Under the
Fig Tree
Visual Prayers and Poems for Lent
ROGER HUTCHISON
Under the
Fig Tree
Visual Prayers and Poems for Lent
ROGER HUTCHISON
Text and art copyright © 2015 by Roger Hutchison
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from
the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division
of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.
www.churchpublishing.org
Cover design by Laurie Klein Westhafer
Typeset by Jennifer Kopec, 2 Pug Design
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-3207-6 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-3208-3 (ebook)
Printed in the United States of America
For Kristin
My wife, friend, and
companion on the journey
Contents
Acknowledgments...........................................................ix
Foreword by Fleming Rutledge.....................................xi
Introduction...................................................................xiii
Under the Fig Tree............................................................ 1
About the Paintings and Reflections............................97
vii
Acknowledgments
Fleming Rutledge
My teacher, guide, and friend
Thank you for your encouragement, enthusiasm, and support for this book.
Thank you for the gift of the foreword.
I still have to pinch myself every time I see your name on the cover.
Sharon Ely Pearson
You inspire and teach me.
You met me at The Painting Table and encouraged me to tell the story.
You invited me to bring paints and healing into places that were crying out.
Thank you, once again, for being my editor.
Thank you, always, for being my friend.
The congregation of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral,
Columbia, South Carolina
I met you in person on March 9, 1998.
I thank God for the opportunity to have been a part of your family for 6,307 days.
I’ll hold you in my heart forever.
The congregation of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church,
Houston, Texas
Thank you for welcoming the Hutchisons with open hearts and outstretched arms.
We are excited about this new chapter in our lives!
ix
Foreword
t is a special pleasure to write this foreword to Roger Hutchison’s
newest book, Under the Fig Tree. To speak personally for a moment,
I confess that I have always had trouble with Lenten disciplines and
programs of Scripture reading; it was therefore a happy surprise, a few
months ago, to glimpse some of Roger’s preliminary drawings and texts.
This, I thought, is a biblical journey that I would be glad to take. What
you are holding in your hands may look like a children’s book, but it has
an adult sensibility behind it and asks something of its reader. In this
new work, Roger has moved beyond the categories that have previously
defined him, producing a volume which invites attention far beyond its
deceptively modest appearance.
Anyone who has watched Roger work with children has been struck
by his almost magical ability to hold their attention and encourage their
participation. He won the lasting affection and gratitude of hundreds of
little people and their parents at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia,
South Carolina, during his remarkable tenure there as Canon for Chil-
dren’s and Family Ministries from 1998 to 2015. Many of those children
will remember him all their lives.
When I saw Roger’s first book, The Painting Table, I was captivated
by the richness of color, form, and imagination that characterizes his art
and his shaping of it into a narrative. There is a wide-ranging fecundity
underlying these images and their context.