Liturgical Artwork at Church of the Servant CRC
3835 Burton SE, Grand Rapids MI 49546 Virginia Wieringa art committee chairperson
In defense of the use of visual elements: •
Some churches are the same every Sunday BUT-
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God made us with eyes to see. We’re designed to be influenced by the visual.
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Christ was God made visible!
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The worshipers may not be consciously aware of the decoration of the church but even so it can enhance their response to the message and the written liturgy.
• The Christian liturgical cycle symbolizes the eternal repetition and yearly unfolds the cycle of God’s plan of salvation. • Having visual elements without text allows the art elements to speak to the congregation in visual language and allows the viewer to intuit the meaning.
This is a calendar used in Children’s Worship
For example, here is the way peripheral banners on the edge of the sanctuary are handled for each season:
Lent Advent
The banner is white For Christmas, Epiphany and Easter Pentecost
Trinity
• The seasons we celebrate and the liturgical calendar at COS were determined years ago by the worship committee. • Seasons vary in other churches and traditions. For example, in some traditions, Trinity is one Sunday, for us, it’s a season. The same is true for Pentecost.
First, credit to the committee who does the work! Fred Conover and Arend and “Skippy” the Skyjack •
Arend Vander Pols
At the change of each season a group gets together to “change the clothes” of the sanctuary.
This includes banners, communion table adornments, vestments for the pastor, art above the memorial table, and (during Epiphany) an art show of work by COS members.
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We’re concerned with the artwork and how that will edify the congregation, but also “how can we hang it, how can we store it?”
Elaine Hoekstra Anna Mae Bush and Elaine
During Pentecost, paper banners around the sanctuary listed the Fruits of the Spirit in 24 languages
• Our main goal is to make sure the visual elements of the worship space tie in with the current season of the liturgical year. We strive to enhance our worship visually and do it to bring honor and glory to the Lord.
The two fixed dates of the church year are Christmas and Easter. • •
Christmas is always December 25. Easter is always the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21. (It cannot be before March 22 or after April 25).
The rest of the church calendar is determined by those dates. • • • • • •
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The beginning of the liturgical year is the Advent season, which takes place on the four Sundays prior to Christmas. The Advent color is purple. The Christmas December 25 through January 6. The color is gold. Epiphany begins twelve days after Christmas. The Epiphany season begins January 6 or the first Sunday following January 6 and lasts until Lent. For COS, the Epiphany color is red or brownish red and green. The Lenten season is normally forty days longs, and counted back from Easter. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. The Lenten colors are purple and black. Easter is always the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21. It cannot be before March 22 or after April 25. The Easter season lasts forty days until Ascension Day. The Easter colors are white and gold. Pentecost begins fifty days after Easter. Church of the Servant celebrates the Pentecost season throughout the summer. The Pentecost colors are red and the colors of flames indicating the Holy Spirit. (Many other churches celebrate “Ordinary time” during the summer using the color green). Trinity season for Church of the Servant starts in September (usually in the second week) and lasts until the beginning of Advent. The Trinity color is green. (In many other churches, Trinity is just one Sunday.)
ADVENT •
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Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year, the four Sundays prior to Christmas. The Advent color is purple. Advent is a time of waiting and preparation. We prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. The large circular sun is a symbol for the Son of God rising in our lives. It was designed by Shelly Smith and Jim Vander Molen. The Chi-Rho on the sun is the Greek symbol for the name of Christ used since the early church. The fabric indicates a horizon for the morning sun and varies every Advent.
ADVENT
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The star in the eastern part of the communion circle reminds us of the star over Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Carol Roeda designed it. The communion set is by Mary Kuilema. The metal Advent wreath was made by Eric Wolterstorff
ADVENT •
The banner of the names of Jesus is by Mary Loeks.
CHRISTMAS •
Christmas is a time to celebrate the coming of Christ into the world and into our lives. The Christmas season is December 25 through January 6. The Christmas color is gold. • For Christmas, stars are hung from the communion tree. These were made with the help of COS children in the early years of the church building and were remade after becoming badly tangled in storage. The mobile design was by Jim Vander Molen.
CHRISTMAS • •
The communion set is by Mary Doezema and is used only on Christmas and Easter. The banner by the memorial table is by Marian Kendall. The crossed nails over the manger foreshadow Christ's future suffering. They also look like celebratory trumpets.
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Epiphany begins 12 days after Christmas, traditionally celebrated as the day the Wisemen visited the Baby Jesus. Epiphany begins January 6 or the first Sunday following January 6 and lasts until Lent. At COS, the Epiphany colors are red, brownish red and gold and now green which is more traditional. The Christmas stars stay to remind us how Christ's love sheds new light on everything in our lives.
EPIPHANY
The Epiphany season is a time for revelation and reflection and to see things with new eyes.
