for it
And the gates are guarded.
So, I thought to look for cracks.
If I could find just a small place,
Surely the sun would leak through
That one might catch it.
Then, who knows, it could multiply.
Light is like that, spreading.

"I know a group which gave up crack searching,
Walked like a parade of theatrical oddities
Along the endless wall.
Even heartless stones could not put them out of mind.
But it was not just the walking,
Clamoring and spectacle making.
It was being a prism
Angled just right to beam glory
Onto the stones which could stand no longer,
Compelled as they were to bow,
Then fall on their faces.
And only a people wholly given
To such otherly reality
Can know the stepping over
Walls which had been impervious
To crack hunters."

Mark R. Turner
Julian, CA
July, 18 - Oct. 23, '07
Related Scripture: Joshua 6

We work. Passion makes us do as much as we can, even if the passion is to keep from being thrown out of our rental. We work to fulfill obligations so we will be endorsed by others who can advance us in life. Love makes us work. We want our love to be seen and reciprocated. We do all we can to safe guard and enhance the life we are given; to build the place and means to fulfill a purpose that seems to be whispered deep in our souls; to be what we were made to be.

"To the work force
Crowding fields, factories
Cubicles, conference rooms,
Avenues, billboards,
Monitors, keyboards,
Phones, video feeds,
Audio streams,
The Ad joins the buzz
"Come, all who labor
Lugging baggage
Wanting Sabbath."

"Heart desires drive hard,
Or fizzle in the wake
Of the competition;
The great idea
Meant to set the world right,
Now old hat,
Ferments regret
And worries the prospect
Of retirement.

"Ambition driven,
Step away to the Call
For an old hunch
There is peace in a yoke
Of completion,
Bowing beside the elder slave
Who knows the ropes
Pulling the plow.

"This yoke is sanctuary
Ordaining priests
To walk the furrows
Planting, picking,
Feasting, resting
In the labor of love
And partnership,
Filling the voids,
Glad to do forever
Springs of Eden unending."

Mark Robert Turner
Julian, CA
April 26, 2007
Matthew 11:28-12:7

Even as we labor on our masterpieces, we are also works in progress. The artist's work can rise beyond self expression to become a way of making oneself available as the medium for a much greater work. The most wonderful work of art is the one which originates and executes its own art. We discover our Creator by doing what He is doing and as we work our medium God works on us. This "hyper-dialogue" with our creator forms us and in turn is reflected in what we create. We can see signs in our work of the process by which we are being brought out to the fullness of life.

"Sawing us,
Chipping,
Cut away pieces
Fall lost
Ground dust to dust.
Are You powdered
With our crumbled bodies,
Excess curled away,
Discarded on the floor?
Do You see the form deep,
Sleeping to be born
Long way from tender seedling?
The lines that straight
Ran over us
Slowly bend, eroded
To curvaceous rounds
Under Your gouge.
For the driving
Of Your piercing point
Sharp searches to
The Truth
In our fiber
Dead and dry.
Will You pause
And puff Your breath
The clouds of shavings
From our whittled face?
Enjoy Your fingers
Slide around
The swooping spaces
You have smoothed.
Emerge us;
Lift layers from the surface
'Til we can see
Men as trees
Felled at harvest,
Lost from forest,
Transfigured.
Awaken dormant veins,
Reshaped from rooted giants
In the ground
Into Your likeness
Glowing in the gallery,
Blooming of Your workmanship."

Mark Robert Turner
May 18, 1999

Excellence is what we all imagine of ourselves in our finest moments and what we are embarrassed not to truly live up to "on occasion." But excellence must be more than accuracy, skillfulness, or even mastery of our craft. Even when we do our best and deliver the most appropriate expression it will not be enough without spiritual power. This comes from beyond us. It requires us to humble ourselves as vessels to be filled by God; to be faithful to pour, overflowing the cup extended to us and going beyond the thrill of applause for a job well done.

Feet beautiful on mountain mud and rock
Climbing to shout the word,
Carrying the scrawled note
To tribes in shadowed valleys
Tensely searching the ridge
For news of the battle.

Shout forth beyond the breathless messenger.
Peel back the ink and paper so crudely thrown together.
Substance from nothing as in the beginning.
Breathe into the dead as when the armies arose from Ezekiel's plain,
As when the baby gasped his first earth air,
Climbed through the world,
Breathed his last and woke to kiss his people.

Say unto us waiting in dark holds,
"Light break mountain ranges open,
Go in and out to green pasture,
Drink from still waters.
Dwell in me forever."

Mark Robert Turner
Related Scripture: Isaiah 40:9, 52:7; Psalm 23

Artists contend with rejection, being ignored, the arduous search for an audience which will listen, look, stop and consider... You know you have some hold on truth and beauty, but is it enough to express it regardless if anyone receives it?

No matter how many hear or see you, it is often the small and insignificant who rise up in full glory because of what you said or showed. Ultimately, none of us knows how far reaching our expressions are.

He throws the seed all the day,
At night himself casts into sleep
While some among the rocks rise first,
Others show in crowded thorns
Or those picked up and flown away
Become the providence for soils unknown.

Take heart, you sower waking.
The scheme is laid, where seeds are scattered,
Many spent with no return;
There is a ground of being plowed,
Mysterious and true.
A seed of small dimension one might overlook
Will dig and deeply send a root,
Arise and form the blessed fruit
With more than plentiful supply
Than ever seed was lost.

Mark Robert Turner
Related Scripture: Luke 8:4-15