Covenant Life Church, Grand Haven, Michigan Steve Caton Our goal at Covenant Life Church is to employ as many senses and learning styles as possible to engage the worshipper and help worship become more didactic, teaching people the truths and character of God. Our hope is that by employing these senses and learning styles the truth presented during our gatherings will be etched more deeply in people‟s hearts and memories than they would other wise have been by simply hearing a sermon alone. Slides 4-6 “Christ in the Community” Weavings This sermon series focused on the fact that Christians and churches tend to get all wrapped up in themselves (note the knot in the center) rather than becoming part of the everyday fabric of their community. This large weaving was done as a visual art piece as a „backdrop‟ to the entire series. 3 weeks prior to the close of this series people were given strips of fabric to take home and tie somewhere conspicuous as a reminder to pray for God‟s leading as to where they should „weave‟ themselves into their community – whether at work, neighborhoods or family. People were asked to bring these strips of fabric back on the last Sunday of the series. 4 mini „wafts‟ were made to accommodate everyone‟s strips. Stations were available around the room with markers for them to write their found purpose or leading from God. After that they were asked to weave their strips together with others in the mini weavings as a symbol of their purpose and a picture of a true community of Christ followers. Slides 10, 11 “The Cross: a Symbol of Death, a Symbol of Life” Water Boxes This sermon series was during Lent. At the beginning of the brainstorm session with the pastor he explained that he was wanting the cross to represent life just as much as it‟s common association with death. As we focused on the cross as a source of cleansing and life it became apparent to the team that water also has similar purposes. A team member had access to silk screening equipment and created a silk screen of a photo of water ripples. 4 box faces of 4 feet square were screened and hung to create negative space between. In that space the Greek cross (in the shape of a „plus‟ sign) appeared. Lighting from behind and in front were adjusted to either focus on the boxes of „water‟ or the Greek cross in between. The fountain in front is borrowed from the local garden house, having a basin of water in the bottom to pump an „endless‟ supply of water flowing over the edges. 3 sets of four 4x2x2 boxes were made to form Greek crosses at points around the room for interactive components of worship including communion. Slides 13, 15, 14 – “Pentecost and the Seven Churches” Origami Bird installation During the season of Pentecost our pastor focused on a series of messages on the seven churches in Revelations. We chose a modern interpretation of the 7 lamp stands using paper lanterns from IKEA as a focal point on the stage. Above the lamps were origami birds of 7 different colors. In the foyer we strung nearly 700 birds in those 7 colors and staggered them in arrangement to create a „raining-down‟ affect as you walked beneath them. Each strand including the lantern strands began with white at the top, resembling Christ ascended to Heaven and the dissention of colored birds beneath the white one representing the vibrant gifts of the Spirit to the churches. Slides 26, 27 “Vertical Habits: The focus of Our Words to God” Word Spirals As part of the Vertical Habits project by the Institute for Christian Worship we developed a design representing our words going up to God. Rather then dissipating like smoke, these words help us narrow our focus on God. At first these words may not be habit. But as we practice these words they become habit, helping us give God what‟s due Him. A simple, hand adjusted coil of copper tubing is threaded through 7 sock-like tubes of fabric that had each been painted with a phrase in different languages. We used overheads to trace the font words onto the fabric and then painted them in. The fabric was only secured at the top to keep it from slipping and the coil was hung on a fisherman‟s swivel to allow the spirals to move and be affected by wind movement. Other coils with no words were hung above the congregation to strengthen and echo the symbol.
Slides 43-45, 49, 50 “Kairos” Metaphor of the Sphere This particular series was slow in development but the pastor knew he wanted to center around the phrase in Galatians 4:4 “When time had fully come, Christ was born..” This phrase refers to the development of the universal Greek language, the booming shipping industry carrying cargo and message to the ends of the world and the development of roads so, for the first time, people were mobile and could travel from area to area quite easily spreading news and information. The use of the word time here is kairos meaning the convergence of conditions contributing to a spiritual event rather than chronos which refers more to a linear sequence. After much discussion we began to be drawn to the idea of a hoop with smaller candles leading to a large candle representing the kairos moment but felt is was still to linear. So we combined several hoops together to form a sphere. In this sphere there are many „hoops‟ traveling different trajectories. But at places they intersect, representing the „coming together of conditions‟ for a spiritual event to take place. The largest sphere has candle holders welded at major intersections to represent the kairos moments. These were lit during readings at the beginning of our gatherings taking on the role of an Advent wreath. Slides 53, 54 – “Breaking Down the Barriers” Invisible Walls This series of sermons focused on our need to break down barriers. During the discussions with the pastor it became clear that many of our barriers are not readily apparent to us until God moves us into them, smacking our heads against them at times. If we stand still it appears there are no barriers in our lives. But when we try to navigate life we come up against them. In our foyer we suspended many sheets of 4x8 plexiglas as symbols of the many invisible barriers in our lives. It made trafficking our foyer somewhat inconvenient but became memorable during the course of the series as reminders of the barriers needing removal in our own lives. The last sermon focused on prayer as the thing that makes these barriers plain to us so they may be removed. At the end of the sermon people were invited to approach stations with leftover pieces of Plexiglas and place a finger print of ink on them as a symbol of their desire for God to reveal their barriers as they pray to Him. These pieces were then connected together and hang in a window of our foyer as reminder to pray and to remove our barriers. Slide 56 – Broken People at Christ‟s Table – a story of Mephibosheth. In David‟s time, physically disabled people were considered impure and not appropriate to be in the presence of the King. But David, in an effort to show kindness to his deceased friend Jonathan, invites Mephibosheth to not only live in his house but eat at his table. Mephibosheth protests, reminding David of his broken physical condition but David insists. Here in lies a picture of Christ‟s invitation to us. We are broken and sometime protest Christ‟s invitation, saying “surely You don‟t want the likes of me at Your table.” None the less, Christ assures us of the welcome that exists for us to join Him in eternal life, dinning with Him for eternity. Upon entering the gathering, each individual was given a broken tile. They were asked to hold that tile and consider the brokenness in their life. Then they were asked to remind themselves that they are welcome at Christ‟s table, to receive forgiveness, comfort, sustenance and healing. During that meditation time mortar was spread in an edged plywood table top. As a culmination to their time with God they were invited to come and press their broken tile into the soon-to-be table top as a reminder to all that they/we are welcome at Christ‟s table, broken and all. The final product was a table top that now serves as one of our communion table options. People still point out their piece and still, years later, remember that broken people are welcome at the King‟s table. Slides 58-60 Our Sins are Nailed to the Cross One of our team mates, Marjie Young worked on this beautiful but dark image of our sins being nailed to the cross. During our Stations of the Cross exhibit each Holy Week people trace Christ‟s steps to the cross. This particular station invited people to drive a nail into the cross and hang a led weight they threaded with string there. Behind was a modern art interpretation of the crucifixion. The final product was a cross that seemed to „drip‟ with black. A dark but powerful image that the cross bore our sins in the body of Jesus in my stead. Hallelujah.