Banner Fellowship
When our church (Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, St. Thomas, Ontario) started worshiping together four and a half years ago, we had two problems: First, the gym we met in reminded us more of a tightly closed shoe box than a sanctuary. Second, our teenagers "didn't have any place to go" after worship while parents enjoyed coffee and attended classes.
That's when we thought of making banners. It was an activity that would keep our teenagers active, and we could use the banners to decorate the gym. Slowly the following concept evolved: banners are a communal worshiping tool (rather than a piece of art alone) and should therefore be the community's project and expression. Although our church has appointed a banner-making coordinator, our banners are seldom the reflection of one person's or one committee's artistic expression. The adults, teenagers, and children of our congregation have made banners together at our church picnic (each family brought good-quality material scraps, and we worked together on the picnic table), at household of faith meetings, and during fellowship hour.
Though our banners often lack the professional touch, they are our particular community's expression of God's grace in our lives.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with or less beautiful about professionally or semi-professionally made banners. I do feel, however, that art in church, like music and dance, generally shouldn't become a "spectator's sport."
I enjoy your banner column in Reformed Worship. It's always good to peek into other churches' sanctuaries.
Nancy Heule
St. Thomas, ON
Not Our Style
Our worship committee chose "An Invitation to a Journey" by Gordon Dragt as a guideline for our Lenten services this year ["Service Planning Ideas for Lent," RW 14]. However, when we reached the plans for the fourth Sunday, we all felt that the style was not that well suited for our type of services. Mostly, we felt that the content did not sufficiently focus in on the suffering and resurrection of Christ for this specific season— however much we agreed with the author's desire to relate that suffering and celebration to our lives today. So I took the liberty to rewrite the next ones.
Generally our worship committee enjoys Reformed Worship very much.
Peter Sluys
Terrace, BC