Visuals for Advent 2020

 Here is a hodge-podge of images from our visuals during Advent 2020. I made the iron frame back in summer to hold fabric. In Advent it held a wreath and globes that represented candles and/or stars. Early on the frame was bare, but I added black fabric as a base to keep things from showing through between the sides. This first shot shows what the wreath with lights looked like (before the black fabric).

This is the "candle" side. Youth made these globes a couple of years ago for a youth Sunday. I was really delighted I had held onto them. Each one lights. It doesn't quite show but there is a fairy light curtain behind the blue fabric. There is also a glittery toile type fabric in front of the sheer blue piece. The lights glistened through with a  pretty cool effect. For Epiphany I changed the blue sheer fabric to gold lame'. It was very dramatic.

Our big group project was this outdoor Advent wreath. We were slow getting all four panels finished so their installation was staggered. But the final effect was good. The hassle was getting the battery-operated strands turned off and on. The central candle in each panel was on a solar control.

These candles we paired with this large star. A guy into metal-working in our congregation made it. It went up the few days between Advent 4 and Christmas Eve. It's lit from below. About 6 feet across.

I saw a picture from another church that did this and promptly stole it. The green boards are a bit too narrow (I forgot about the fickle nature of lumber measurements). But this was about 3/4 through the season. We took in a huge amount of food for our local ministry partner.

Pentecost stained glass

Our worship and arts team has been transitioning away from floral arrangements in our worship space for some time. We have had fewer people sign up to provide flowers, and the committee has been hesitant to spend money on weekly arrangements that didn't seem to speak to worshipers in the way they did in generations part. The committee has taken this as an opportunity to expand what we offer in our worship space, by including the visual arts. Our first foray into this was for Pentecost this year.

Member Barbara Brinson has been dabbling in stained glass for some time. As we developed our plan for worship art installations in the sanctuary she shared an interest in creating something in glass. Over the course of several months we shared in committee meetings her planning, design, and execution of the project, as well as the usual emotional work that artists endure as they create something. The end product was ready a couple of weeks ago, and we installed it late last week.

The piece is 28.5 inches square with zinc borders. One piece is chipped which we agreed was part of the charm of the overall work. The piece was well-received by both worshiping congregations yesterday. We intend to have the piece framed and later installed in our facility. We purchased a nice easel to support the piece, as those we had on hand were too flimsy to support. We hope to have other stained glass pieces to display similarly in the future.

In addition to Pentecost festivities, we designated 5/20 to be our own congregation's 110th birthday, so there were balloons and cake to round out the visual feast.

Narthex gallery update

Detail from Heart of a Sunflower, by Susan Wilkinson

It’s not much, but it speaks volumes. A single wall in our narthex is frequently used to display art by members of our congregation. Often for month-long periods, we can view and reflect upon the artistic expressions of some of the visual artists in our congregation.  Cooperating with other groups in our congregation (Weekday School for their spring art show; Alternative Giving display before Christmas for example), and under the coordination of the scheduler, the Worship and Music committee plans use of the display wall throughout the year. Susan Wilkinson, a new member in our congregation has begun scheduling installations in the narthex gallery space this month. She inherits this job from Alida Grady who has faithfully done so for several years. In the best spirit of celebrating creativity, the committee does not expect that all of the art displayed in the narthex be “religious” though it is always appropriate. We welcome all levels of ability and any media that can fit in the space available. Many times the works displayed are available for purchase from the artist; speak to them directly for more information. I was reminded of the importance of this aspect of our church's ministry when I read this article in Christian Century recently. The undertaking being discussed is massive, but the commitment of the various churches involved is striking.

Maundy Thursday 2018

In our planning session we considered some interest from the congregation for a Taize-style service. I wondered aloud if it might be possible to craft a Maundy Thursday service in the style of Taize.

 

 I posted a couple of queries among my colleagues and got a few responses, but nothing very detailed. But I also decided that what I imagined wasn't totally off the wall. One source strongly suggested to me was material from the Holden community. Their "prayer at the cross" services seemed relevant, and I used some materials from them to craft the service. Our music ensemble was piano, guitar, fllute, and cello, plus two singers. We did several Taize songs, but also one from Holden, a Pashto refrain, and a pretty traditional psalm response at the confession rite.

 

 We had several lay folks lead the liturgy, with the clergy presiding at the table. A key focus was the visual installation. I wanted to include fabric draped from the ceiling, plants, a large cross, candles and icons. We managed to get all that included. I have heard from many folks that this service was quite meaningful for them. Our time of silence in the middle of the service was 4 minutes long, quite impressive for Presbyterians!

We had a central installation with two ancillary areas along the walls. Folks made use of all the spaces.

