Amy Boucher Pye

Tag: Leo Boucher

  • Praying with a Painting: Seeds and the harvest

    A large acrylic painting of a big red combine out in the yellow fields, under a cloudy blue sky.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    It feels fitting to be offering this prayer exercise while sitting outside in the sunshine while upstairs in my study my daughter enjoys an art lesson with my dad via video chat. Feel the sun warm your toes and the breeze gently float around you, and picture yourself somewhere where it’s not too hot and not too cool. Where the clouds pass over the sun, dampening the temperature a bit. Where you hear the cry of the blackbird in the distance.

    Use my dad’s painting of a combine harvesting in late summer as a jumping point for prayer. Follow the Spirit where he leads. You might want to ponder seeds and growth in the kingdom of God from this parable of Jesus:

    26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26–29, NIV).

    Bonus to come—Sharon Garlough Brown leads us in lectio divina on this Scripture passage in a video interview I will post in September!

  • Praying with a Painting – Jesus the Vine


    [Image: By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved. Pen and watercolor with Jesus at the center, surrounded by leaves and vines.]

    Today we move away from Watercolor Wednesday to welcome a new series, Praying with a Painting. I’m still going to be featuring my dad’s wonderful artwork, but want to use it as a jumping point for prayer.

    One form of praying with the help of an image is visio divina, which is Latin for sacred seeing, and many weeks we’ll use this slow, thoughtful form of engaging prayerfully. Other weeks we’ll find different ways to interact with the paintings. I hope that these posts will provide you a mini-retreat during your busy day.

    Today we’re thinking about Jesus the Vine, which is what he calls himself in John 15, in what’s known as the Last Discourse. He and his friends have eaten their last supper together, and as they walk from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane, he shares with them of life in the kingdom. Yes, he’ll be going away, but he will be sending the Advocate, the Spirit to be with them. As part of this discussion he also calls himself the Vine and his friends the branches, and that as they abide in him they will bear fruit.

    Join me in praying with this painting?

    1. Still yourself before God, asking him to surround you with his presence.
    2. You may wish to start with reading John 15:1–17, to have the passage in your mind.
    3. As you look at the painting, notice what strikes you in it. Spend a few moments gazing at that part of the image and welcome God to speak to you. Notice what thoughts appear in your mind – if you find yourself distracted, just note the matter if you need to and then gently return yourself to the task.
    4. Respond to God, offering any praises, questions, intercessions, petitions, statements of thanks. You might want to affirm that Jesus is the Vine and that you are connected to him. That his Spirit flows through you, and that with him you can produce luscious fruit that lasts.
    5. Take a few moments to rest in God’s presence.

  • Praying with a Painting: He washes their feet

    A watercolor of Jesus kneeling down before one of the disciples, washing his feet. The other disciples surround this scene.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

    I so enjoyed working with my dad on our forthcoming art/reflections book, Celebrating Christmas, which will be released this September, that I asked him if he’d consider painting some scenes for Lent. Here’s one that he created for tomorrow, Maundy Thursday, when Jesus takes the role of a servant and washes his friends’ feet.

    A wonderful prayer practice is to study the painting as a prayer, asking God through his Spirit to lead you. Or you could place yourself in the story – what do you see, hear, smell, and experience as Jesus washes the feet? Are you one of the disciples or an onlooker? What do you feel?

    May you know God’s love as we enter into this wonderful, amazing, heartrending story as we approach Easter.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Do not worry

    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    You know the excitement of opening the door to big bunch of gorgeousness in the form of flowers? Yes, it’s better when it’s a surprise and you eagerly search out the card, wondering who sent them. But I’ve managed to be surprised in a minor sort of way when I’ve received the flowers I’ve ordered with some birthday money, for I forget exactly when I have arranged for them to come. That rush of excitement still surprises me.

    I’m enjoying the scent of lilies in my study from my latest delivery,* and today my dad sent across this painting from some flowers my mom got for them. Lovely synergy.

