Come and See

John 1:46Study and small group

$24.00

The chairs come round on a weeknight, the kettle goes on, and somebody is walking up your path for the first time, certain she will be the one who knows nothing. On the wall the group faces, two figures are on a road, one a step ahead and already turning back. Nothing in it is a test. It holds the door open before anyone has to say a word, and on the nights when you are tired of being the one who hosts, it keeps doing that for you. It is one real piece of art, and it says your faith is something you invite people into.

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170 gsm archival matte paper, ships rolled

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12x16 in / 30x40 cm18x24 in / 45x60 cmMost popular+ $10.0024x32 in / 60x80 cm+ $20.00

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John 1:46

It says come in before anyone has to

Two figures on a road, seen from across the room. One is a step ahead at an open gateway, half turned back, shoulders loose, in no hurry at all. The other is still on the near side of the gap between them. Nothing in the picture decides whether she crosses it.

Hung where the group faces, it has already started the welcoming for you. The room is friendly before you have taken the first coat, and on the weeks when you are running on very little, that matters more than you expect.

People read it differently, and that is half the pleasure of it. One sees a friend bringing another along a road, the way most of these things begin. One sees the person hanging back at the edge of a group and somebody waiting for her without checking the time. One sees the figure at the gateway already turning to meet whoever is coming next. Nobody has to be right, and the answer you give is your own, which is the quiet way a wall tells a guest what sort of house this is.

Two figures on a road at an open gateway, framed on the wall of a study where chairs are pulled round

From the artist

The gap between them is the width of a question

Maren Hale

Arrivals and still places

The light reaches the one further down the road before it reaches the one still standing. That is what I keep returning to. He is already turning, shoulders open, waiting the way you wait for somebody who has not promised they are coming. The other has not decided. There is a gap between them and I like that nothing in the scene closes it.

Past the gateway the road goes pale and does not say where it ends. For whoever lives with this, I hope the room under it becomes a room where being new is allowed, where nobody has to arrive knowing anything, and where the waiting lasts as long as somebody needs it to last.

Framed scripture verses

The one who hosts, and the one who is thanked

Detail of the print, with the figure at the open gateway turning back toward the road

One woman opens her front room on a weeknight. There are never quite enough chairs, so everyone squeezes together and no one complains. She buys this for herself, for the wall by the door, because her home should look like her, and because she wants the room to be kind to a stranger before she has finished putting the kettle on.

The other one is buying for a friend. A term ends, six people want to thank the woman whose house it all happened in, and they sign one card between them. She was dreading that first night back in September, certain she would be the one who knew nothing, and if she is honest they welcomed her with open arms.

It hangs on the wall the chairs are pulled round to face, at 60x80 cm, beside A Great While Before Day.

Choose a size

Scripture wall decor

What turns up at the door

170 gsm matte uncoated paper The print on its own, printed to the edges, no shine under a reading lamp.
Black wood frame, 12 mm wide Flat square profile, 22 mm deep, matte, plexiglass front, no mat, on 170 gsm coated silk paper.
Three sizes 12x16 in / 30x40 cm, 18x24 in / 45x60 cm, 24x32 in / 60x80 cm.
Giclee print Soft edges stay soft, and the pale road past the gateway keeps its light.

Joining a small group

What people ask about this one

1.What did Philip mean when he said come and see?

Philip has just met Jesus and goes straight off to find Nathanael, who answers him with a joke about Nazareth. Philip does not argue the point or win it. He offers an invitation instead: walk over with me and look for yourself. Those few lines in John 1 are why this scene has two figures on a road rather than one figure arriving alone.

2.What does "can there any good thing come out of Nazareth" mean?

Nathanael is being blunt. Nazareth was a small, unremarkable town with nothing in the prophets pointing to it, so his question is the ordinary scepticism of a man who knows the area. What is striking is that nobody scolds him for it. The doubt is met with an invitation, which is the part of the story this piece sits in.

3.What is a good gift for my small group leader?

Something that stays in the room after the term ends tends to land better than a mug or a card on its own. A framed piece for the wall the chairs face works well when the whole group signs one card between them. Most of those cards end up saying the same thing anyway: what her front room meant this year.

4.Which size works on the wall a small group sits around?

On an open wall that a circle of chairs faces, 24x32 in / 60x80 cm is the one that reads clearly from the far seat, and it is the size this piece was hung at beside A Great While Before Day. The 18x24 in / 45x60 cm suits a narrower stretch beside a door or the coat hooks. The smallest, 12x16 in / 30x40 cm, sits quietly above a sideboard or a bookshelf.

Come and see