the great day of Pentecost

I don't know how it is for the rest of you, but most of our church family hasn't stepped foot in the sanctuary since mid March :( It has become a space of cameras, microphones and cables running everywhere! The 'upside' of all the chaos is that more and more people are being reached by our online services and weekly devotions, worship jams (#jammin4Jesus)  and Zoom bible studies :) that may never set foot inside an actual house of worship. God has taken a negative and turned it into a positive, once again. We've been having 'drive-thru church'- which as funny as it sounds, is actually a huge blessing to me - we have  'stations' we go to while staying in our cars: A welcome and receiving the verses of the day printed out, Prayer, Communion, Praise Songs, and a Blessing as we leave. It's been so uplifting to see faces we haven't seen for too long. As I write this, our county has just been allowed to start 'Phase 2' which means we can potentially start gathering in worship in smaller groups soon. I wanted the sanctuary mobile to be ready to greet folks when we do return to inside worship. Normally in the liturgical church year, we are already back to  "Ordinary Time", or the green season, as I affectionately call it. Our church staff is graciously lenient with me in letting me leave it up longer.....even though the paraments will be green for months. I will probably leave it up for awhile this summer.  I have no idea what gathering together is going to look like, but our leadership team is working on figuring out what's best for the greater good. Patience is a virtue. May God bless us all as we move forward! 

Ash Wednesday 2020

My offering for this year's Lenten season.  Many of the same elements as years gone by (frugal :) but a few new additions to the mix, including a friend's purple sheer swags from her daughter's old bedroom being remodeled.....normally I start out smaller, and add to it as we go through Lent. This year that's not an option, so I just went for it :)  The gray circles represent the silver coins Judas received for betraying Jesus. The knotted silvery fabric reminded me of the chain mail soldier's armor. There's ropes, crosses, and plenty of black & purple ribbons and fabric. It co-ordinates with our Paraments nicely, I think.  At least that's what I was shooting for...... I've been including a little write-up in our newsletter explaining my thought process for each mobile. Folks tell me it's helping them capture the vision :)  And this way, I can explain that there's a method to my madness :)  Walk Dusty, people......

This beautiful wall hanging was created by one of our "quilter extraordinaire" members and is just stunning hanging on the side wall of the Sanctuary. We needed something new for the Lenten season, but this might find a home here for years to come. Thanks Terry :) 

Ordinary Time 2020

I changed this to coincide with the observance of The Baptism of Our Lord- that white gauzy fabric just visually reminds me of Jesus' Shroud for some reason.....the green circles represent our seeds of faith as it grows, and the ribbons are meant to look like vines :)  This is the 'ground floor' view- how it looks as I'm working on it. To me it always seems more beautiful 30 feet up :)  Lent is coming soon!