Christ of the Dispossessed

 

Joy Banks is a pastor, linocut print artist and art therapist based in Vancouver, Canada. She spent most of her childhood in Hokkaido which deeply influenced her art style. Joy has ministered at a local church that practiced radical hospitality to the homeless, poor and marginalized. During that time she often heard dispossessed people expressing their encounter with Jesus as Noah's ark where they can find protection. Out of all her artwork, Joy personally connects this piece most with people of Fukushima.

When I first looked at the image on the screen by Joy's recommendation, I was moved by what I saw. The power of Christ's open arms embracing powerless, dispossessed people resonated in me. After three flights and trains, and nearly thirty hours of travel, the linocut print made it to Fukushima, where the Jesus of suffering people welcome dispossessed returnees in this remote town, less than 10 miles south of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. 

I came to Fukushima for the first time since the Pandemic, after my last visit here in March 2019. During my last visit, I did my little part to rebuild this house that was to become the first local church near the crippled nuclear power plant. Rev. Sumiyoshi obeyed the call from Jesus to follow him to the nuclear power plant soon after the disaster. And the result of his obedience is this church today 11 years later. 

Futaba Hope Church offers hope to the dispossessed by the love of Jesus with his wide-open arms. 

Midori, Shihoko and I came to attend the dedication service tomorrow and we were overjoyed by the beauty and warmth of the completed renovation project of the church. Rev. Sumiyoshi and his wife were overjoyed by the gift of artwork, alongside their new colleagues from Korea who now live in the church and minister in the neighbourhood.

Artworks: Christ of the Dispossessed (left) and Rising Son (right) by Joy Banks