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A section of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Chartres, France, contains 30 stained-glass scenes of the infancy of Christ, including this one of the Nativity. The odd-shaped pieces of the scene required the hand of a master to assemble them into something decorous and useful to the worshiper. The Chartres windows were created to teach biblical stories and convey spiritual messages at a time when most parishioners were illiterate. Mary lies on a bed while Joseph, with eyes closed, sits at her feet.

“Most important is to take risks,” says Cody F. Miller in describing his artistic process—“to let go of the familiar and the usual and consent to the new and unknown.” This approach is evident in his series on biblical figures such as Moses and Elijah, who dare to trust God. Using papercuts, paint, texture, and patterns, Miller builds designs that weave portrait and story. In this image of Elijah, we meet the prophet at perhaps his weakest moment, hiding in the Kerith Ravine east of the Jordan River.