If you ever get to the Hague in the Netherlands, make sure you don’t miss visiting Panorama Mesdag, which is one of my favorite paintings. It gives you a 360 degree vista of the sea, the dunes and the fishing village of Scheveningen as it was in 1881. I can easily spend several hours admiring the vista, discovering all the details, like those of the fishermen and their boats on the beach. In some way, it is almost like being there and it provides a wonderful overview. It is a very comprehensive picture and is similar to Google earth street views from around the world. It uses a technology providing all-around visual vistas, which help us to orient ourselves to a specific place. Even though we cannot enter buildings, talk with people, or feel the sea breeze, it provides clear enough information to help us easily take our first step in a new environment.
In the same way we want to help people engage with God. We want to provide an overview of the Bible that will enable people to engage with a simple ‘vista’ of who God is and His story. It should be enough to get a clear picture with sufficient information that will help people want to take their first step in getting to know God personally.
After this initial panoramic picture, we can keep adding more panoramas within panoramas… panoramas that would be like our entering the houses, talking to the fishermen, and feeling the sea breeze of the painting. In the Bible for example, these panoramas can be dealing with the life of Noah or Daniel, the adventures of Jesus and his disciples. In this way, we can even address specific life issues like marriage. As relevant panoramas are being added it becomes like a woven tapestry, starting to reveal a beautiful design as intended by God, integrately woven together. Every stitch has a purpose, so every detail will be properly revealed. Eventually the tapestry will be complete. At any time, we may think that we know it well, yet when we look at it again, we will find new details that amaze us. The Bible is like the greatest of tapestries, with story panoramas integrately woven together that will amaze us and continue to teach us new things for the rest of our lives. That is why I love panoramas and tapestries.
Why I love panoramas and tapestries
Related articles:
- Effective communication
- 'Entering' stories like children
- Using diverse communication art forms
- Communicating the first piece
- A foundation to selecting an initial story set
- When there are already puzzle pieces in place
- More than one communication art form
A panorama story :
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