Posts by Peter Campbell

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Road to Emmaus For the final Gospel of Luke painting, it seemed fitting to use this iconic Glasgow location, with the Finnieston Crane and the Clyde Arc symbolising Glasgow’s roots and how we move forward into the future. It is a fitting symbol for the Emmaus Road story too, knowing Christianity’s…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Crucifixion Because paintings of the crucifixion are so familiar, creating a fresh image is a challenge. The model for the painting looks more like a conventional Jesus figure than all the other images of Jesus in this series of paintings – he is a Middle Eastern man with long hair and…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Arrest The story of Jesus’ arrest is so familiar to churchgoers. We already know that the good-guy has been wronged. However, if we passed by Jesus being arrested on Buchanan Street, what would we think? “Who is this being arrested? He must have done something terrible!” Special thanks to M.L. Stone…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Widow’s Offering The Widow’s Offering is such a well-known story, often used in sermons to describe how we should give all we can with our money, time and talents to church, just as the anonymous widow gave her last few coins. Giving a face to this woman suddenly sparks questions. Was…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Double Portrait When the religious authorities sent spies to trick Jesus into saying something that can get him arrested and executed, Jesus turns this into an opportunity to talk about something more important. Their question is about money, but his reply points to where real value is found in life. Martin, the…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Zacchaeus When there is a big crowd in Glasgow city centre, people don’t climb trees to get a better look at what’s going on… The best vantage point is usually the top of the stairs of the Royal Concert Hall, right at the top of Buchanan Street. Many of the folk who…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Persistent Widow The parable of the persistent widow is a very open story, we know the successful outcome, with the widow overcoming the justice system, but we don’t know the injustice she was fighting. Lizzie is an old friend of church, who has gone through more than her fair share of…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Ten Lepers Every Thursday, in St George’s Tron Church, a group of men meet for Bible study. Each has their own experience of the criminal justice system. They all could tell their own tale of feeling excluded from society, just like the group of lepers in Luke chapter 17. Sandy is…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Rich Man and Lazarus The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus has deep meaning for us at St George’s Tron Church of Scotland. So often, the poorest in society are ignored and invisible, while those of us who live in comfort are given priority. In this painting, our Lazarus takes…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Prodigal Son Bethany Christian Trust and Glasgow City Mission are the two charity partners of The Wild Olive Tree Café. As well as profits going to those organisations, both are very active in the life of the church and café. Staff members from Bethany and the Mission are both involved in…