Mardi Gras

Christians are currently in the season of Lent, a period of reflection leading up to Good Friday and Easter. Lent typically involves prayer, repentance, and fasting (or other self-denial). Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday", which fell on February 28 this year, is the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, time for one last big party before the more austere season. A few years ago the Krewe of Brickbaron, a group of LEGO builders, came up with this scene based on the festivities in New Orleans, Mardi Gras Madness.

Dia de Los Muertos

In some Christian traditions, Halloween is simply the opening of a three-day holiday, the Hallowmas. All Hallows' Eve leads to All Hallows', or All Saints' Day. This is a day to remember and celebrate all of those dead who have entered Heaven. At least in the Catholic tradition, the next day, All Souls' Day, is a day to remember and pray for those who died in the faith but have not yet entered Heave (i.e. they are still in Purgatory). In Mexico and some other nations, Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, has become a major holiday. Families will often bring favorite foods or other remembrances to loved ones' graves, or they will build small shrines in their homes. There are ceremonies and prayers in the churches, and there is also a generally festive atmosphere with parades, music, and parties. Seaotter71 built a number of scenes for a stop-motion video of Dia de Los Muertos traditions.

Post Tenebras Lux

Continuing with the theme of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, I've previously noted this depiction of the Diet of Worms, the assembly where Luther defended his views, built by Chris Wunz. I feature it here again because he apparently had a LEGO brick engraved with the slogan Post Tenebras Lux. This Latin phrase, which is translated as Light after Darkness, is roughly drawn from Job 17:12, and was adopted first by Calvin's followers, and later by the early Reformers as a whole. They saw Luther and colleagues' teachings on justification as a new light after (what they saw as) the darkness of the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Reformation Day

Argh, I've been bad about blogging for the last month, and I totally missed posting this. October 31 is, of course, Halloween, which is related to both the Hallowmas in many Christian traditions and the pagan Samhain. Many Protestants, though, recognize this as Reformation Day, the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg (as shown here by Champics16).

Oh Lord, open the King of England's eyes

From Wunztwice:

This year, instead of a Luther build, I decided it might be nice to feature another 'hero of the reformation.' William Tyndale was an English scholar who became a leader in the Protestant Reformation. He dedicated his life to translating the Bible into English from Hebrew and Greek. This was a heretical offence and after many years at his work he was deceived and captured. After over a year and a half of imprisonment he was unwilling to recant. On the morning of October 6th, 1536 he was tied to a stake, strangled, and burned.
His last words were, "Oh Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
Semper Reformanda!

Night falls on Narnia

Lego Builders made this wonderful rendition of Night falls on Narnia, from the end of C.S. Lewis' allegorical take on the book of Revelations, The Last Battle.

Rescue of the Palladium

The Palladium was a wooden image of Pallas created in her memory by her foster-daughter, the goddess Athena. This fell from heaven in answer to a prayer by Illus, the founder of Troy, and became one of that city's greatest treasures. After the destruction of Troy, the Palladium was taken by Aeneas to Italy, and became a treasure of the new city of Rome. Okay, moving from mythic origins to history, the Palladium was seen by the Romans as one of their most sacred relics and a guarantee of the city's protection. It was kept in the Temple of Vesta, and in 241 BC the temple caught fire. The famous general and Pontifex Maximus Lucius Caecilius Metellus did not fear for his own life, but bravely plunged into the flames and came out carrying the precious Palladium, as shown by -lokosuperfluoLEGOman-. Metellus survived, but was blinded, and he was honored by the Roman Senate for his heroism.

Walking on water

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
"Come," he said. (Matthew 14:25-29a, NIV)
Ian Spacek shows us Jesus walking on water.

Samson

Ian Spacek made this great rendition of the last moments of Samson.

David and Goliath

Only a boy named David, only a little sling
Only a boy named David, but he could pray and sing
Only a boy named David, only a rippling brook
Only a boy named David, and five little stones he took.
David and Goliath by Nick V. BTW, that's not Photoshop trickery.

Sacrifice

Matthew Oh built this micro version of Abraham offering a lamb to the Lord.

