Episode 18: Preaching Jesus

I felt enthralled and overwhelmed by the sculpture of Mary holding Jesus (pictured above) when I stepped into the foyer at Belle Meade United Methodist Church to film this week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor.

And the name of the sculptor grabbed my attention immediately. Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, is among my favorite poets. Yet it turns out the poet and sculptor are not the same person, but cousins, sometimes mistaken for one another.

It took some investigation to sort out the story of two Kahlil Gibrans. The sculptor of this Piata (Mary and Jesus), born in 1922, was the namesake of his elder poet-artist cousin, author of The Prophet. The younger Gibran even wrote a biography about the literary genius of the elder poet. The sculptor often rendered artistic creations from found materials that he shaped into new works of art.

Preaching Jesus can be like this. Lots of investigation and sorting out identities. Working with found materials and fashioning new works of art. #3MMM