Living Gallery: Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled will be performed in Rodeheaver Auditorium this week from March 28-30, as part of Bob Jones University’s Concert, Opera and Drama Series. Living Gallery is an annual event at Bob Jones University that integrates visual arts, music and drama into a story designed to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to life, with live models recreating famous paintings and sculptures depicting people and events found in the Bible.
The performance will be co-directed by Erin Jones and Donnalynn Hess. Jones is the executive director of BJU’s Museum & Gallery, which owns one of the largest collections of European Old Master paintings in North America. Hess is the museum’s director of education, as well as a professor in the School of Education and Human Services.
Hess, who has directed three Living Galleries, said that one of the biggest challenges of Living Gallery is to merge art, drama and music into a story.
“You don’t want to just walk out and have people think of the drama, or think about this work of art. You want them to walk out and think, ‘The Creator is amazing,’” Hess said. “That is one thing that is wonderful about a program like this, as well as challenging, is that it takes a lot of very wonderful, humbled, gifted people who enjoy using what God created them to do for their message. And so, I just get excited about that.”
Another challenge, Hess said, is communicating to a culture that has an idea of what Christianity is while having no Biblical knowledge. “You’re taking a universal but ancient story—because salvation began at the dawn of time, not at the cross … And you’re trying to get a contemporary culture to realize this is not just relevant, it’s essential for you to know. Your life depends on it.”
According to the M&G’s website, this year’s performance includes reproductions of works like Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret’s The Last Supper, M&G’s Adoration of the Magi by Jan Boeckhorst and a sculpture by Greenville artist Doug Young. There will be new art and music pieces as well, including a song composed by Joan Pinkston.
“Visitors will see and feel a range of emotions. There is beauty. There is rejoicing, but there’s also suffering, injustice, and difficult things,” Jones said in an interview with BJU Today. “By including these elements that every human experiences, it makes it incredibly appealing for viewers.”
One thing that makes this Living Gallery unique from others is its theme. The art, the music and the script tell a unified story of God’s love for humankind—of their rebellion against Him, of Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf and of His offer of salvation to all who repent and trust in Him. The performance will cover the story of the gospel from beginning to end—from Genesis to Revelation, from Moses to the apostle John. But most importantly, the story is meant to encourage Christian believers with the promise that God loves them and has a special purpose for them.
What should visitors take away from this year’s Living Gallery? “That the Word—Christ—became flesh and dwelt among us, and He’s coming back. That’s a wonderful hope, but it’s also a real warning.” Hess said. “There is a beautiful quotation by C.S. Lewis that we use in the program. … ‘We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art, something that He is making, and therefore something with which He won’t be satisfied until it has a certain character.’ I want them to read that quotation, and to understand what it means. And every Christian who is discouraged, who is troubled by what they’re seeing, to be absolutely comforted that God is in complete control. That He has, from the dawn of time, been working towards a goal that He will reach, and we are a part of that.”
Tickets for Living Gallery are available at showpass.com.