Cnut the Great

Cnut the Great was king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden around the turn of the millenium (the previous one). There is a famous, though perhaps apocryphal, story that emphasizes his humility. Some of his subjects said he was so great that he could command the tides, so he devised an abject lesson. As Henry of Huntingdon wrote, a century later:

...he ordered a seat to be placed for him on the sea-shore when the tide was coming in; thus seated, he shouted to the flowing sea, "Thou, too, art subject to my command, as the land on which I am seated is mine; and no one has ever resisted my commands with impunity. I command you, then, not to flow over my land, nor presume to wet the feet and the robe of your lord." The tide, however, continuing to rise as usual, dashed over his feet and legs with out respect to his royal person. Then the king leaped backwards, saying: "Let all me know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws." From thenceforth King Canute never wore his crown of gold, but placed it for a lasting memorial on the image of our Lord affixed to a cross, to the honour of God the almighty King; through whose mercy may the soul of Canute, the king, enjoy eternal rest."

From The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon, p199, translated by Thomas Forester, accessed at Openlibrary.org.
Anyway, apocryphal or not, James Pegrum built an amazing LEGO rendition.

The Fig

It's been far too long since I've featured Mezba Mahtab's wonderful site Teaching Kids the Holy Quran. He let me know some time ago that he's working on a display for MuslimFest 2012 in Toronto this September, so keep your eyes open for that, and he also has a new son, so congratulations to him and his wife. His most recent illustrated sura is the fig.

Inferno: Lust

Somehow I never went back to Mihai Marias Mihu's Dante's Inferno project. His second circle is lust.

Birth and death

AlfredD has finally posted the remaining scenes in the series he calls the ten most beautiful stories in the Bible, showing the nativity and the cross. There's also a bonus creation of a giant cross.





So that makes his list:
1. The cross
2. Christ's birth
3. Noah's ark
4. David and Goliath
5. Not sure, but I think the parable of the prodigal son
6. The good Samaritan
7. Joseph in Egypt
8. Queen Esther
9. Creation
10. Jonah and the Whale
I wonder what others would pick as the ten key things to illustrate from the Bible? I think if I were to do a project like this I'd try to tell the story as: creation, the Fall, the giving of the law on Sinai, the promise of a messiah (no idea how I'd illustrate that), Christ's birth, the cross, the empty tomb, and Christ's return in glory. I know, that's eight. Maybe in there I'd include Abraham and Isaac, since that is such a wonderful prefiguring of Christ's substitutionary atonement, and maybe the parting of the Red Sea. How about you? (Of course, I recognize that this is completely a Christian interpretation. A Jewish reader would have a very different list.)

Acts 12:1-11

Cam M. illustrated Acts 12:1-11.

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

St. Stephen

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. - Acts 7:59-60
The stoning of St. Stephen by MCLegoboy

Noah's Ark: The Brick Bible for Kids

I think this actually just came out yesterday. Brendan Powell Smith has released another book entitled Noah's Ark: The Brick Bible for Kids. You can get this on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or a signed copy though Brendan's site. It appears that this is a total rebuild and reshoot of the story as seen on the Brick Testament (which itself was a rebuild of his original version from 2002, so this is his third time at this story). At 32 pages with only a few words per page, this is focused on (from what we can see in the preview images) beautiful photography. This is a children's book and looks very age appropriate.*,**,*** I'm totally going to buy this for my kids.



* For those who may not know Brendan's work (and is there anyone who reads this blog who doesn't?), he will occasionally label his stories with warnings for violence or sexual content, and as I recall, in the original version of his story from 2002, when God looked down on the earth and saw if full of sin, we saw illustration that had some implied sexual goings-on. In this version (you can preview this page on Amazon) you see people fighting, some with weapons implying murder or war, some blood, and someone stealing a purse.
** This, of course, completely glosses over the question over why sexual content is age-inappropriate but violence and murder is age-appropriate. I'll leave that for other parents to debate. We do let our kids see movies with non-graphic violence, and even play with toy squirt guns. I realize that makes me a horrid parent in some people's eyes.
*** And of course, even more blatantly, this glosses over the question of whether the whole story where God decides to wipe out all of humanity aside from eight people is age appropriate in the first place. I'm sure Brendan would be the first to point this out.

Take me to the river, drop me in the water

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” - Mark 1:9-11
Illustrated by Christopher Baldacci

Final Judgement

Lukasz W. made this stunning (and chilling) scene of the last court.