Prayers for peace and healing of the nations

Art, theology and reconciliation at Seattle University.

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AND MINISTRY, SEATTLE, USA

We taught a class at Seattle University; School of Theology and Ministry that worked with the power of art, community and imagination in social change and reconciliation. Our intensive week created a space for imagining and reimagining our own stories in community. Through art and dialogue we shared our individual creative energy from a place of wonder while creating the essential dynamic of community. Together we created a prayer canvas that drew us into a taizé style worship service. The interfaith service was an invitation to share our humanity, prayers for peace and reconciliation. 

Prayers from Guatemala

CLOUD FOREST CONSERVATION CENTER, 

COBAN, GUATEMALA

We returned from Guatemala over the weekend, and wanted to share a brief email with you.  The Prayer Canvas was a tremendous experience, and a highlight for the children of a local village school who participated with us.  Our group brought a 6’ x 6’ canvas divided into small squares, as well as several tubes of paint, brushes, and pencils (that we left behind for the school).  
 We were hosted by the Cloud Forest Conservation Center, located outside of Coban, Guatemala.  The local village had a 1-room school for about 30 students (9 preschoolers) and 1 teacher – from very poor families of Mayan descent who are farmers and laborers.  In total, there were 21 students from the village school, 4 adults (teacher and 3 fathers), our group of 11 travelers, and 5 from the host facility/school including their founders and staff.  It was a wonderful couple of hours as we prayed together, sang together, and shared our hopes and prayers through art.  It was so meaningful and amazingly quiet as we wrote and painted shoulder-to-shoulder.  
 
We wanted to thank you so much for sharing your idea with us, and allowing us to share ministry this way!
 
Intentionally, only about 1/3 of the canvas was painted.  The leaders at the CFC were so moved that they wanted to share it with other visiting groups.  They have a congregation visiting from South Carolina in July.  We left the entire canvas at their facility – where (once dry, paint doesn’t dry quickly in the rain forest!) a portion will be cut off for display in the village school as a reminder of our trip.  The remainder will be used at the CFC for other groups – and photos shared with Melissa and me (which we’ll continue to share with you).  
 
I’ve placed some photos in a shared Dropbox – you should have just received the link.
 
God’s blessings… and again our thanks to Chuck and Peg.
Paul
 

Prayers from Bethlehem, Palestine

photo © George Anderson Photography

DAR AL KALIMA COLLEGE, BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK, PALESTINE. We shared the canvas between members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Minneapolis) and art students from Dar Al Kalima College in Palestine. They brought beauty and expression as their visual prayers and laments came along side so many others praying for peace, reconciliation and healing of the nations. It was a gift from them to witness to their passion for art and to be part of our global prayer canvas. This canvas travels back to the United States and William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where we will be facilitating a series of workshops with opportunity to invite faculty and students to add their prayers.

Praying with color and symbol.

ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA. Nineteen people from the NW MN Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church planned to travel to India this past November to meet with their Sister Synod in Andhra Pradesh, India. The purpose of their meeting was to strengthen their ties and relationships. They visited churches, schools and hospitals to learn about India, their history, culture and religions. As they were planning ways to strengthen their relationships between the two synods and their common faith, the team thought about the power of sharing prayer and creating art. The World Canvas Project does both and decided to create a canvas. They worked on the World Canvas twice: the first time at a School for the Blind, where students were helped writing prayers and placing their thumbprints next to their written prayers. The second time was at the Youth Festival in Visakhapatnam, where the students and adults crowded around the canvas to share painted prayers. Video by Linnea Popke–Larson.

Prayers from Andhra Pradesh

photo © Linnea Papke–Larson

CANVAS TRAVELS TO INDIA Reflection by 
Pr. Linnea Papke-Larson
First Lutheran Church
Bemidji, MN

ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA. Nineteen people from the Northwest Minnesota Synod of the ELCA recently traveled to our companion synod, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Andhra Pradesh, India. On November 2, 2012 we flew out of Fargo, North Dakota and many, many hours later landed in a place which felt at once foreign - in landscape and culture - and at the same time familiar - in the faces and greetings of our Indian friends who were awaiting our arrival and who had, the previous year, a similar experience “in our neck of the woods” in northwest Minnesota!

Prior to leaving Minnesota, we prepared a prayer canvas. People from congregations throughout our synod penciled their prayers onto the canvas and then covered them with the acrylic paint provided, in any kind of design desired. Block by block, our prayers were offered in a variety of words, contours, colors and hues, with plenty of blank space left open for the prayers of our companions on the other side of the world.

While in India, we traveled throughout Andhra Pradesh and visited many churches and ministries of the Lutheran church there - including schools for girls, colleges, the Bible women, an orphanage, a leprosy colony, a home for destitute women, a clinic, a school for the blind and their church youth festival! On several occasions we were able to share our prayer canvas and invite people to join their prayers with ours. At the blind school, we invited folks to offer their thumb print along with their prayers, and at the youth festival we were overwhelmed with the joyful responses of the youth and their leaders gathering around the canvas to share their hopes and dreams in Christ. Prayers written in both English and Telugu, they are covered in splashes of color and design that express our common faith.

