Friends,
As we shared last Wednesday, we are discontinuing our Wednesday
Mid-Week Update, and the Friday newsletter will continue to be our primary outlet for information.
Beginning today, the Monday
Spotlight will be a place we can focus on particular stories from people, ministry teams, small groups, and so on in terms of how we are living out our faith as individuals and a community.
Please join us as we experiment with this
Spotlight offering on Mondays as a new way of attending to the importance of connection, storytelling and meaning in our life together in Christ.
Grace and Peace,
JC
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Announcing a new FPCB initiative
The Liminal Space Project:
Inspired Personal Experiences and Moments
Perhaps this is a new term for you - or one that you have just heard: "liminal space".
(For the linguists among us,
liminal comes from the word
limen, another word for "threshold".
Liminal is pronounced "LIM-uh-null" while
limen is pronounced "LYM-un".)
Right now in the Christian calendar, the Church is observing a liminal space - that time in the gospel story between Easter and Pentecost when Jesus has risen, but the Spirit has not yet arrived to empower the Church to go forth in ministry.
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Liminal spaces are transitional or transformative spaces. They are the waiting areas between one point in time and space and the next. Often, when we are in liminal spaces, we have the feeling of just being on the verge of something.
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It feels as if we stand in a space between two doors, the one a known (maybe a comfortable room you’ve left) and one unknown (maybe full of promise; then again maybe not) which you are about to enter.
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It is a graced time, but often does not feel “graced” in any way. In such space, we are not certain or in control. This global pandemic we now face is an example of an immense, collective liminal space.
An invitation for you:
For several months, a group of dedicated volunteers has gathered as the "Visual Arts Team", to bring beauty and meaning into our shared spaces. You may have noticed the textile wall hanging in the South Link or the beautiful creche vignettes around the church at Christmas.
Like the rest of us, the team has been prompted to 'pivot' from their original charge to create beauty in a physical space, to use art to bring us together and connect in a virtual space. They have worked hard to create an opportunity in this liminal space.
The Virtual Arts Team invites each of you to contribute a self-created piece that reflects an inspired personal experience or reaction while being held in a liminal space during this pandemic.
So, you're thinking - "I'm not an artist ... or a writer ... or a musician. What can I possibly contribute?"
Think about how you are spending your time right now. Are you taking walks in your neighborhood and noticing new things? Creating recipes with ingredients you've not used before? Finally tackling that box of random photos to put in albums? All of these activities are creative endeavors that can serve as inspiration, places or experiences in which you encounter God speaking to you.
Here are some ways to share your inspiration:
- Visual Arts: paint, photography, clay, fabric, video, origami, puzzle
- Literary Arts: poetry, short story, diary entry, drama, letter
- Music: vocal, instrumental, build an instrument
- Culinary Arts: baking, cooking, gardening
- Textile Arts: knitting, sewing, crocheting, quilting, embroidery
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For example, maybe a poem particularly touched you, like this one
(right)
. Perhaps the piece would inspire you to do a journal entry or reflection on how it gave you a new perspective, or affirmed your own thoughts. So your piece of writing - accompanied by the poem - would be your contribution.
Inspiration arrives at unex-pected moments as we move through this period - be open to the possibilities and enjoy this opportunity to share your story!
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How to participate:
First, and most importantly: This is not an assignment with a deadline or grades! This is an opportunity for you, should you feel so moved to participate.
For right now, your contributions will be shared in an online, virtual gallery. When we return to our physical space in the church building, they will also be displayed in the Rotunda outside the Kirk Center. They will be a physical representation of this very significant time in our collective history.
If you would like to make a contribution to the virtual online gallery (which will be housed on our website): submit it to
TheArts@fpc-bethlehem.org.
If you are not sure how to submit it (for example, maybe it's a video, or you have multiple images, or writing that you can't take a photo of) - please send us an email and describe your contribution. We will work with you to make it happen!
Thank you for your prayerful consideration of this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Join us for Midday Reflections
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You are welcome to join us, whenever you can. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday at noon for about 30 minutes. The group is going to be studying the reflections of
Fr. Richard Rohr
(noted above). Everyone is welcome - whether you are familiar with his work or not.
To join the Zoom meeting:
Via phone: call 929-205-6099 and when prompted, enter the Meeting ID followed by the # key. You will be asked to enter your participation ID - simply press the # key again.
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