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Worship begins at 10:00am on Sunday mornings and usually runs for about 90 minutes. Please join us in the sanctuary at 41 Empire Street in the Germantown section of Quincy, or join our livestream on Facebook.
Learn more about our worship services, beliefs, and practices.
This Sunday at a Glance
Pastor Mat will bring the message.
Kevin Smith will lead the worship music.
About This Artwork
(Click here to see the full image)
“This is an unusual work for Frank Wesley because of its abstract form combined with detailed, realistic human faces and hands. The impact is of greater momentum than that found in many other of his paintings. The movement of the demons out of the two twisted figures swirls through the canvas in almost full circle, gradually becoming the head of a thousand-headed cobra as it spills down the hillside in the bodies of the pigs. Demonic faces of men and animals are picked out indistinctly in red, blue and grey. All seem to rush with violence and speed to the lower left corner where the wild-eyed swineherds are looking over their shoulders as they race from the frightening event. Jesus is holding the twisting, writhing bodies of the two naked men with gentleness, his head bowed over them in concern and caring. He holds the shoulder of one man from underneath to support him while his other hand is grasping the chin of the frothing naked man who is breaking the chains with which he is bound. Earlier these chains were broken in madness; now their destruction signals a return to sanity.
The artist says that Jesus always meets the needs of people where they are and with only what they require and are able to use or accept at that moment. At the lower right of this work, sharp jagged rocks symbolize the harsh place to which the men were exiled – the world where we all live until healed of our madness by God’s love…The bodies of these two who are healed are the same mixture of the ugly and unexpected beauty. The beauty is Jesus’ love exercised so firmly and gently in this terrifying situation…Between their writhing bodies and that of the healer is a space of sky-blue color, indicating the presence of God.”
From Frank Wesley: Exploring Faith with a Brush by Naomi Wray
Attribution
Wesley, Frank, 1923-2002. Healing of the Possessed at Gadarene, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved June 6, 2025]. Original source: Estate of Frank Wesley.
The artist has granted permission for the non-commercial use of this image with attribution. The artist must be contacted for other uses.
