AN ART EXHIBITION which travelled cathedrals and town centre churches for a year ended last month with the donation of the centrepiece painting to the church where Open Table began.

Fine artist and theologian Elizabeth Gray King showed 13 intriguing and affirming canvases, exploring the equality and inclusivity of God’s love, at 11 churches across England and Wales between September 2023 and August 2024.

Elizabeth, also a United Reformed Church minister, donated to the Open Table Network [OTN] 40% of the sales of original artworks and prints which people bought because of this exhibition.

On her website in May 2023, Elizabeth announced her plan to work with OTN throughout 2023 and 2024. She said:

‘We decided to work together because we share a commitment to inclusivity in the name of God... If visitors can literally see people in gatherings with no barriers, it may be possible for them to begin to see that not all Christianity is exclusive to a few, and perhaps start believing the Gospel of wide-ranging love.’

The exhibition, called Open To All, travelled from Newcastle and Sunderland , via Liverpool and Manchester, to Coventry in England, then St Asaph, Cardiff and Newport in Wales, and back to England, in London, Winchester and Chelmsford. The focus of the exhibition was Nativity Tancred [pictured]. It shows the face of Jesus, as the artist explains:

‘that penetrating stare from an intensely alive person on a cross, seeing through all and still deepening friendship with those caught in that sight. We read that his body is the Temple of God, and in this image, people of all hues and types stream, welcome, into that locus of Love.… There are none stuck on the outside in this temple.’

A former member of the congregation at St Bride’s Liverpool, the church which hosts the first Open Table community, saw this painting at St Asaph Cathedral while researching a move to north Wales. He had missed the exhibition in Liverpool soon after his mother’s death, and was not expecting to see it in Wales. He described being ‘absolutely riveted’ by Nativity Tancred:

‘THIS was the Jesus I knew and understood… A Palestinian Jew with the majesty of divinity about him. The artist had somehow managed the trick of him being both challenging but wonderfully welcoming at the same time. People were streaming into his warm, dynamic heart. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.’

He was so deeply moved that he boguth the original painting, and has loaned it indefinitely to the church which has been his spiritual home in Liverpool, and remains the home of Open Table.

When the tour ended last month Elizabeth personally delivered Nativity Tancred to its new home. She wrote on her Facebook page:

‘At the end of the tour with Nativity Tancred as our signature image to illustrate the exhibition's purpose, he has been anonymously purchased and loaned to the church to perpetually reinforce OTN's message. I could not be happier!!’

Thanks to this generous purchase and others during the tour, the artist donated almost £3,000 to OTN before she leaves for Australia this month.

For more information and to buy prints, visit the artist’s website: elizabethgrayking.com.