The Circle

For many years I've heard about an exciting ministry in my hometown that uses a dynamic blend of music and drama in their worship services. It was joyful to finally have the opportunity to worship with the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community in Pittsburgh, PA last Sunday. They desire to be a bridge to Jesus Christ by participating in communion, welcoming all into community, listening and having compassion, growing in faith and sharing Christ’s story with the community in this area of Pittsburgh, the surrounding neighborhoods, and the world. The worship ended with Communion served as we exited to go to an outside patio. All worshipers exited, received the elements and then stood in a huge circle to pray and receive a benediction. How fitting it was to stand in a circle for this sacrament. I love the symbolism of a circle: unity, God's neverending love, the Church universal, completeness. Additionally we chose to place this ancient symbol in our new mini-banner that focuses on the story of the hemorrhaging woman as recorded in Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8: 43-47. The circle is this artwork is to remind us of the committment of our whole selves to God. I'm thankful for the spiritual nourishment of present day experiences like taking Communion but also remain thankful for being able to learn from stories from the past like the couragous women of the gospels.

The Church Door

I appreciate great craftsmanship and making a house of worship special....God certainly deserves special in my mind! I'm intrigued by church doors as symbols of hospitality and a signal to those that enter of what lies ahead as they enter a worship space. For example, I'm intrigued by color, so I often find myself smiling as I drive past a row of churches in my community that all have red doors. Red can be warm and inviting, calling out to welcome a stranger or new comer. To a Christian these red doors also remind us of the Holy Spirit, alive within us and the church community within the doors. Last weekend I had an opportunity to visit the Duke University and my first stop was to see the Chapel--a grand, gothic building I have heard so much about and a faith community that I occassionaly enjoy listening to their worship services recorded online. This is one of the doors that leads to the Duke Chapel. The iron work is so unique and special I felt like the door was crying out "come in and discover what dwells within." Is your church door welcoming, intriguing, and full of Spirit? Beyond this I wonder today how we can be like a church door. Do people see us and our actions and wonder what it is that is special? Are we paving the way with welcome and hospitality for those that have not entered into a relationship with Christ to find out more? Today I set out to be a door. May God use me.

All Saints Day

Halloween and trick-or-treating provide for a very "sweet" holiday but this Sunday many churches will celebrate the even sweeter All Saints Day. Here is artist Wassily Kandinsky's (1886 – 1944), the father of abstract art, interprutation of "All Saints Day"--

Some historians believe this special day has been in existence since the year 270. This is an opportunity to honor all saints of the church even those not yet named and many include this to also celebrate unity within the entire church. We recall men and women of the Bible like Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Deborah, Ruth, David, Elijah, Peter, and Paul (among others), and thank God for their examples. Many congregations also memorialize those parishioners who were called to be with the Lord in recent years, particularly in the last year. Finally and most importantly, on this day we glorify God not just for the faithfulness of the saints, but for His faithfulness to the saints. Celebrate by gathering with friends and family at a special meal and discuss atttributes of saints you strive for, light candles in cemetaries, toll bells in your church buildings and celebrate in prayer in worship.

Let There Be Light!

My hometown of Pittsburgh, PA is celebrating it's 250th birthday this year. Throughout the year we are getting to celebrate in many different ways. Currently we are celebrating the transformational quaility of light as a reminder that Pittsburgh has also been transformational throughout history. Under the direction of Lucette de Rugy of Artlumiere, international designers have transformed building facades into stunning works of art. Pictured here is the Cathedral of Learning of the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Additionally, numerous Houses of Worship are lighted in subtle ways, under the direction of Adam Koe Leong, to showcase architectural detail and stained glass best seen at night. Pittsburgh recognizes the importance that faith and worship has played in its history.

Last night I had the opportunity to witness several of these buildings. They were absolutely stunning! As my daughter reacted dramatically to the effect it led me to think of times in worship that the experience had been enhanced with unique lighting. I remember an Easter sunrise service, an Advent Taize service lit by candelight, and a Lenten Tenebrae service. We try to remember the senses outside of auditory when planning worship...such as the visual which typically means stoles, paraments and banners, or the sense of smell with incense or a fresh baked loaf of bread for Communion. How does the use of light come into play when we plan a worship service? Bright light, no light, directed light, diffused light, lights that change, natural light, colored light....so many options...thanks be to God for light!