    When I think of lilies in the Bible, I immediately think of Jesus telling his friends not to worry:

    Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

    “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!” (Luke 12:22–28, NIV)

    Don’t worry about your life, Jesus says. If God decorates the grass of the field with these gorgeous and fragrant flowers, how much more does he care for us. That’s a reminder I’ve needed today—even though it took me two lily appearances to realize it!

    How about you? Might you consider taking a moment to read through Jesus’ words and personalize them, as if he was talking to you?

    * I have some half-price codes for Freddie’s Flowers if you are in the UK and are interested. You have to sign up but can cancel at any time.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Spring forth into beauty

    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    Spring is in the air—although here in Britain it’s felt like a Fool’s Spring at times, with cold winds whipping through us while we go out for our daily walk. Yet the flowers are blooming all around, and from my study window I can see a group of daffodils swaying in the breeze. Beauty is there for us to see when we slow down and take it in.

    May you experience beauty today, in whatever form you find it.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Church life

    An ink and wax painting of a many-turreted church.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    Churches are going through a strange and different time during the coronavirus pandemic, aren’t they. Services moved to Zoom, Facebook live, and YouTube during lockdown, and then over the summer we got to meet again in person – spread out, masked, keeping distant. But still meeting together.

    This second lockdown in England has been tough with the church closed. Services can be broadcast from there, but no congregation. Yes, the church is still open in the sense that we’re meeting together virtually. But meeting in-person really is better, isn’t it.

    How has your view of church (or Church) morphed and changed during the pandemic?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Finding Jesus through prayer

    A landscape of a river between an evergreen and a barren tree, with light coming down through the clouds.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    My dad has entitled this painting, “Finding Peace with Jesus through Prayer.” We so often find peace when we’re out in nature, don’t we. There’s something about being able to exhale in God’s creation that helps take us out of ourselves and our concerns as we look up to God and ponder the needs of others.

    We might feel as though we’re in a tough time – the deciduous tree might be in hibernation, as in this picture. But God will meet us through his Son and bring color into our lives. He will spring forth with new life after the time of being fallow.

    Know that God is on your side, whether you’re in a time of celebration and rejoicing or you are slogging ahead, one step after the other. If you can, dedicate some moments to finding Jesus through prayer.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: God with us

    My dad’s been out in his art studio lots these days as he’s creating paintings for our Christmas book (Celebrating Christmas, coming autumn 2021). This is one of his more abstract ones that we’re not including, but I love it all the same. 

    The theme is the Incarnation, God with us, and the mystery of how we receive what’s known as the Real Presence when we receive Holy Communion (or Eucharist). Christ’s body, broken for you; Christ’s blood, shed for you. We receive the gifts of God to be equipped, bolstered, strengthened, and encouraged for our daily lives. 

    What do you see in this painting?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Those were the days…

    Image: a small-town building festooned with an American flag and bunting in front of a backdrop of autumnal trees
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    I’m missing fall in the States this year; the photographs from the upper Midwest in particular are lovely with the bright splodges of red, orange, and yellow. I don’t know that I would have gone back, but knowing that it wasn’t even a possibility makes the longings a bit stronger. 

    I love this cheerful painting of my dad’s. It has a feel of nostalgia, when Main Street was booming and people were civil to each other. I’m saying a prayer that some of that civility could return. 

    How is your autumn going?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Pause and ponder

    The side of a cabin by the lake, with rocks and weeds in front a line of trees.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    Stop and pause for a few moments and let yourself imagine that you’re settled into a cabin (rustic or not – your preference) by a shimmering lake. You can see rocks and the weeds growing by the water with trees blowing in the breeze in the distance. You take a deep breath and release any tension that’s been building in your heart or your body, giving thanks for these moments of peace. Allow yourself to stop and ponder the wonders of creation, its beauty and peace, as you drink deeply of God’s glory.

    Know that you’re loved and cherished as you enjoy the beauty before you.