This particular prayer canvas was designed so that we could cut it in half before we left - right down the middle, lengthwise, so that each half can be finished and hung as banners - one in our companion synod in India and one our Northwest Minnesota Synod, tangible reminders of our common relationship as we travel in our respective areas and tell the story of our partnership!

  

The color of prayer

photo © Genesis+Art Studio

HOLDEN VILLAGE, CHELAN, WASHINGTON, USA. It’s been almost two years since we began the World Canvas Project at Luther Seminary and have watched it grow beyond what we initially imagined. We have participated with communities around the globe and experienced groups beginning their own canvas to take it out into the world. We have witnessed the heart’s of many praying with color, shape and form to turn suffering into community, conflict into creative energy and for the strength to hold tension for the common good. This past summer, the World Canvas Project made its way up Lake Chelan to Holden Village. We were strangers to one another at the onset, but creating together we revealed what we have in common, generated new possibilities for growth in our minds and hearts. In every prayer lifted up, we wove threads of grace together to form a fabric of hope. With the mind, heart and hands we created something together that none of us could have created alone, lifting up prayers for the healing of the earth and for one another. We will return to this sacred place and to the friendships made. Until then we offer this prayer from the book, Earth Prayers:

We join with the earth and with each other.
To bring new life to the land
To restore the waters
To refresh the air

We join with the earth and with each other.

To celebrate the seas
To rejoice in the sunlight
To sing the song of the stars

We join with the earth and with each other.

To create the human community
To promote justice and peace
To remember our children

We join with the earth and with each other.

We join together as many and diverse expressions
    of one loving mystery: for the healing of the
    earth and the renewal of all life.

One prayer among many

ONE PRAYER AMONG MANY

Reflection by Marissa Danney

Chaplain, Ghost Ranch

ABIQUIU, NEW MEXICO, USA. A prayer canvas was begun by youth at the Ghost Ranch Conference Center in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

The youth participating in Youth Programming at Ghost Ranch began a prayer canvas as they dedicated an evening to prayer and creativity.

Ranging from age 5 to 19, the youth crouched on the floor, writing and painting. Most seemed to appreciate the privacy that painting over their prayer offered, while also joining their prayer among the many other prayers already represented.

Though this prayer canvas will not travel away from Ghost Ranch, it will be added to by the many youth who travel to Ghost Ranch each week and each year.

Turning towards one another

Agape Center, Ghost Ranch photo © Genesis+Art Studio

GHOST RANCH, ABIQUIU, NEW MEXICO, USA. The World Canvas traveled from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland to Ghost Ranch, the Presbyterian retreat center that was formerly the studio and inspiration for American Artist, Georgia O’Keefe. This particular worship experience (and the setting) provided a thin space in which prayer and art were the mediums between our humanity and the divine. The prayers formed with word, color, shape and form seemed an appropriate silent language to lift up our prayers together. Nearly 50 people, children, youth and adults moved from the Sacrament of Communion to the sacrament of art and prayer. Someone made the remark that to watch the silhouettes of the people moving about the table, with a backdrop of the high desert mountains, became a prayer of movement. 

Heaven of the Heart

photo © Genesis+Art Studio

BANGOR, NORTHERN IRELAND. Our fifth prayer canvas began at our workshop Heaven of the Heart held at the Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church in Bangor. Twenty four artists joined us for a day of creative and art exploration. We concluded our time together by offering painted prayers on the World Canvas. The canvas will be part of our workshop and worship service at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico the end of June. The original canvas has been completed and is being prepared for its final home at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

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

Dancing with God at Saint Andrews Lutheran

MAHTOMEDI, MINNESOTA, USA. Nearly forty youth gathered in the sports center at St. Andrews Lutheran Church to bring their prayers, both image and word, to the World Canvas Project. After a time for reflection the canvas was filled with their art and prayers. We then gatherd around the canvas for a community prayer for all those who had painted on the canvas and those yet to come. Their energy and enthusiasm were expressed with passionate color and form as they shared their faith through the gift of creativity. – Saint Andrews Lutheran Church

An evening at Edina Community Lutheran Church

EDINA, MINNESOTA, USA. We have a lot to learn from our youth in how they engage with their creativity in a bold and fearless way. After the Bonfire service the congregation broke into four groups to explore with their heads, hearts and hands including on the World Canvas Project. They gathered around the table to share in community prayer expressed in both Word and image. It was a contemplative evening of prayer, creativity and community.

“Bonfire is a service designed around the ancient Christian ordo – with a twist. We gather around Jesus’ table, as Christians have done for centuries. But, in a pattern being renewed in Scandinavia and Austria, we spend time in the midst of this worship with various responses: prayer, singing, journaling, creating art, doing justice. The Word becomes flesh IN us as we respond “Here I AM.”