Harvest Thanksgivings

I must confess I love fall! Among other things it's the colors, the smell of the air, and the sight of the leaves swirling down from the tree branches. This change of seasons is very energizing to my creative soul. For example, since May I have been trying to support our local economy and eat healthier by buying all of my family's produce at the farmer's market. We've discovered that artichokes can be grown in Pennsylvania if it rains at the right time, that brussel sprouts grow on a stalk, and we're currently eating varieties of apples that we'd never even heard of before. This has been a fun endeavor that has expanded my cooking reportorie, opened up our palates to new tastes, and has made me very thankful for those that dig the earth, plant the seed, and lovingly nurture the produce that ends up on our tables. I've supported this experience by slurging on a new cookbook, In Season, by Sarah Raven. It's of course not about liturgical seasons, but celebrates the seasons of the earth.....so, for example, if you stumble upon something like a quince and have no idea what to do with it you can use this book as a reference and it will give you several practical recipes that use quinces.

It's rare that I can separate my personal life from my life in the studio because my studio life is very much a part of who I am. All the wonderful fall produce at the farmers market and the upcoming American time of Thanksgiving found us creating a new harvest stole design. It's a bargain on ebay this week and in the future you can find it here on our website.

I'm signing off to go celebrate the harvest and this God's great creation by making cauliflower soup from the largest, most magnificent looking head of cauliflower I've ever seen before.

Art for Lectionary Text

One of the lectionary text's this week is Matthew 22:15-22...the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

What an interesting text given the economic state of the United States and the upcoming presidential election here. I look forward to hearing messages from the pulpit this coming Sunday.

Contemporary Texas artist, James B. Janknegt has a uniquely refreshing style of retelling Biblical stories in his art. I particularly enjoy how he intertwines contemporary issues and instances to emphasize how the Bible never stops applying to our lives. The work featured here is titled Rich Fool. The artist's explanation is offered here. I suggest you also look at the work and think about:

• what do you see?
• what title would you give this work?
• what might be the purpose of this art?
• do you recognize any images?
• what kind of movement does the art suggest (speed, frenzy, rhythm, stillness, etc.)?
• what does the color remind you of, or what feeling does it give?

It's always exciting to discover contemporary Christian artists and I encourage you to take a break from your daily routine and explore this artist's website.

Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time is a lengthy celebration in the Church Year calendar. Don't let it become...well, too ordinary! This is the time when we study and grow based upon what the Bible teaches. This should be an extraordinary time! What are some ways you can celebrate life and hope?

• ...families can be encouraged to use this relaxed time of year to learn the ritual of keeping the Sabbath. As we enter the often hectic Advent and Christmas seasons this day of rest will bring all the more rejuvination and focus.

...encourage an attitude of gratitude. Find specific ways to show God's love. For example, in our neck of the woods the leaves are dropping from the trees and it's easy to find people that need extra helping hands with yard clean up.

...think of ways to be peace makers...with your congregation, your small group Bible study, or a family could make a banner of peace that expresses your ideas and will be a visual reminder of working towards fulfilling them.

...go green....green is the liturgical color for Ordinary Time to help us focus on this time of growth. Ministry leaders wear green during this season but, we can also celebrate the green of creation by learning to take care of our world in better ways. Recycling our office paper and unused worship bulletins, using earth friendly products like paper instead of styrafoam coffee cups, and cleaning supplies without chemicals are easy things that many of us do at home that can easily translate to our church facilities.

Confirmation Stole Kits

Confirmation Stole Curriculum Kits now avaialable!

Soooo....you're preparing for confirmation but wishing you had something unique to add to the experience. Another funny skit, a mud wrestling competition, or a sing along with banjos are just not what you had in mind. What you need is a hands on actitivty that would be personal to each student and allow you to incorporate it into worship so the entire church congregation can help celebrate and embrace the committment the students are making. Our kit leads you step by step through a detailed project that can take 1-3 hours depending upon which actitivities you chose for your group. For example, you will be guided in what supplies to gather to incorporating spiritual gifts inventories, to why leadership wears a stole in worship, and the actual creation of each youth's stole. Read more about it and learn how to order here!

