Glass Art, Jamestown, NC
REDENTO RAFFINATO
There’s a glass studio in Oklahoma that has perfected a process of creating beautiful pieces of fine art glass from a variety of broken colored glass pieces. Ross Alan Hill writes about his experience with his commissioned vase in his book Broken Pieces, Nothing is Wasted. His tall and colorful Redento has enabled him to discuss redemption with countless folks in desperate need of it.
The artisans combined two Italian words to describe their newfound art technique: Redento Raffinato, meaning Redeemed Elegance. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, deliver folks from their brokenness and remold us into a beautiful living vessel that God can use for His glory.
These Redento art pieces reminded me of the conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. I recently stood at Jacob’s Well in Nablus, Israel and drank the pure cool water that still flows at this sacred site. The very fact that the woman was drawing the water necessary for all physical life during the heat of the day when other villagers were not present was a telling sign that she was a broken outcast. Jesus knew that she desperately needed spiritual water for her life and soul. He offered the woman the “Living Water” of God’s Word so that she would never thirst again. Like the Redento glass blowers, this Living Water can gather all the broken pieces of a life and remake it into something that is even more beautiful than the original—redeemed elegance.
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