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.

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.

Good Friday 2018, Sacred Concert

After a couple of years in which Good Friday did not feature music, I did a sacred concert this year on organ. I forget how it transpired but ultimately I settled on using the Moravian Church's Passion Week Manual (1955) as a basis. The manual is a series of services for each night of Holy Week which are basically the gospel narratives harmonized into one continuous reading, interspersed with hymns. It was those hymns that I wanted to explore. I initially chose about a dozen, and pared that down to nine. I went about seeking settings of the tunes for the various hymns. Many I had on hand, but I had to go seeking a couple. One of my favorite Moravian hymns is Ten-thousand times ten-thousand, and I was certain I wanted to include a setting of that in the program. However I could not find a setting anywhere. I asked several colleagues and sources to no avail. I found out about a piano setting by Margaret Sandresky (in Winston-Salem), but when I looked it over decided it was too pianistic for my purposes. Along the way I traded emails with Wayne Leupold in Colfax, who publishes a lot of Sandresky's organ music. He happened to copy the composer on a message, and later that same day I had a phone call from Mrs. Sandresky. She offered to compose something for my needs, saying she already had the broad shape mapped out in her mind! The piece arrived a scant 5 days later. I was thrilled at her generosity, and delighted that the listening audience would get to participate in a premiere. In years past the program from this concert has offered poetry for meditation. I decided this time to concentrate on explaining the hymns and the settings being performed., along with some Moravian history. I think it turned out well, and have heard many favorable things in the days following. The program cover is above. The complete booklet is here. It's a scan of the hard-copy, so it's a little whonky.

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.