“My Own Good Works”

My own good works all came to naught,
No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God's judgment fought,
Dead to all good remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left only death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered.

Copyright © Edward Riojas

Martin Luther continues his dark train of thought in this stanza of “Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” pointing to the Reformer’s state of despair. The book of the same name was produced by Kloria Publishing.

In the illustration for this stanza, Luther walks past a morality play in progress. Such productions were often a strange conglomeration of drama, dark humor, and questionable theology. They typically included unsuspecting actors being swallowed by the ugly maw of hell, as is shown here. The threat of damnation must have been a constant companion for those who depended on their own good works for salvation. In Luther’s case, it was an unbearable weight. To highlight his emotional and spiritual state even more, I’ve included a couple of blissfully-ignorant children, whose relative innocence has not yet been polluted by the teachings of Rome.

Even the invented, misplaced hopes so deftly promoted by Rome did little to ease troubled minds. In a silhouette behind Luther, a banner bearing official Papal seals urges the faithful to buy indulgences.

Luther could not escape these ever-present reminders of his own insufficiency. Thanks be to God, neither could he escape the Hound of Heaven, Who pursued the Reformer with the Light of the Gospel and eventually led him to discover the Grace of a loving Savior.

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Again, I don’t plan to offer giclée prints of this particular image unless someone twists my arm.

“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” (Kloria Publishing) is available through Concordia Publishing House and Amazon.com 

“So Firmly Sin Possessed Me”

Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay;
Death brooded darkly o'er me.
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
But daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.

Copyright © Edward Riojas

Not every waking moment of the Christian’s life is filled with joy and exultation. Sometimes life seems to have little meaning. Oftentimes Satan wheedles his way into the nooks and crannies of our being and threatens to undo us at every turn. Sometimes life just sucks. It is very comforting for us, therefore, that Martin Luther opened up and revealed the less-heroic corners of his mind.

Illustrating this stanza of “Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice” (Kloria Publishing), was a bit of a challenge, and it was also one of the reasons I decided to use a historic approach to the book. Most of us are familiar with the intense doubt, the fear of damnation, and the self-flagellation which consumed the Reformer.

Besides Death visually looming over Luther, there are other clues to his inner turmoil in the illustration. I intentionally included an unlit candle. The man could not yet see the Light of the Word in its fullness. Divine Wisdom was not yet his. Although volumes lay before him, he lived in the dark; he was constrained and tortured; he was “Fast bound in Satan’s chains.”

It is almost as if the viewer of this illustrations WILLS the plagued figure to simply raise his head and see the image of Love and Grace before him; we want him to look to Christ as the all-atoning sacrifice, not only for Luther’s sins, but for the sins of the whole world.

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Thus far I don’t plan to offer giclée prints of this image – that is, unless someone twists my arm.

“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” (Kloria Publishing) is available through Concordia Publishing House and Amazon.com

“With Exultation Springing”

Copyright © Edward Riojas

The cover art for “Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice” (Kloria Publishing), is also the illustration to accompany the first stanza of Martin Luther’s hymn. It is, in a sense, the centerpiece of the book.

Unfortunately for some of us, we must forego what is seen in that illustration. With common sense, Federal limitations and, in some cases, excessive state mandates heaped on for good measure, the gathering of believers has been greatly curtailed. Our only defense is that this has not happened out of neglect. I had no idea that this particular painting would one day create yearning to simply gather in church.

On the other hand, I did intend to play the “yearning card,” albeit with different purpose. When kneeling at the Lord’s Table, I am reminded, through the liturgy, that we are not alone in our praise of the Lord. Together with angels and archangels and all the host of heaven, we adore The Lamb. In the illustration, those sainted members of the family of God hover, as it were, above our heads. We don’t normally see them, but we know they are present. Family members in glory, the glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the young, the old, men, women, members of every nation; they join with us “with exultation springing.” We deeply yearn to one day be reunited with them.

