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Jan 19, 2018

Jesus: God Among Us

A New Book by Writer and Artist Roger Hutchison 

NEW YORK: January 17, 2018 – Jesus: God Among Us, Roger Hutchison’s newest book, invites readers to join him on a personal and hope-filled journey; a journey in search of the sometimes pivotal, often ordinary, moments where one might glimpse Jesus’ face or experience his presence firsthand.

Built around a painting celebrating Jesus as an infant, child, and adult, Hutchison highlights sixteen points from Jesus’ life, through image and scripture, followed by the retelling of the Gospel in familiar terms, offering both “Then” and a “Now” reflections on Jesus’ encounters with others. These reflections offer readers a glimpse of Jesus both in his own time and in our time.  Questions offered at the end of each chapter invite readers to reflect on where Jesus might be found in their daily encounters.

The painting central to Jesus: God Among Us came to Hutchison in a dream. He recalls seeing a totem pole representing the life of Jesus – from infant born in a manger to the crucified Christ with arms stretched wide – and knew he needed to paint a picture of it. The resulting painting illustrates the full life of Christ. Beginning at the bottom with the infant child in the manger, the eye is drawn upward to the boy Jesus, the adult Jesus, and Jesus on the cross. 

Hutchison believes the inspiration for this dream may be Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s “This is the Jesus Movement” video with its reference to the query, “why don’t you paint us a picture.”

“Roger Hutchison’s book, Jesus: God Among Us, offers all who would be part of the movement Jesus inaugurated—as well as any who are simply curious and want to know more about who this Jesus is—a wonderful glimpse into the Gospels,” writes Michael Curry, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. “Hutchison takes a moving piece of personal artwork and breaks it down into pieces to serve as the lenses through which to view various biblical stories of Jesus. But he doesn’t stop there, as we also find reflections both inspiring and challenging to our own world and our own situations.”

Curry invites people who want to know Jesus better, who want to follow the way of Jesus more closely in their own life, and who want to give their life more fully to the way, the cause, the Jesus Movement in our world today to consider Jesus: God Among Us. Curry writes, “Roger Hutchison’s new book (a worthy successor to his earlier work, Under the Fig Tree: Poems and Images for Lent) is well worth reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting.” 

Roger Hutchison is Director of Christian Formation and Parish Life at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. He is an artist/writer whose first book, The Painting Table: A Journal of Loss and Joy, has been used by schools, churches, and community groups across the United States. Hutchison's third book, My Favorite Color is Blue. Sometimes., released in 2017 guides readers through different emotions and reactions related to grieving, including hope. His artwork has been exhibited throughout the world, and he regularly offers workshops nationally for children, youth, and adults on expressing their thoughts and relationship with God through painting with their hands. Roger lives in Sugar Land, Texas, with wife Kristin, and daughter Riley.

Jesus: God Among Us

ISBN-13 9781640650015

List price $19.95

Hardcover, 7” x 9”

104 pages