New Resurrection Stole Design

We love it when clients share ideas for new products with us! Recently a client shared his personal story of why the Resurrection bird (the hummingbird) had a special meaning to him due to his unique relationship with the foster care of several special children born HIV positive. The pictured Resurrection stole is the result of his story. It is full of symbolism that would apply to many in ministry. It is white to represent the purity of Christ. The spring flowers remind us of rebirth and the lilies for purity and the Resurrection (because of it's rebirth from a seemingly lifeless bulb). Hummingbirds are the crowning glory as a reference to their legend as resurrection birds: they seem to die and be reborn on another day. You can read a New York Times article regarding the hummingbird here.

Ministry leaders know best what they can't find in the commercial market. We love to be able to fill the gap with our handcrafted stoles. We welcome you to share your ideas with us at jenny.gallo@CarrotTopStudio.com.

Praying in Color

I saw the book title Praying in Color and quickly suspected it would be something I would enjoy. I've been doodling and finding respite in simple line drawings since I was a child (that was many moons ago!) Author Sybil MacBeth is not an artist but she has realized the power of the doodle drawing during prayer time as a means of focus, a method or relaxation, and a tool to help one draw closer to God in the intimacy of prayer. MacBeth's thoughts and suggestions will of course be appealing to people that are visual but I also think they'd be a welcome reprieve for people that haven't doodled since elementary school. Beyond using her techniques personally this book is a great find for those that lead children, youth groups or those that have a difficult time saying prayers out loud in a community setting. If you find this intriguing you will certainly enjoy learning more at the website Praying in Color.

In the News

It was intriguing to stumble upon this photo in my alumni newsletter from the College of Arts and Artchitecture at Penn State University. The accompanying article explained that architecture students placed these blocks around campus so the public would have the chance to make their voices heard on public policy issues during Constitution Day. Containers of chalk near the blocks encouraged passers-by to share their views by writing on the blocks. Reportedly the response was tremendous. Writing is good--people might write what they're not willing to say, people might read what they're not willing to listen to, and by using this medium everyone has an equal entry point in sharing their thoughts. How can this idea be translated to our faith communities? It might be something as simple as a wall with a large piece of butcher block paper attached to it with a subject or piece of scripture at the top for people to respond to. Or, repsponses or even prayers could be written down and then incorporated into a worship banner created out of paper or fabric. The writer's block is an idea that worked because it was simple, non threatening and little bit different. We should be able to apply this concept to our sharing, growing together and respecting each other in our churches too.

A Funny

From the newspaper 9-14-08....

(click to enlarge image)

You never know where the phrase "Carrot Top" will be used next!

New Worship Banners

Where does a pastor, worship team or Carrot Top Studio come up with an idea for worship banners? The possibilities are endless! You might consider a liturgical season like Advent, a special occassion such as a wedding, or a visual interpretation of a piece of scripture. Our latest banners (seen at left) are actually an expansion of the church logo and their motto..."Gathered by His love for us -- Scattered by our love for Him!" We took the logo and created two images (instead of the existing one) and surrounded the images by the arch shape which echoed the sanctuary architecture. The predominant red was chosen as the traditional represention of the Holy Spirit. This was a great collaboration between a worship team that had a vision for a special Sunday that would include an ordination and the team at our studio.

Rituals and Family Traditions

It’s back to school time in my house. Even though my children are teenagers we continue to have the rituals of a new hair cut, something special to wear the first day of school, and a trip to the office supply store to gather the prescribed new notebooks and mechanical pencils. Another family tradition my children remain especially fond of is requesting that cookies be coming out of the oven as they walk in the door from their first day back to school. It can’t be a bag of their favorite store bought sandwich cookie or even a homemade cookie that was baked on a prior occasion and frozen for convenience (I am quite the freezer queen!) I believe it’s the act of the cookie that is coming directly from the oven that is symbolic of the warmth and security that they need to feel at the end of a day that is ushering them into a change in their norm. I must admit I love fulfilling this request but, it also makes me think about how important ritual and family traditions are and how this overlaps into the rhythm of the rituals in our Christian lives. These established procedures and routines also bring us comfort within the Church year. Gertrud Mueller Nelson writes that “Through rites we raise what is happening to us to a level of conscious awareness and in doing so we actively seek to be transformed.” Nelson wrote one of my favorite books on ritual and family tradition: To Dance With God.It has been available for several decades but its message and ideas are timeless. Pick up a copy to use within your own home, in your larger community or for a friend that needs encouragement that family ritual and celebrating the rhythm of the year is a wonderful connection to each other and the life of Christ. All of this thinking about celebrating has spilled over into Carrot Top Studio so we’ve added a “Colors of the Church year” stole to our collection. See it here!