– Edina Community Lutheran Church

Prayers and reflections from Iraq

MY REFLECTIONS FROM IRAQ by Capt. Shannon Brusseau, US Army

MOSUL, IRAQ. After over six years in the Army and two deployments, I have learned a great deal about myself and my faith. Growing up in a loving and faith oriented home always allowed me a venue and support network to nurture my beliefs. Even in college, when I struggled to find a church family that would give me the support network that I needed while away from home, I was still able to maintain my faith and beliefs. Being in the military is one of the biggest, and fastest, culture shocks a person can experience. Although a seemingly conservative organization, the Army presents you with a diverse work environment that you will not likely experience elsewhere; we are the “melting pot” concept attributed to the US. We have people from all races, religions, and backgrounds.

I can proudly say that my two deployments helped me grow in my faith in a manner that I never could have anticipated when I decided to join active duty. During my first deployment, my faith and church group allowed me to not only worship with other believers while I was deployed but gave me a support structure and helped me to build relationships with my Soldiers and my peer Officers. This was critical to my ability to do my job as I deployed immediately following my graduation from the Officer Basic Course and met my unit in country. The unit already had procedures in place and everyone had their friends and routines. Having a church family while deployed helped me integrate and made me feel closer to my family back in the US.

During my second deployment, I actively sought a church family as I knew the importance it would have to my life and my ability to make it through the deployment with a positive attitude. I was very blessed to join a church group that had a very diverse makeup: Soldiers, Officers and civilians from various units as well as brothers and sisters from our base’s Ugandan security team. The most amazing part of the experience was knowing that no matter what rank, religious background, country or ethnicity we were, we all prayed for the same things: health, patience, love, guidance, healing.

I had the privilege to spend my Easter at an emotional service at Saint Elijah’s monastery. What an amazing feeling to be standing where one of God’s chosen once walked and preached. My chaplain, Captain Hodge, spoke one Sunday of the history of Mosul, Iraq and how we were serving in God’s country. How amazing! We served our country where Jonah and Elijah once served our Lord! I also had the privilege to work with the Provincial Reconstruction Team that worked with local Iraqi women who were trying to start businesses, build parks and improve the overall quality of living in their towns. If this in itself was not inspiring enough, these women told us stories of their faith and, some of them, their conversion to Christianity. They spoke of the trials they endured and the persecution that they willing endured for their faith. How blessed we are to live in a country where we do not have to be afraid to believe in our God!

This World Canvas Project was a great blessing and I am grateful that my Uncle Chuck saw fit to include me in it. Although the logistics did not work out, it even inspired one of the local Iraqi Generals, General Mohammad, who desired to be a part of the project but was unable to due to his travel obligations in the region. The message that we all wanted to convey is this: without the love, support and prayers of those back home we would not be able to serve our countries as we do; the emotional, physical and psychological strains would be unbearable. So, for that reason (and a lack of access to paint), we wrote our unspoken prayers and requests on the prayer canvas hoping that those back home would finish our prayers for us; for it is only with your support and prayers back home that we can serve as we do.

Much love! God bless!

Prayers from Iraq

MOSUL, IRAQ. A second World Canvas has returned from Iraq where prayers and petitions for support, family, health, patience, love and healing were shared. Both Iraqi, American and those serving in the region shared together their thoughts and prayers.

Painting as prayer

OLATHE, KANSAS, USA Christ the Servant Church added their prayers to the World Canvas Project in an evening of worship and fellowship. Following Pastor Lee's sermon and reflections on prayers, the congregation gathered around the table for community prayer that was expressed in both word and image. – Christ the Servant Church

Communal Prayer

A NIGHT WITH THE WORLD CANVAS
by Lee Jost, Pastor Christ the Servant Church

Olathe, Kansas, USA. Last Sunday night was a memory for a lifetime. Seriously. Christ the Servant gathered for our evening worship service, guests began to arrive; the school was set up wonderfully. As guests came in they were greeted, and then they walked down the hall to the auditorium. The hall was lined with poster-sized pictures of recent Christ the Servant events. Upon entering our worship center one could not help but expect something different. There was a 20’ canvas on the platform. There were small paint containers and brushes. The night was focusing on prayer, and after our worship and a message about prayer, we all were invited by Chuck Hoffman to partake in the World Canvas.

The World Canvas is a prayer. People of various communities have written prayers on the canvas and then added a layer of paint over the written prayer to create a tapestry of color and meaning. Each prayer is contained on a three inch square. Each square is the same size, representing God’s receiving all prayer equally. Each prayer is covered with different colors and designs, representing human uniqueness. People watched, wrote, painted and prayed as a community. Our prayers were joined spiritually and physically with communities of people we will never meet yet are united with in Christ. In our own way Christ the Servant was a diverse group that night. We were people from different denominations, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Covenant. We were a group of diverse heritage, diverse age, and diverse theology. Yet together we created something beautiful as we prayed together. It was an amazing exercise in praying with each other and those who are hundreds and thousands of miles away.

You will want to visit our photo gallery and see some of the pictures from the night. Soon, we will also have a video too. We want to extend our thanks to Chuck and Peg, who gave us an opportunity to do something unique Sunday. Something I will never forget.