Advent wreath at FirstLight

We did a different form of advent wreath again this year. Similar to 2014 we asked families to study the readings for a given Sunday and then find and/or make things from around their home to visually convey elements of the text. It was well-received last year, but I was prepared to do something different in 2015. However, I heard from several folks that they really liked this element of advent worship, and asked that we do it again.

Things were a little tricky this year because we have begun following the narrative lectionary instead of the revised common lectionary. There are fewer readings to work with and the readings presented didn't cover familiar, traditional advents themes.  I provided this year's families with the appointed reading for each week, but supplemented it with complimentary readings for the same date from the RCL. Where the NL had an Old Testament reading, I provided a psalm, gospel and epistle reading. When the NL switched to a gospel reading, I provided readings from the OT, psalm and epistle. Most families didn't need all that, but they had it as a reference. Each family brought a candle from home which remained throughout the season. They took a few moments to describe what they brought for their installation (and the relevant Bible verse(s), lit their candle and said a short prayer. Here are some pictures.

 

Legos are always a popular route for expressing the Bible story!

 

This kid made his own "grass withers" and "highway for our God" visuals!

 

A trumpet and some finger cymbals for the "restoration of true worship"

Yes, a leaf-blower, because, "prepare ye the way of the Lord."

Blessing Wall, Lent

When I began planning for music and art during Lent, the word "blessing" seemed to crop up several times in the appointed lections. I discussed with my worship planning colleagues if "blessing" in the sense of being blessed by God and being a blessing to others might serve as a thematic focus for the upcoming season. After some good conversation in relation to the Bible readings and in relation to how we have observed the season in the past, we agreed that this could be a nice theme for us to explore.

My mind coupled this thematic focus with an image I had seen from a youth event some of our kids attended last year or the year before of a prayer wall. Kids wrote prayers and intentions on small pieces of paper and adhered them to a make-shift wall. I spent some time wondering how to put the two, "blessing" and the wall, into one undertaking for our congregation.

Ultimately I thought a series of fabric-covered panels, each with a letter from the word "bless" could be used as a temporary wall in our narthex. Folks will be invited throughout the season of Lent to write how they have been blessed and/or how they have been (or how they can be or intend to be) a blessing for others. We'll use special pens to write on scraps of fabric and then glue those small swatches to the wall.  My hope is that the finished project will look somewhat like a mosaic of fabric-on-fabric, nicely filled in. Herewith how the project has developed:

These are a set of wood frames that we use for a variety of undertakings, most often to create backdrops for dramatic productions:

I decided to put a base layer of black fabric (flat sheet) on the panels first. I simply stapled them in place:

I purchased an array of five hues of purple (cotton twill), appropriate for the season to serve as the top layer on each panel: 

I used white felt to cut the letters of the word "bless." Each letter uses a different font; we used the photocopier to enlarge each letter to a suitable size. I purchased a new rotary cutting tool for this project, which worked really well, and used a permanent fabric glue to adhere the letters:

Here is the set of five panels, mostly complete, after I finished adhering the letters to each. The height and centering of each letter varies purposefully:

Coming soon: the panels in place in the narthex and how they evolve as folks add their "blessings" to the project. To date I have done most of the work, but we have artists on board to select the fabrics we'll use for the attachments and to actually help folks on Sunday mornings to create their individual swatches Our print publicity for the upcoming season uses this same five-panel concept to make a nifty tie-in.

Visuals for Pentecost

Black Mountain Presbyterian is blessed with a very talented and committed arts team. They have created some very evocative installations for worship in the past. This year for Pentecost we were challenged with designing for two worship spaces: our sanctuary and our fellowship hall (where FirstLight takes place). Here are some photos of elements in both worship spaces. The visual installation in the sanctuary was incredible. Our arts team drew inspiration from another installation they had seen, and adapted it for our use. The effect was stunning (I didn't tell them the shape reminded me of a bell; it might have just been my imagination!).

Pentecost: The bells, the bells

I am not sure what stirred the idea, but I wanted Pentecost to be characterized musically this year by bells. I used most of the bells sounds I could think of and which were available to me to create an aural metaphor for the presence of the Holy Spirit. We used the Taize "Veni sancte spiritus" as the first song in worship at both services. To begin I employed a mark tree; after several seconds I added several unpitched bells (from India). Kids and choir singers handled those elements. Next came upper handbells, suspended and rung with a mallet; then we added the lower bells in a random ring; these were all rung by our adult handbell ringers. Slowly the bells settled into the rhythm and notes of the Taize piece. Finally, the choir and song leaders joined the refrain, inviting the congregation to do the same. Superimposed over that were the verses, sung by a soloist. All the while, the bells kept up their various patterns. I think it was fairly effective. For the organ prelude, I did several of the variations on "Veni Creator Spiritus" by Joseph Ahrens. For the last variation, you guessed it, I turned on the zimbelstern on the organ. The bell sonority was complete!