After completing her undergraduate studies, artist Lauren Wright Pittman worked as an advocate for wetlands in the bayous of South Louisiana. Her website (lewpstudio.com) notes that she created Bayou Baptism for some friends who wanted “a Trinitarian depiction of Jesus’ baptism set in the bayou.” What a remarkable reimagining of the baptism event! In her representation, we enter the scene just after the baptism while Jesus is praying. At that moment, the Holy Spirit descends and the voice is heard from heaven, “You are my beloved Son . . .”

The Christ figure stands waist-deep in the water, smiling from ear to ear as he hears the heavenly voice claiming him as Son. Jesus’ arms are extended, his hands breaking out of the picture’s frame. The artist describes this as a choice intended to invite the “viewer to celebrate their own mysterious and wonderful calling from God as [Jesus] basks in his own.” The Holy Spirit is portrayed here as a pelican, a bird native to the Louisiana bayous, and an enduring symbol of Christ’s sacrifice for the sake of humanity. Even before the time of Christ, it was believed that a pelican would pierce its breast in a time of famine to nourish its young with its own blood. Thus, early Christian artists adopted the pelican to symbolize the Lord giving his life for our salvation.

The sun represents God the Creator, whose voice radiates in waves outward across the sky, through the trees and water of the bayou, into all of creation, proclaiming, “. . . in you I am well pleased.”