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Advent Journey: Liturgical Art in Advent

Today’s post is by Linda Witte Henke, an artist specializing in the creation of liturgically purposed work for congregation, synod, and churchwide settings (www.lindahenke.com). This is the first of quarterly posts by Linda that will provide suggestions and templates for an expression of liturgical art.

When asked, most congregants would likely describe Advent as a time of “preparing for Christmas.” While this description may be technically accurate, the reality is that most people’s experience of the month of December is focused on extensive “to-do” lists that, at best, are only distantly related to the essence of Advent.

Thankfully, the lectionary texts for Advent in Year C offer stirring words and rich imagery to draw us into deeper understanding and appreciation for these precious four weeks. Advent is a time of preparing our hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus the Christ encompassing past, present, and future:

  • On Advent I, Jesus speaks of “signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars” and urges us to “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21)

 

  • On Advent II, the voice of John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness directs us: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.” (Luke 3)

 

  • On Advent III, the one who is coming is heralded by John the Baptist using language that calls for us to repent the brokenness of our relationships with God and one another in order that our lives may “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (Luke 3)

 

  • On Advent IV, Mary lifts her voice to proclaim God’s greatness in turning our up-side-down world right-side up. (Luke 1)

This post offers a way to incorporate imagery of the season into the assembly’s worship through use of a four-panel design linked to the weekly texts. The panels may be used as stand-alone designs, one per week, or as a composite that evolves from one to four panels over the course of the four-week season.

Some possibilities for utilizing the design include:

  • Creating banners, using silver markers and silver paint on blue “fadeless” paper (available by the roll in craft stores or education-supply outlets) or using silver lamé and silver organza fused or stitched/appliquéd onto blue fabric
  • Using a “print on demand” service to reproduce the digital design on paper or fabric
  • Incorporating the digital design in the congregation’s projected worship slides
  • Including the digital design in the congregation’s print and/or electronic communications

Regardless of the way(s) in which you choose to integrate the design into your congregation’s Advent journey, the effectiveness and impact of the design’s use will be enhanced by intentional references to the design throughout the season, particularly within the context of worship. For example:

  • How might it feel to lift up our heads and hands in anticipation of Jesus’ coming? (Advent I)
  • How might heightened awareness of the sun, moon, and stars awaken our longing for God’s coming close to reside within and among us? (Advent II)
  • How might repentance of our human brokenness pave the way for faith’s fuller fruition in us? (Advent III)
  • How might Mary’s song engage our more enthusiastic participation in the in-breaking reign of God’s up-side-down order? (Advent IV)

The attached PDF includes a modest-resolution image of the complete design, as well as patterns that can be enlarged to create banners in whatever scale is right for your congregation’s space. A higher-resolution image for large-scale reproduction may be downloaded from:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x69s78odh0gqcks/AACdV0LxnzVn9BvvoRwgwaFya?dl=0.

A View into the “Common Room”: A Story of One Worship Space’s Transformation

Today’s post is by Timothy Weisman, Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In many ways, this post is a visual blog with accompanying narration. The photos by Weisman and Keith Perry illustrate how a major renovation of Zion’s worship space has shaped and served their community.

 

On November 18, 2014, at the urging of a parent, the property committee at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts voted to do something quite radical for the time: we voted to create a “Pray & Play” area in our sanctuary where kids could feel comfortable and where young families could worship together with age-appropriate activities. While it might have been the combination of bean bag chairs, ELWs, foam blocks, and books about Martin Luther and Ella Fitzgerald that initially caught a newcomer’s eye, what most people seemed to notice first was that we had removed two adjacent pews in the center of our sanctuary to make room.

Just two years later, we removed the remaining forty-six pews.

In 2017, the people of Zion Lutheran Church, recognizing that our 1892 Neo-gothic sanctuary was overdue for a major investment, completed a $1.2 million project that transformed it into a renewed place for worship and community. While this included adding accessible routes and restrooms, replastering and repainting the walls, replacing all the lighting, and even adding air-conditioning, what most people (still) seem to notice first is that we removed all the pews and replaced them with chairs.

This is my testimony to you: it feels good to worship in a sanctuary in which the seating is more than twenty percent filled. The singing is fabulous when the community worships close together. Need space for a baptism and six confirmations at an Easter Vigil? Just make the open space between the font and the chairs larger. Need space for piano, string bass, and drums for Jazz Vespers, our monthly evening prayer? Just move the altar table back a few feet.

 

 

Because nothing is nailed down, Zion Lutheran Church has been able to host public concerts, theatre rehearsals, interviews, annual meetings, farmers markets, community dinners, and events for children and youth. In our first year, over twelve thousand people have walked through our doors for worship or a community event in our Common Room, the name for our sanctuary.

 

Last year, at an indoor farmers market we host, I was asked with some amount of disbelief, “Wait a second—is this still a real church?” (I replied with an emphatic “yes!”) But I’ll admit that there have been more than a few Sunday mornings when I’ve arrived to worship in a sanctuary that looks more exhausted than sacred. First, I gently remind myself that I don’t always look so good, either—and I remember that in our worship, our hearing of God’s Word, our praying, and our singing, not only are we renewed to serve our community, but so is this Common Room. For that, I give extra thanks and praise.

“In its best sense preservation does not mean merely the setting aside of thousands of buildings as museum pieces. It means retaining the culturally valuable structures as useful objects: a home in which human beings live, a building in the service of some commercial or community purpose.” Lady Bird Johnson in her forward to With Heritage So Rich, a report by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (1966)