Under the Fig Tree. Roger Hutchison

Under the Fig Tree

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Under the

Fig Tree

Visual Prayers and Poems for Lent

ROGER HUTCHISON

Under the

Fig Tree

Visual Prayers and Poems for Lent

ROGER HUTCHISON

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the

written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from

of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the

Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34^th Street, New York, NY 10016

Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.

www.churchpublishing.org

Cover design by Laurie Klein Westhafer

Typeset by Jennifer Kopec, 2 Pug Design

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-3207-6 (pbk.)

ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-3208-3 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

For Kristin

My wife, friend, and

companion on the journey

Contents

Acknowledgments...........................................................ix

Foreword by Fleming Rutledge.....................................xi

Introduction...................................................................xiii

Under the Fig Tree............................................................ 1

About the Paintings and Reflections............................97

vii

Acknowledgments

Fleming Rutledge

My teacher, guide, and friend

Thank you for your encouragement, enthusiasm, and support for this book.

Thank you for the gift of the foreword.

I still have to pinch myself every time I see your name on the cover.

Sharon Ely Pearson

You inspire and teach me.

You met me at The Painting Table and encouraged me to tell the story.

You invited me to bring paints and healing into places that were crying out.

Thank you, once again, for being my editor.

Thank you, always, for being my friend.

The congregation of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral,

Columbia, South Carolina

I met you in person on March 9, 1998.

I thank God for the opportunity to have been a part of your family for 6,307 days.

I’ll hold you in my heart forever.

The congregation of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church,

Houston, Texas

Thank you for welcoming the Hutchisons with open hearts and outstretched arms.

We are excited about this new chapter in our lives!

Foreword

t is a special pleasure to write this foreword to Roger Hutchison’s

newest book, Under the Fig Tree. To speak personally for a moment,

I confess that I have always had trouble with Lenten disciplines and

programs of Scripture reading; it was therefore a happy surprise, a few

months ago, to glimpse some of Roger’s preliminary drawings and texts.

This, I thought, is a biblical journey that I would be glad to take. What

you are holding in your hands may look like a children’s book, but it has

an adult sensibility behind it and asks something of its reader. In this

new work, Roger has moved beyond the categories that have previously

defined him, producing a volume which invites attention far beyond its

deceptively modest appearance.

Anyone who has watched Roger work with children has been struck

by his almost magical ability to hold their attention and encourage their

participation. He won the lasting affection and gratitude of hundreds of

little people and their parents at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia,

South Carolina, during his remarkable tenure there as Canon for Chil-

dren’s and Family Ministries from 1998 to 2015. Many of those children

will remember him all their lives.

When I saw Roger’s first book, The Painting Table, I was captivated

by the richness of color, form, and imagination that characterizes his art

and his shaping of it into a narrative. There is a wide-ranging fecundity

underlying these images and their context.

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