Central to all this is an image of our Savior, Christ Jesus, which leads a procession into the sanctuary of the church. His ransomed children bow in honor as a reminder of His death passes by. And if such an image does not stir our memory, then surely Luther’s words do: “What price our ransom cost Him!”

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Giclée prints of “Dear Christians: Procession,” are available for purchase in two formats. To order or for more information, please e-mail me at edriojasartist@gmail.com. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the current stay-at-home mandate, prints will not be shipped out until the end of April, at the earliest.

Sizes/prices for giclée prints of “Dear Christians: Procession Spread:”
30” x 19” / $140
24” x 15.2” / $110
16” x 10.1” / $75

Sizes/prices for giclée prints of “Dear Christians: Procession Vertical:”
18.8” x 24” / $120
12.5” x 16” / $75


“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” (Kloria Publishing) is available through Concordia Publishing House and Amazon.com

“My Wretched State”

Copyright © Edward Riojas

It is easy, on this Friday we call “Good,” to focus on the pathetic state of Jesus as He poured out His blood on the cross. With unseen sanctuaries draped in black; with our minds dwelling on the Passion of our Lord, we remember the bloody wretch of a God-Man slowly dying on a wooden cross. Christ, however, was not alone in his wretchedness.

In his hymn, “Dear Christians One And All Rejoice,” Martin Luther reminds us of our own condition in the words, “But God had seen my wretched state before the world’s foundation...” WE were wretched.

To illustrate this verse of the hymn, I chose to use a diptych – a double panel. The left panel shows the Fall, with its antidote, the crucifixion of Christ, on the right. Bridging the two panels is a figure of the Satan, who descends the first tree and is impaled by the second, greater tree. This reflects the Proper Preface for Lent, “...that he who by a tree once overcame might likewise by a tree be overcome, through Christ, our Lord...”

The illustration also alludes to the words of 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” and again in verse 45, “Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

The fact that Satan is done in, that his head is crushed, and that his accusing black tongue is silenced by the Word Incarnate is beyond significant. Our nakedness is now covered by Christ’s righteousness which was laid bare, on the cross, for the world to see. This is, indeed, Good.


Giclée prints of “Dear Christians: Salvation,” are available for purchase in two formats. To order or for more information, please e-mail me at edriojasartist@gmail.com. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the current stay-at-home mandate, prints will not be shipped out until the end of April, at the earliest.

Sizes/prices for giclée prints of “Dear Christians: Salvation Spread:”
30” x 19” / $140
24” x 15.2” / $110
16” x 10.1” / $75

Sizes/prices for giclée prints of “Dear Christians: Salvation Vertical:”
18.8” x 24” / $120
12.5” x 16” / $75

The book, “Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” (Kloria Publishing) is available through amazon.com and Concordia Publishing House.

“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice”

Copyright © Edward Riojas

Finally, the book is out. “Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice” (Kloria Publishing), may seem ill-timed in its release but, even after a year and a half in the works, its timing is spot on. If anything, current events have forced us to consider what makes us happy versus what makes us joyful. For Christians, there is a vast difference between the two and hymns, such as the one illustrated in the book, show us why.

In this and upcoming blog posts, I hope to give insight into some artistic decisions that went into the project. I also hope to add a smidgen of insight into Martin Luther’s life as he wrote the hymn.

Those who open the book will immediately be confronted by a conscious decision that was made. The publisher and I discussed the setting of the book, and whether it should be a modern setting or something else. I decided to go with a historical setting that would be close to Luther’s day. There were two reasons for this:

Firstly, modern settings quickly become dated when illustrated. Even the most up-to-date clothing fashions, hairstyles, and the like become embarrassingly-passé within a few years. Books illustrated with that sort of modern appeal soon find themselves collecting dust on a shelf. A historical approach, on the other hand, has a much better chance of standing the test of time, and has a much longer – and useful – shelf life.

Secondly and perhaps more importantly, there are verses within the hymn that seem to have been very personal to Luther. While we can identify with most of his words, phrases such as, “Death brooded darkly over me,” point to specific crossroads in the Reformer’s life. Those sentiments can only be best expressed when using visuals drawn from Martin Luther’s day; when forcing the reader to see things through sixteenth century eyes.

