Upon learning of Tim Keller’s death, artist Makoto Fujimura recently shared how deeply he had been impacted by the American pastor, both spiritually and artistically.
Fujimura first met Keller in the early 90s, when Redeemer Church had only 200 members. He began attending church meetings and rigorous Monday evening classes. He based his ‘Theology of Making’ partly on conversations with Keller, and his approach to culture called ‘Culture Care’ on his experiences at Redeemer. But while this shaped his practice, when trauma struck it was Keller’s pastoral heart that proved invaluable.
New York’s twin towers collapsed on 9/11, and Fujimura was trapped in a subway. In a recent Facebook post, he shared that ‘it is a miracle I’m still living’ and spoke of the comfort Keller offered:
Unfinished painting
‘Tim encouraged me to read this little known J.R.R. Tolkien story, Leaf, by Niggle, ‘You must read it! It’s about an artist!’ I remember him saying that Tolkien had writer’s block … but after writing this story he was able to finish The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tim told me of this perhaps knowing the trauma that can take away one’s hope to complete a simple painting. I did paint this one work, with feeble strokes of watermarks that painted an invisible tree (see photo). As far as I know, this was a painting that I never really ‘finished’ as I felt I needed to let it go...’
Fujimura was in Shanghai when Keller died. He went to the C3 Museum there and unexpectedly came across this ‘unfinished’ painting he’d made in 2002.
‘Twenty-two years later, I was startled to find that it is complete now, because of the watermarks revealing themselves more and more.’ He said, ‘In the dark days after 9/11, Tim had given me a gift. It was not a sermon or a rational path… it was a pastoral gift to an artist. Thank you, Tim.’
