I was recently invited to use my artistic abilities during a church service. The sermon was going to be based on Genesis 40 and one of the main points was to be about choosing to use gifts and abilities even in difficult circumstances. The church speaker felt it would be a great opportunity for me to use the gift of art as a form of worship – something this church had never done before and something which I had never done in a public setting. I was given a lot of freedom with the project; I was simply invited to come up with an idea that was art based, tied in with the message of the sermon and encouraged the people at church to take part.
Eventually I settled on one main idea and put it forward as a suggestion to the church leader. Once given the Okay, I began gathering the required materials: a large sheet of black cloth, lots of white primer, a paintbrush, a basin and towels. We pinned the black cloth to a spare wall partition and laid everything else out on a nearby table ready to go.
When the church service began, it was explained that during the time of praise there would be the chance to join in with singing as usual, but also with art. As the band played the first song I drew the outline of a dove in primer on the black sheet. As we continued through the time of worship, people came up to the front one by one and I painted their hands white. They then printed their white hands inside the lines of the dove, filling it with beautiful, soft feathers.
When the church service began, it was explained that during the time of praise there would be the chance to join in with singing as usual, but also with art. As the band played the first song I drew the outline of a dove in primer on the black sheet. As we continued through the time of worship, people came up to the front one by one and I painted their hands white. They then printed their white hands inside the lines of the dove, filling it with beautiful, soft feathers.
The bible often talks about light and darkness. God's people are called to live in, reflect and be filled with the light of God. The verse that first came to mind when developing this project was from Philippians 2 where we are told to live lives that 'shine brightly' in a world of darkness. The dove is a symbol of peace, hope and the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12 we read about how the Holy Spirit distributes gifts to God's people so that we can help one another. As people placed their hand prints on the sheet, black was slowly replaced with white and the image of a dove eventually shone brightly out against the dark background.
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