One of the areas of responsibility for me working at a church is church decor. If you know me than you can see how God has a sense of humor. Church decor? Really? Quick Bible history inserted here.
The Levites from the Old Testament were the appointed worship leaders in the day. You can read about them in Chronicles (both books) and Numbers. These guys not only played the music, but they were in charge of making the church look good with decorating. Now its my job. Thanks guys!
The idea behind church decor is to stay seasonal. Just like the malls and department stores. The big difference is we don't decorate in advance of the holiday and we stick to one at a time. We decorate for Christmas, just days before the celebration. We don't put out the wise men until they appear historically in the story, which is after the birth.
A quick side note. A pastor once told me that his first assignment as a young priest in a large church was to put out the giant manger scene in the front yard of the church, which happened to be on the corner of a very busy intersection. It was the first Sunday in Advent, four weeks before Christmas. He went to the storage room and put all the stuff out, including the wise men and baby Jesus. When the Senior Priest saw this he immediately shouted at the young priest to get them out of the scene. As the pastor tells it, "the senior Priest called me into his office and said "This is humiliating! Clearly the wise men don't come until after the birth! Now everyone will think we don't know the story of Christmas!" So he went out and took away the wise men and baby Jesus before the whole town would see it. Unbeknownst to them, while they were discussing the problem in the office, a reporter from the local paper shot a picture that was published the following morning on the front page. Wise men and Jesus front and center with the church name clearly in view. 40 years later he is still a priest. Christmas still came.
This week we celebrate Pentecost. I love the images of Pentecost. The color red, Holy Spirit flames, and fire. The Spirit as a bird of peace, and the dove. These are all good images, but why do people insist on using them all together. Come to my church and look above the drums. We have a red banner of a dove barely escaping the mountain of flames below. "Fly higher little bird!" is what a friend said to me.
On the front of our altar, the hanging piece of cloth is officially called a frontal. Aptly named. We use a red frontal for Pentecost. The flames look so slick one person commented that it looks like our church is sponsored by NASCAR. Sure I get that, but once again we have a poor little bird caught it some sort of telephone wire as it was about to fly into the flames. It looks like we are celebrating a sacrifice with a roasted bird. Who makes these banners? Try to stick with one theme. Either the bird or the flames.
A few years back someone on the decorating committee (which we no longer have) recommended hanging red cloth around the cross to look like flames coming out. I rejected that idea saying I didn't think a burning cross was the image we should be going for, especially when all our priests were wearing white robes. Just saying.
The Levites from the Old Testament were the appointed worship leaders in the day. You can read about them in Chronicles (both books) and Numbers. These guys not only played the music, but they were in charge of making the church look good with decorating. Now its my job. Thanks guys!
The idea behind church decor is to stay seasonal. Just like the malls and department stores. The big difference is we don't decorate in advance of the holiday and we stick to one at a time. We decorate for Christmas, just days before the celebration. We don't put out the wise men until they appear historically in the story, which is after the birth.
A quick side note. A pastor once told me that his first assignment as a young priest in a large church was to put out the giant manger scene in the front yard of the church, which happened to be on the corner of a very busy intersection. It was the first Sunday in Advent, four weeks before Christmas. He went to the storage room and put all the stuff out, including the wise men and baby Jesus. When the Senior Priest saw this he immediately shouted at the young priest to get them out of the scene. As the pastor tells it, "the senior Priest called me into his office and said "This is humiliating! Clearly the wise men don't come until after the birth! Now everyone will think we don't know the story of Christmas!" So he went out and took away the wise men and baby Jesus before the whole town would see it. Unbeknownst to them, while they were discussing the problem in the office, a reporter from the local paper shot a picture that was published the following morning on the front page. Wise men and Jesus front and center with the church name clearly in view. 40 years later he is still a priest. Christmas still came.
This week we celebrate Pentecost. I love the images of Pentecost. The color red, Holy Spirit flames, and fire. The Spirit as a bird of peace, and the dove. These are all good images, but why do people insist on using them all together. Come to my church and look above the drums. We have a red banner of a dove barely escaping the mountain of flames below. "Fly higher little bird!" is what a friend said to me.
On the front of our altar, the hanging piece of cloth is officially called a frontal. Aptly named. We use a red frontal for Pentecost. The flames look so slick one person commented that it looks like our church is sponsored by NASCAR. Sure I get that, but once again we have a poor little bird caught it some sort of telephone wire as it was about to fly into the flames. It looks like we are celebrating a sacrifice with a roasted bird. Who makes these banners? Try to stick with one theme. Either the bird or the flames.A few years back someone on the decorating committee (which we no longer have) recommended hanging red cloth around the cross to look like flames coming out. I rejected that idea saying I didn't think a burning cross was the image we should be going for, especially when all our priests were wearing white robes. Just saying.
You must be very happy with what you are doing. I am also a dedicated Christian who wishes to help with the Church community on whatever endeavors they are promoting to all Christians. Although I've been very busy with work and maintaining our household, I still manage to offer some help to our Church.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Too many church staff forget that the people that volunteer their time for us have busy lives and still give extra hours on top of that. How many ministry staff people volunteer hours on top of the hours they are paid for working at a church? God bless you and your family Joshua!
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