Posts by Peter Campbell

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Great Banquet The café church service, on Sundays in St George’s Tron, always gives a great opportunity for community building. In the city centre, since the congregation all come from different places, it’s an important time to be dedicated for people to get to know one another. Lifelong friendships are made……

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Kingdom of Heaven Since the Wild Olive Tree Cafe opened in 2015, Gabrielle has been our chief cook. Knowing how important her baking has been to the life of the cafe in the church, it is very pleasing to read Jesus’ parables in Luke chapter 13, where the Kingdom of God…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Do Not Worry? It can be easy for phrases in the Bible to become so familiar that they almost lose their meaning. When Jesus tells us “do not worry” and asks us to be like the flowers of the fields and the birds of the air, the words can glide past us…

Painting Luke’s Gospel A knock at the door “Lord, teach us to pray…” Many people know the Lord’s Prayer off by heart. Most people wouldn’t remember what comes directly after it in Luke chapter 11. Jesus expands on how the disciples should pray with this odd parable, with someone being persistent to the point of…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Mary and Martha Bex and Sarah are sisters who both work in the Wild Olive Tree Café. It was easy for them to enter the spirit of the family dynamic of Mary and Martha, during the photo-shoot for the painting. Although he is not included explicitly in the story, Mary and Martha’s…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Feeding the five thousand Since 1826, Glasgow City Mission have been showing Christian care to vulnerable adults and children by fighting against poverty and disadvantage in Glasgow. At their evening drop-in, they serve a two-course meal to up to 100 men and women affected by homelessness each weeknight. The drop-in is often…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Hem of His Garment This painting recreates the moment when a woman, desperate for healing physically and socially, seizes the moment at hand and reaches out to Jesus. Iain chose to paint this woman, not just meekly touching, but hanging on to Jesus. The models for this painting all work in…

Painting Luke’s Gospel The Widow’s Son This was the very first image of the series that Iain painted.  The obvious image to portray from this scene would be a dramatic picture of Jesus raising this man from the dead, but in our culture, particularly in a city centre context, death is usually hidden in hospital.…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Blessed are the poor Casper is an artist who busks outside the church. Working with acrylic on canvas, he sells his paintings, trying to raise enough money for somewhere to sleep each night. Sometimes he is successful, sometimes he is not. Repeatedly, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks about the rich…

Painting Luke’s Gospel Waiting for Healing Paula has been a regular at St George’s Tron, Church of Scotland, for quite some time. For all while, she and Iain talked about her sitting for a portrait. One day, she came in with a really bad black eye. She suggested that Iain could paint her like this,…