EPIPHANY
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Robin McKenzie made the banner of "Epiphany eyes" The mosaic is like the Byzantine style of early Christian art and helps us see ourselves as part of the great cloud of witnesses to God's redemptive power. The communion set is clear glass to reveal the symbol of Christ's blood and see it in a new way. The set is common and ordinary to help us see God in the ordinary things and places of our lives. Don Doezema made the table top candleholder. Carl Huisman made the processional cross and the large Christ candle.
LENT •
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The Lenten season is a time of repentance and meditation as we think about Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. The season usually is forty days long counted back from Easter. The beginning of Lent is Ash Wednesday. The Lenten colors are purple and black. Joyce Recker created the Lenten banner. (The reverse side is the Easter banner). There are wooden pieces like thorns imbedded in the dark introspective composition. The squares tip and diminish in size within each other almost like they are falling away and into the distance. Ben Tamminga carved the wooden cross.
The Lenten communion set used until 2004 was made by Betsy Ratzsch.
Carl Huisman made the three piece communion set that decorates the communion table during the week. Because of breakage of parts of the old set, a new Lenten communion set was made by Mary Doezema for 2005. The wooden platter was made by Don Doezema
LENT
This curtain hangs open on the entry door for Good Friday services. As the worshippers leave, they pass through the seven panels reminding them that only through the cross can we live as Christ’s followers and approach God directly. It was designed by Irene Tippett from Vancouver, B.C. Gene Ellens painted the Lenten cross.
LENT
EASTER •
At Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because he lives, we too may have the promise of eternal life through belief in his name. Easter is always the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21. It cannot be before March 22 or after April 25. The Easter season lasts forty days until Ascension Day. The Easter colors are white and gold.
EASTER •
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Joyce Recker created the Easter banner. (The reverse side is the Lenten banner). The green background is symbolic of new life and the gold of the promise of future glory. White transparent material swoops across reminiscent of the grave clothes left behind and also like butterfly wings signifying the change Christ experienced as 'the firstborn of the dead'. White material edged in gold swoops through the beams celebrating the amazing love that purifies us from our sin and makes us righteous in God's sight!
The small banner in the lower left is the baptism banner.
EASTER
Mary Doezema made the Easter communion sets. The colored set with a lustre glaze is used only on Christmas and Easter. The white set is used throughout the Easter season
Two views of the sanctuary at Easter in different years.
PENTECOST •
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At Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the great commission to go into all the world and spread the good news of salvation. Pentecost begins fifty days after Easter. COS celebrates Pentecost throughout the summer. The Pentecost colors are red and the colors of flames indicating the Holy Spirit. The flames on the wall are cast by gobos in theatrical lights
PENTECOST •
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The Pentecost fabric was painted by Shelley Smith and Ginny Wieringa. The painted fabric swoops through the upper part of the sanctuary and intertwines with the Easter banner to signify how the Spirit sets our hearts afire to burn with love for God and our world. Carl Huisman made the communion set. The red stripes are symbols of Christ's blood shed for the sin of the world. These stripes are echoed in the peripheral banners. Carl Huisman made the processional cross. Above the memorial table: The banner was made by Ginny Wieringa with the assistance of junior high students in 1998.
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TRINITY
Trinity is a season where we celebrate the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Trinity season for Church of the Servant starts in September (usually in the second week) and lasts until the beginning of Advent. The Trinity color is green. • The Trinity communion set was made by Betsy Ratzsch.
Robin MacKenzie made the banner “God’s Garden” above the memorial table.
TRINITY The Trinity banner of triangles was designed by Gwen Pott and made by Hilda Wilson, Ellen Vander Mey, Robin McKenzie, Marian Kendall, and Marti Jager. It was used for many years when COS worshipped in Seymour Christian School's gym. It was mounted on the white fabric with velcro in 1998. All the triangles are removable for easy storage. The colorful banner is rolled on a tube and stored in a plastic sleeve.
Storage!!!
The top shelf contains all the materials for the Pentecost season.
These are boxes with carefully padded and stored communion sets for the liturgical seasons. They are labeled and have photos attached to the boxes
The box on the shelf below holds a roll of 51 yards of white cloth for Easter.
How does a church start to celebrate the liturgical seasons? •
Pray for the Spirit to empower your group. • Plan with the worship leaders and decide on a calendar. • Let the spirit speak to you in the sanctuary and imagine what could be added to enhance the worship experience • This doesn’t have to be expensive or complicatedfabric can be purchased inexpensively and swooped in the sanctuary
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KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! Don’t try to defy the laws of physics and gravity! Plan ahead!! How will you hang it? How will you store it? These questions are almost as important as what you implement- especially if you want to repeat the same element next year. A church can commission an artist- but the same questions need to be addressed FAITH ALIVE has good resources or see the Calvin Worship Institute website.
• Any questions? You can contact me in care of Church of the Servant or e-mail me at vwieringa@hotmail.com • Thank you for your interest in COS and liturgical art. May God bless you in your journey.