Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Fall Series, 2010


The idea of the next series (September 19-end of October) is "Relational IQ". I spoke with Pastor Jonathan today regarding the series, and he is contemplating using Philippians 2 as his central scripture. Understand, of course, that this is a fluid and organic process. Pastor Jonathan will focus on going where the Holy Spirit leads him to go with this series. That's what makes him such a great pastor.

The idea of the series and scripture is Christ is present in every relationship (not only family related, but work relationships, friendships, neighbors, etc), although not everyone recognizes Him. Philippians talks about living with humility, looking at the interests of others. What does that look like in our everyday relationships? And for those relationships that we have with non-believers, it is all the more important to live that out as it will then open up the doors to ultimately share the Gospel with them.

Pastor Jonathan mentioned a few times to me that Christ isn't necessarily the central figure in every relationship. We know this, of course. Think about the last conversation you had with a family member, friend, or co-worker that DIDN'T involve Christ. I DO THAT EVERY DAY! But the underlying message is that Christ is in the background, always present. Our job is to live with humility, always loving, always shining Christ's light for others to see, although not always verbally proclaiming it. How much more affective is it for someone to notice when we are honest, hard-working, compassionate, or to say "how do you do it?" That is the opportunity then to verbally introduce Christ into the relationship. We earn that opportunity by how much we invest in our relationship with them.

I saw something a few months ago that I really liked, when I was visiting BW. They had made an entire wall from different colored strips of cloth, varying lengths, some patterned some not, all tied at different random angles to each other. I really thought it was incredibly interesting visually. I got to thinking about how all relationships are different. Every single one is unique in itself, with no two being the same. I imagined the entire back wall being covered with this knotted up, random lengths of fabric at different angles. In the sketch, I had placed a cross that would stand out in the center of the fabric, thinking all relationships in our lives are based upon our relationship with Christ. The cross itself would have been white fabric or something that would stand apart from the rest of the wall. I will sketch a quick pic and attach it to this blog. Again I would go with multi-colored fabrics, some patterned, all at random lengths and angles, all knotted together in some way.

After showing the sketch to Pastor Jonathan, he asked about perhaps putting the cross BEHIND the fabric wall, again pointing to the idea that Christ isn't always the focus of our relationships but is always present in them. He also talked about perhaps forming words inside the fabric wall with certain pieces of fabric. He didn't have any specific words, but it's something to think about.

One more thing to ponder. There is no official title yet. Let's get creative with that as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen, START YOUR IMAGINATIVE ENGINES!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks Charley! Way to get this all started. I will be interested to see what the team comes up with!

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  2. Hey, I was thinking more about the idea that Pastor Jonathan wanted the cross to be present, but not the focus. Being the lighting designer, I can work with myself to accomplish that sort of thing. =)

    What is we create the fabric wall with no crosses or anything in it. Then I can light the wall from the front with something called a "gobo", which is light shining through a pattern. The pattern would be a cross. I could shine it ON the wall cross for emphasis in the morning, but that wouldn't work for the evening, as we have a large screen that drops down in front of the wall cross. I could instead use 2 lights, one to the left and one to the right of the center screen, to project the cross image on the wall.

    The beauty of using the lighting fixtures is that I can make it show up or disappear whenever we want. I have have it very dim, so it's just the hint of a cross (which is where I think Pastor Jonathan wants to go). Also, depending on the type of fabric that is hit by the light, it might shimmer or shine, and it will certainly create interesting shadows on the wall.

    What do you guys think? Anyone have any good ideas for a title yet?

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  3. Willard, I like what you posted above under "Fall Series". I agree that a spider web is something we have to avoid, and so the "randomness" of the design will have to be such that there isn't an octagon, no recognizable patterns, etc.

    As far as scale, this "curtain" or "wall" (which do you want to call it?) will go from the floor up to the ceiling and will include most of the wall space between the large screens that are on the left and right walls. We're thinking BIG, talking BIG!

    I like the idea of referring to a formula. Pastor Jonathan mentioned maybe having something spelled out by the fabric. Perhaps we can spell out the formula in the curtain? Or is this maybe too obscure of an idea? I think it'd have to be something that Pastor Jonathan referred to, so I'll bring this up to him the next time I see him.

    Keep it coming!

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