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Schedule

Art Show Opening & Book Signing

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 5:30 – 7 p.m.

Memorial Drive UMC, 12955 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77079

Art Show Opening & Book Signing

Sunday, March 3, 5:30 – 7 p.m.

St. Paul’s UMC, 5501 Main St, Houston, TX 77004

Sample Prayer

“To the God of the In-Between” by Rev. R. DeAndre Johnson

Lord, I’m grateful for how you so lovingly and graciously

   preside over all my beginnings and endings,

      assuring and reassuring me time and time again

   that you hold both firmly in your hands.

But I’m wondering still about the in-between —

   the place where I seem to dwell more often than not,

      too far from the start to remember your promises,

      too far from the end to envision your glory.

In the uncertainty of this in-betweenness

   I am bankrupted by a vacancy of purpose

      and sabotaged by the intrusion of fear.

So, I need you to be God

   of not just of my beginning and end

      but of my in-between,

and tell me again the stories of cloud and pillar,

   of manna and water,

   of ravens and angels,

   of rod and staff

      and goodness and mercy —

till I can see my in-between not as purposeless penalty

   but as intentional preparation for newness.

In the name of the One who said “Remember the long way…”

Amen

About the Author

1. DeAndre Johnson is an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church who has served churches in Louisiana and Texas and is currently an associate pastor at Memorial Drive UMC in Houston. He is a graduate of Centenary College of Louisiana and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. DeAndre is passionate about the work of reconciliation as the fundamental calling of every Christian and the most faithful witness of the church.

About the Artist

Ibraim Nascimento is an Afro-Brazilian visual artist who studied fine arts at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Ibraim’s artwork is rich with soul, culture, and tradition. With an embodied approach to his work, each brush stroke shares a piece of his journey from his upbringing in Bahia to his migration to the United States. www.ibraimnascimento.com