This is a guided tour through music and arts coming from various Christian worship traditions around the world, plus a few other things of related interest such as multicultural musics.
Christ on the Cross depicted as Maori Warrior
John Stuart is a Scottish clergyman who now ministers at a church in Knoxville, Tennessee. He also produces some great art like this one, titled “Kingitanga: Christ on the Cross depicted in a Maori type style.”
‘Kingittanga’ refers to this: “The Māori King Movement or Kīngitanga is a movement that arose among some of the Māori tribes of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarch of the British colonists“
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_King_Movement
Rev. Stuart promotes his “crayon and digital art” as “Stushie Art” and you can find many of his fine pieces at
http://stushieart.com/
Maori art on skin: Kirituhi translates literally to mean—"drawn skin.“ As opposed to Moko which requires a process of consents, genealogy and historical information, Kirituhi is merely a design with a Maori flavour that can be applied anywhere, for any reason and on anyone.
Tā moko is the permanent body and face marking by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Traditionally it is distinct from tattoo and tatau in that the skin was carved by uhi (chisels) rather than punctured. This left the skin with grooves, rather than a smooth surface.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81_moko
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‘My God, My God’ meditation by Frederick Buechner
MY GOD, MY GOD, why hast thou forsaken me?” As Christ speaks those words, he too is in the wilderness. He speaks them when all is lost. He speaks them when there is nothing even he can hear except for the croak of his own voice and when as far as even he can see there is no God to hear him. And in a way his words are a love song, the greatest love song of them all. In a way his words are the words we all of us must speak before we know what it means to love God as we are commanded to love him.
“My God, my God.” Though God is not there for him to see or hear, he calls on him still because he can do no other. Not even the cross, not even death, not even life, can destroy his love for God. Not even God can destroy his love for God because the love he loves God with is God’s love empowering him to love in return with all his heart even when his heart is all but broken.
-Originally published in A Room Called Remember