Lenten art 2019

We are using resources from A Sanctified Art this year during Lent and Eastertide. The theme is "cultivating and letting go." We opted to split the theme and are using the "letting go" aspect during Lent and will switch to "cultivating" during the great 50 days. Working with our worship committee and our resident artists and crafters, we have devised two unique installations for our two worship spaces (above). Today was a big workday (below) with lots of people involved, plus the thrill of seeing concepts getting fleshed out. Here are some pictures so far. Updates will come when the finished works are installed.

Good Friday Experience 2016, part 3

I'm not sure what kept me from writing this installment for so long, other than a wish to convey how deeply affecting the whole experience was. I believe I have covered the background and development of the undertaking, so here I will lay out the various stations, with photos.

In the narthex folks could pick up a brochure which would guide them through the rest of the experience. They could also attach pieces of tissue paper to a cross-shaped installation on the window which was made from double-sided clear contact paper. From here the sanctuary was available (quiet and dimly lit, with a sheet of simple prayers and readings) for quiet meditation.

Upstairs we had squares of aluminum foil available to shape into animals. Ideally these would have been animals mentioned in the Bible narrative (donkey, rooster, etc) but we got a variety, and as the evening wore on even non-living sculptures! With one of our resident artists located here, this went much better than one might expect.

In another room persons could use wire and nails to make a cross, of sticks and yarn to make God's eyes. This seemed to appeal to older folks, as I found many of them in this center chatting together all evening!

I asked on of our carpenters to build a wood frame and add nails to serve as a base for weaving yarn as prayers. Over the years our supply of yarn has increased exponentially, and this was a great way to put some of that to use.

I asked one of our other elementary art teachers to create a mural-sized depiction of the Palm Sunday narrative: Jesus, donkey, town, villagers, etc. We provided paints (and smocks) for persons to paint that mural. We also had smaller pieces of paper and markers of various types available for individual, small-scale projects.

Outside we explored the labyrinth as a device for prayer. We had supplies available to make a labyrinth out of paper and sand to take home, and a kid-scaled version to walk in our lawn. It included prayer suggestions along the way. The outdoor aspect helped the children who were participating considerably by providing a place to release some energy.

Finally, we had a simple dinner of soup and bread (and peeps) available in our fellowship hall.

I was delighted with the turn-out, and gratified that folks found meaning in the various stations. I hope we can do something like this again.

Good Friday 2016, stations event

Following up on the initial post on our Good Friday event this year, here are some more details about the evolution of the event.

Our community has a history of sponsoring a community Good Friday service. It is one of the last in a series of services sponsored by the clergy association in town. It takes place at midday. Our church has supported this service, and the whole series for several years, so we have avoided adding anything of our own to Good Friday that might take away from the population for the community service. I offered a sacred concert of organ music for a couple of years, feeling that this was different enough from a worship service that it would not detract from the community service, and that it was also not going to even attempt to draw the same crowd that would attend a "regular" worship service. I have also had our choir offer choral music on Good Friday in recent years, with the same thinking in mind.

This stations event would build on that concept: it would target persons who might not normally go to the community service, and it would not be a "service" in the typical sense. We were hopeful a good cross-section of our congregation's demographic would attend, especially families with children. And we felt the "art" aspect would really separate it in the minds of our community.

Planning with our artists was very gratifying. They had plenty of ideas of creative ways to explore Bible passages for Good Friday. Ultimately we decided to expand and somewhat superficially cover all of Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday, but avoid any hint at Easter, all without it being a "gloomy" event. We settled on 6 stations with 8 "projects. It was a very dynamic exchange with lots of adjustments as I offered possible Bible passages, to which the artists offered possible art projects. We wanted everything to be attainable by even young children, but yet wanted the whole evening to provide enough theological heft to appeal to older adults.

By this point we knew we wanted to offer food at the event and settled on a specific time-frame during which food would be available, with folks coming and going at will from the other aspects of the evening. We also wanted to have our sanctuary available as a quiet place for prayer. These really became two additional stations, the dining hall being a chance to reflect on the last supper Jesus shared with his followers, and the sanctuary emblematic of Jesus praying in the garden prior to his arrest.

Next post I'll go into detail with the specific stations and the art projects.