I must leave you now...I think there is one cookie left...and I’m claiming it!

Olympic Banners

The Olympic closing ceremony in Bejing included wonderful, dramatic banners. They were hung from guide wires and draped across the central space to direct our focus to the action. At Carrot Top Studio this makes us wonder how many different ways a worship banner could be hung. Each worship sapce is special and unique and we should think beyond just hanging a banner against a wall!

The Lectionary Text--in Art

This week's text from Matthew 16:13-20 says, When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Artists have been depciting Peter and the stories that surround Peter for many generations.

This tempera painting of Peter is by Marco Zoppo who painted it in the 1400's and it hangs in the US National Gallery.

This work is by Jan Richardson and you can read more about her interpretation at The Painted Prayerbook.

When you look at these pieces of art and think about the Word you might also ponder:

• what title would you give the art?
• what feeling do the colors give you?
• what does the artist want you to think/feel about what is in the artwork?
• what does this art mean to you?

We respond to art in personal ways. These two very different works can both serve a purpose in relating to the lectionary text this week. How wonderful that have such a wealth of art to respond to.

Olympic Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 summer Olympics were a splendid, visual feast! The colors, the lights, the costumes, the movement were all superior and left me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. I found it particularly moving and symbolic to see the parade of athletes walking in the stadium and across an area of wet paint. The movement and direction of their footprints formed a gentle arc of a rainbow on the ground. It became a sign and symbol of athletes the world wide, representing many different lives, cultures, and colors coming together as one in peace. This of course made me think of how we try to visually stimulate and engage through color and symbols for times that we come together in community to worship God. I am thankful that God has given us the ability and direction to include the visual to draw us closer to Him in worship!

Malawi, Africa

We're excited that at this moment this stole and coordinating banner are on their way with a group from Pittsburgh, PA traveling to Malawi, Africa. The banner and stole represent "The Lord is My Shepherd" as David described in Psalm 23. God is seen as a caring shepherd and a dependable guide. The shepherd's cross on the stole helps us imagine Jesus as a shepherd, guiding us and looking after us. Additionally on the banner, the sun: the life giving force, is symbolic of Christ, the moon reminds us of the passage of time, the rainbows: a symbol of God's faithfulness, and the river calls to mind Christ's referenece to living water in John 4:10.

Our faith community has a partnership with a similar community in Malawi, Africa. We exchange missionary visits to learn and grow from each other. The people of Malawi are some of the most cheerful, positive outlooking I have ever met. Carrot Top Studio hopes that these pieces of fiber art will be a reminder to our friends that we are the church together..."so that we may be mutually encouraged by each others faith" (Rom. 1:12).

Inspiration

I've just returned from New York City where I had the extra special, opportunity of seeing The Lion King on Broadway. My seat was at the back of the theatre, but it was still a great seat. This location caused me to reflect upon how we can't think of our worship spaces from just one up close "good" seat. How do you make the visual important from every angle of the congregation? In this photo from the performance the costuming demonstrates how very simple, yet dramatic color combinations can be one way to make a visual stand out. Conversly there are many times you don't want to call attention to a visual...you just want it to enhance an entire service. The patterns on the stage in this photo are an example of how the visual can be a supporting element in what we do in our worship spaces. When Carrot Top Studio works on a banner commission I always sit in many different seats within the worship space prior to confirming the plan for banners. It's an interesting task....give it a try!

Lessons from the Raspberry Patch

As an artist I tend to be a visual leraner (go figure!). Connections are made at times that I sometimes don't expect. Last night I was in my small raspberry patch enjoying the luscious, ripe fruit. We have never had such a bountiful crop of extremly large berries. What is different this year to produce such a wonderful harvest? Is it the water, the soil, the light, or did I actually remember to do the tedious chore of pruning the prickly branches last fall? While munching and collecting berries John 15:2 came to mind. It says: He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. As a gardner and as a Christian I have learned that even fruitful branches need pruning. So this week I am thankful for the visual of the raspberry bushes that have reminded me that the more fruit we bring forth, the more we abound in what is good, the more our Lord is glorified. So I look inward to see what I need to prune from my life today (I'm afraid there is always much to choose from)...and hopefully this fall I will remember to prune the raspberry bushes also!