It was a bit unnerving for me in making an attempt to visualize the hymn-writer’s intent, and daunting to supplement such an important example of Lutheran hymnody. I do hope Luther would approve. Some day, I’m sure I will find out.

“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” (Kloria Publishing) is available through amazon.com

The Anchor

Anchor, from an early Christian sarcophagus [Roman].
(Copyright © Edward Riojas)

Copyright © Edward Riojas

I have a feeling the early Church would have viewed our present crisis as a cakewalk. Let’s be honest, few of us have been dragged from our homes and beaten, few of us have been ostracized because of our beliefs, and few of us have been tortured or crucified or worse. And toilet paper wasn’t even a thing.

The wealth of our society and the gross abundance of things has arguably clouded our eyes to the things that matter, and it is difficult for us to see beyond the things that don’t. It seems that only when faced with uncertainty do we look to the cross.

For early Christians, however, the first place they looked for hope was not the cross. The cross still had a great stigma of shame attached to it and, in spite of what many may think, it was not among the earliest Christian symbols.

The anchor preceded the crucifix, in common use, by hundreds of years. The anchor preceded even the [empty] cross by many decades. Seemingly, it takes a storm to appreciate the anchor’s existence.

With many of the apostles connected to fishing, it is no surprise many references to the Church are in nautical terms. The Church itself was commonly called “The Ship.” Parallels to the ark were also used. St. Paul’s experiences led him to refer to some as making a “shipwreck of their faith,” and men’s tongues were likened to the rudder of a ship. Indeed, the place were we sit in church is still called “the nave.”

It was, however, the writer to the Hebrews that firmly set the idea of the anchor in the Christian’s mind:

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20)

This is also where the anchor symbol was tied to the word “Hope.” If one reads carefully, however, that Hope is not some kind of spiritual bootstrap that we pull. Rather, it is the One who enters the Holy Place. I think it no accident that the early Christians identified with the anchor, not only because of this Scriptural reference, but also because an anchor’s structure is nothing if it is not fused with the one thing so dreaded, so shameful, and yet so blessed – the cross.

Gardening During These Days

Detail of the "Te Deum Polyptych" Edward Riojas. (Our Savior Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Copyright © Edward Riojas

One of my favorite images from the “Te Deum Polyptych,” hanging in the sanctuary of Our Savior Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids, Mich., is a small vignette of Christ pruning a cruciform vine. At first blush, it seems a nice picture of Jesus doing a bit of gardening. His grape varieties must be world class. His orchids are probably exquisite, as well. If He is the Good Shepherd and if He is the Great Physician, then certainly He is the quintessential Gardener.

There is, however, a little pile of burning branches. Some have risen their voices in recent days, suggesting that our Lord, through global events, is getting rid of the dead and decaying rot; that He is doling out Divine justice on a whole boatload of national sin. Perhaps. We certainly deserve it, not only nationally, but also individually.

But every gardener worth his salt knows that there is more to pruning. On occasion, it becomes necessary to prune healthy, leafy branches – even fruit-producing branches. This may, during these days, manifest itself in reducing our access to church, in severely limiting availability of the Divine Service, and in eliminating other things that are beneficial to us.

There is no such thing as a spiteful gardener. As with earthly gardeners, our Gardner knows what He is doing. The Lord is taking the brokenness of the world and using it to our advantage. He is doing this out of His great love for us.

Pruning is done to make a plant more robust and more healthy. It must be done periodically to make it grow in strength. Once we, the Church, have been surgically pruned, just see how much more we will thirst for the life-giving waters of our Lord! See how we will raise our heads and strain toward the saving light of the Word! Our Lord knows that we will not survive in the partial shade of ignorance and apathy; He knows we can only thrive in the full brilliance of the Son.

So take heart. The Lord is tending to our needs, He is continuing the Divine work begun when the Seed of Promise was planted in the Garden so very long ago, and it is for our eternal good.