Bible Illustrations

This gallery has been carried over from my Worship aNew website. It seemed a shame to lose such a lovely series of drawings, for I doubt they’re available elsewhere. Like so much creativity by ordinary people (kleine luyden), it tends to get forgotten on shelves or in shoeboxes.

I have no recollection of Jacob Roorda, in spite of attending the same church as he did from 1959 – 1962. It seems even that he and my father shared organist duties for that time. I do know some of his descendants, and from them I acquired these photos of his work.

Jacob Roorda immigrated to Canada, with his wife and nine children, in 1952, and first settled in the Clinton area where they attended Clinton CRC. Jacob was in the painting and decorating business, as was his father. But he was also an organist at the church and was involved in every aspect of church life.

As a young man in the Netherlands, in the 1930’s, Jacob attended Art School and was always sketching in his spare time. He expressed the hope of being an illustrator at one time, but with a large family to support that didn’t happen. His other passion was reading — not novels but serious books, mostly faith based. His gifts were shared within the family, who all benefitted and learned to appreciate both art and music. Some of his children have the same gifts as he did.

These sketches were done on the backs of wallpaper rolls for the Sunday School classes that Jacob taught.