Standing on Holy ground

TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES Reflection by Rev. Kris Tostengard Michel, Bethlehem Lutheran Church

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, USA. We were learning the story of God's call to Moses the day our preteens added their prayers to the canvas. "Take off your shoes," God said, "for you're standing on holy ground." The kids enjoyed walking around the large canvas surveying the art work of the others who had already painted over their prayers as they thought about what they would create themselves. One boy said to me, "I'm trying to decide whether to pray for a new video game or something else." An interesting prayer request, I thought. A few minutes later he sought me out and said, "I decided to pray for resurrection." "A new video game?" I asked. "No, resurrection for my dad," he said. The boy's dad had died a year earlier. The canvas was an invitation to articulate the thoughts on his heart. It was a structure, a form, a way to speak to God. I felt the impulse to take off my own shoes.

A fourth canvas begins at Bethlehem Lutheran

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, USA.The World Canvas Project was part of the Sunday morning gathering of 5th and 6th graders at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. They needed little encouragement as they each took time to create a prayer painting. Over 70 children and adults helped to complete the original canvas and began a new one. The World Canvas that started at Bethlehem Lutheran is intended to travel to Belfast in 2012 and Palestine in 2013.

Blessings!

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, USA. The World Canvas Project has made its way to our Genesis+Art Studio for its preparation for its display and final home at Luther Seminary. My wife Peg and I spent time with Jan Richardson placing our prayers in the few remaining squares on the canvas alongside the petitions of so many other folks before us. The prayer canvas has been filled with beautiful pieces of art that have no boundaries of age or gender or race or faith tradition, but all equally lifting up our prayers. Together, in the process we created something beautiful together. Four new canvases have begun and we hope to have them travel to Belfast, Palestine, Israel, Istanbul, Turkey, Holden Village and congregations in the coming year.

I think it is a canvas that seeks to recover the deepest meaning of art. A meaning through a multitude of expressions seeking to find the path of beauty, which leads to God. These artistic, prayerful expressions of color, form, shape and word are born of faith and hope and are a manifestation of that faith. Expressing our prayers through art can offer us a moment of grace, a time to stop and contemplate and like prayer, rise up towards God. Wherever prayer is lifted up–so are we as well.

O Lord our God, In the quiet contemplation of our hearts through pencil, brush and color, accept our art and prayers graciously, as an act of love for you. + Amen

Lifting prayers for East Belfast

PRAYERS FOR SKAINOS AND EAST BELFAST

by Sara Cook, Director of Family and Community, East Belfast Mission

EAST BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND. Inner East Belfast is a place defined, in many ways, by the legacy of its past. It is the home of the shipyards that built the Titanic and was the birthplace of more than its share of famous people such as musician, Van Morrison, and Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis. Sadly, it is also a place deeply scarred by Northern Ireland’s Troubles and by the economic blight that followed in the wake of the conflict. Its proud past sits alongside its current ranking as one of the most socially deprived areas in Northern Ireland.

East Belfast Mission (EBM) is a Methodist church and social service organization right at the heart of Inner East Belfast with a mission to transform and renew the local community. When we think about how to move beyond East Belfast’s past and build toward a new future, among the tools that come to mind in achieving potential change are the creative arts. And, while scores of famous musicians and writers come from East Belfast, the local community that is most impacted by economic blight have very little access to or interaction with the creative and performing arts.

It is into this environment that Chuck and Peg brought their World Canvas and other creative projects during their recent trip to Northern Ireland. During the course of two weeks, Peg and Chuck brought the World canvas to members of the congregation at EBM, local members of the community who regularly participate in EBM’s community-based work, local children and young people, and the staff of EBM. In each case, people were encouraged to express their prayers and hopes, not only for the world, but also for the future of their own community.

Because many people from the local community in East Belfast have not had the opportunity to be exposed to art-making or creative processes, we weren’t exactly sure how people would respond to the workshops. However, not only were people delighted with the World Canvas sessions, they embraced a conversation about how to bring more creative work into the local community.

Based on the warm reception to the World Canvas, EBM hopes to continue to work with Chuck and Peg and the local community to create a special local canvas that will allow the wider community to share their hopes, wishes, and prayers for the future of East Belfast. Big thanks to Peg and Chuck for their awakening of the artistic spirit in East Belfast this summer!

To learn more go to: Skainos Project

A new prayer canvas for the East Belfast Mission and the Skainos Project

EAST BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND. We have created a new prayer canvas for the congregation and leadership at the East Belfast Mission. Their prayers for the new facility, mission and ministry have already begun to fill the canvas. The prayer canvas when completed will find its home in Skainos and the East Belfast Mission.

The Skainos Project is a flagship redevelopment scheme on a brownfield site in the Ballymacarrett area of East Belfast. When completed, the Skainos Project will be inclusive of the whole community, where people can gather, eat meals together, worship, and find help for health, employment, education, childcare, housing, and spiritual concerns.

Derived from a biblical Greek word and rooted firmly in Christian tradition and history, the name Skainos speaks of the importance of practical engagement with a community by figuratively pitching a tent in its midst, and it hints at the notion of hospitality and the extended family. An alternative meaning for the word is as a description of the frailty of human beings. It stands therefore as a useful counterbalance to the temptation to focus solely on new buildings to the detriment of serving people.

The Skainos Project is about the future. It’s about meeting the present and prospective needs of this community. It’s about building a partnership of public agencies, private bodies, community groups and church and harnessing that partnership for the benefit of East Belfast. It’s about integrating care and developmental support for children, families, young people, people who are homeless or unemployed, and the elderly. And it’s about providing shared space for people from all backgrounds and communities in East Belfast.

Images © Genesis+Art Studio