Getting Ready for Holy Saturday
I love the stuff of ritual, and liturgy, and holy spaces. I love the high holy seasons. If I had any time after my family and ThPM, I would try to make a living consulting with churches and teaching them how to listen to their artists. I would try to show them how to let someone other than the worship team direct worship once in a while. I would show them how to reclaim our historical traditions and breathe new life into them. I would help them discover what the Jews mean when they say that every one of them has actually lived the experience of the Pass-over. I would release the worship of the artist. It is one of my great passions. “You have to use art to preach.”
Today, I hung out in the sanctuary of the Seattle Vineyard with Ryan and Charlie. It’s painted peach, but other than that it’s a perfectly lovely space with moveable chairs and gorgeous stained glass windows, a decent sound system and a killer digital projector – everything a “postmodern church” needs. (wink wink) The artful folks at Along the Way and the artful folk at ThPM have put their heads together and come up with seven or eight beautiful art-based meditation stations for our Holy Saturday service — Stations of the Christ. One of the things I like best about all this, all the gathering of red glass stones and feathers and black cloth, and Christmas lights (don’t forget the Christmas lights!) is that we are doing it together. It’s so gratifying to me, that we’ve found this common voice. I totally adore it. I just want to kiss everybody involved.
And I love, love, love that ThPM is able to take the art pieces that we have been meditating on all Lent and flesh them out – taking them from one dimensional color prints to three dimensional worship stations. They feel so God-breathed, since we’ve been with them all this time. It feels really so good. Solid. Genuine. Not just thrown up there to be interesting, you know. These pieces and they way they are spinning onward feel….lived. It’s sort of the same feeling I have when I look at this little scrap of paper Eden has propped up in our shrine. “C is for Cross, Mommy.”
When you live it, it gets in your bones. He gets in your bones. Incarnation.
Yesterday, I emailed Stephen from Along the Way in search of a barren tree to prop in one corner. Stephen is an architect and an amazing artist. He made this altar last year that just blew my mind. It weighs about 700 pounds – all rock and wood and steel. ThPM is graced to have three crystalline tear drops from the altar display last year. We keep them in our shrine, a salty bittersweet trinity. He’s so gifted, Stephen. He tells us true things. Anyway, we couldn’t use the beautiful tree canopy he had installed in his office lunch room, because it’s huge and beautiful and they don’t want to give it up. So I came up with this lame alternative involving a curtain rod. I could tell this displeased the artist in Stephen. The next morning I found a 10 foot tall tree branch lounging in the back of the sanctuary. Stephen just managed to find one on his way home from work the night before. (!) When Beattie and Charlie saw it they immediately came up with a perfect plan to get it upright, lashing it to a column in about 10 minutes, with Charlie artfully arranging the pliable branches to twist and stretch across the space. It would have taken me all afternoon. It’s going to be so moving backlit and shadowy on Holy Saturday, and so refreshing Easter morning bedecked in ribbons and “offerings” of art made by our congregants. This is what happens in community. This is what we cannot do when we are alone. It is a different kind of worship. It is all-you-angels-round-the-throne-praise-him. It is alleluia and thanks. It is a homecoming, creating space for a ruler who’s kingdom is come.
God, I hate the peach.
With so many artists, can’t they come up with a better color? Sometimes on Sunday morning, I felt like I was at war with that evil hue. It was like the demons of bad taste were flogging me during worship. Take that ye sinful rods and cones!!! Maybe that’s why I found it so much easier to worship with my eyes closed and my head pointed to the sky. It makes me wonder, “Is Satan a K-Mart shopper?”
-L
Why not include the artists in the worship team?
why is seattle so very far away??? pictures please?!?!?! you’ll be in my thoughts on my very boring saturday…
Ruth,
Actually, I think my friend April does this at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Maryland. Her personal blog is http://harpstrings.typepad.com/. We were never able to get this blended at “the big church” (i.e. Seattle Vineyard Sunday Morning.) But, the artists and musicians totally work together at our little ThPM (they have to, we’re so small!)
It’s hard for non-liturgical churches to start thinking of anything other than “music” as “worship.” Changing your language helps. For a time we referred to what we would normally call “worship” as “sung worship.” We referred to everything else as worship too — offering, announcement, sermon. I think this habit has fallen away now.
Does anyone else have a blended worship team? (artists and musicians?)
Rachelle
Wow, it’s amazing to read your description of the Stations that ya’ll are doing! There are so many similarities (in spirit and otherwise) with what we’re doing at Vineyard Central. we even have a big dead tree, ‘cept our is in the middle of the sanctuary (right under the big dome). it’s been so fun to put this together with the community. It has totally been a collaborative process in every way, very good. i’d love to hear how it goes/”compare notes”. It’s been cool to see the artist come alive, but likewise its been cool to see those who wouldn’t consider themselves artists to get their creativity-groove on. our link - http://www.viacrucis.info and http://kline.blogspot.com/stations.htm
oh, we also wrote our own liturgy for it - as a community. Something we’ve never done before, but very rewarding, fun, and meaningful. if anyone wants a copy (it will be in both spanish and english) let me know - aaronk@fuller.edu
we have had some success with blending visual artists and musical artists, as well as our dramatic artists and dancers in a ‘big church’ setting. They have been beautiful times - one in particular - a “Thank You” service was so powerful. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of team, a lot of unpackaging and repackagaing and creative juices but they are very special times. we are still learning though.
Rachelle,
I am late of the San Fernando Valley Vineyard, not there still because 15 years ago we moved 500 miles away- I love the Vineyards, find it fascinating how they run the gamut of styles, and pray for them every day.
And I wish I could go to your church. I wish you could consult for ours. I wish I knew who our artists are.
You are encouraging not only those who get to go to your church(es), but to so many who read your blog/articles. Thank you for giving your life. May you be blessed with the Presence, especially this week.
Dana
We have made a habit of including musicians, dancers (not liturgical, although sometimes choreographed), painters, sculptors, and poets in the “worship jam” format that we often use.
Part of that includes that everyone who plays anything can bring it to the jam, regardless of skill level, and play along. So far, that has meant guitars, keyboard, lots of djembe’s, a bass or two, and once even a sax — but there’s no sound system except for the voices of the four worship leaders.
Have as many as four (4) worship leaders, with no structured set list, no defined “rules” for “who leads next?”, and you’re set! Add dancers, visual artists, and poets to the mix, just so it doesn’t get too predictable.
Hopefully “polished sound” and “professionalism” isn’t as much of a value as “maximum participation” and “level playing field” and “releasing people”, because you’ll be really disappointed. For those musicians who are distressed by the lack of polish, I tell them “join a secular bar band (I have) for your musical goals. This is the Body at worship.”
(NOTE: Some people love it. Others hate it. You can’t help but offend someone, so choose who you’d rather offend and who you’re trying to minister with/to/among.)