PAM 2021 Worship & Music Conference worship installation

The major source inspiration for this work is Indian Christian artist Jyoti Sahi. I had the good fortune of meeting him on a trip to Southern India while I was a student at Columbia Theological Seminary. Sahi uses mandalas to represent the movement and identity of God and to engage with parables and other texts from Scripture.

Jyoti Sahi also uses the structure of a mandala to explain the Trinity. The mandala often has a radial design; at the center point is God the creator, source, and mystery; you can see a circle at the center of my installation that represents the same. The radius—what radiates from the center—represents the movement of the Spirit. And the circumference images Christ, the fullness of God and the completion of God’s promises.

I created a radial design on five banners, which from left to right reflect the texts for each day of worship during the conference. During each day of worship, a circular medallion and block-printed linen paraments were added to the installation to further emphasize each Liturgical focus, and the overall movement of worship through the theme, “Gathered in God’s Name”. There is no right way to see this work or exact meaning, whatever you see is true and right and good.

Banner 1- The left-most banner represents Pentecost. I wanted to visually fill the space to represent the wind and sound felt and heard that day. Above the head of each person is three flames (trinitarian symbolism is important to me). The red medallion for this day pulls the image of the three flames from the banner, which shows people who are open to the visions from, and movement of, the Spirit.

Banner 2- On Day 2 we celebrated Baptism of the Lord. I wanted the first and second banners to have interplay – we are gathered in the midst of wind and sound and also at the waters of baptism. So, the hands of one of the people in the first banner—one who is in the fire—also has hands in the water of the second banner. The blue medallion features a bird like a dove—the description of the Holy Spirit from Acts—while the banner itself features the swirling movement of water.

Banner 3- Reign of Christ is the focus of Day 3 and serves as the central point of the five banners. Jesus is not like earthly kings we know, but a just ruler, like the morning sunrise and the light gleaming off the grass, as 2 Samuel says. Here I offer the dual images of the sun, or the just ruler, and Christ as the morning star. Simplified laurel branches, hearkening back to the Roman era when victors would be crowned with laurel, are joined by stylized mountain laurel flowers, referring to a king who makes sure that all people have what they need. The symbol at the center is also an 8-pointed star, signifying the 8th day of creation, another pointer to Christ as alpha and omega.

So far, then, you can see from left to right, the Spirit descending in the downward movement of the first two banners, the alpha and omega at the center, and then ascending movement in panels 4 and 5.

Banner 4- On Day 4, we celebrated Ash Wednesday. I began with the idea of dust and our own fragility and mortality. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” we say on this day. And yet there is a hopeful turn. This banner includes the hyssop flower (mentioned in  Psalm 51) and reflects our confessional posture. From the bottom of the banner, where there is dust, fragility, and confession, we see blossoms arising until flowers are in full bloom. It represents the movement from Ash Wednesday to All Saints (Day 5), when we give thanks for those who have gone before us. The flowers at the top of the banner are modeled on fire poppies, which grow and thrive in ash, just as we arise and bloom from the ashes and dust.

Banner 5- The fifth banner represents World Communion. The words of Psalm 26 came to mind: I walk in faithfulness…in integrity…my foot stands on level ground. In this last banner you see barefooted people moving out, ready to act and empowered by the nourishing elements of Communion. The medallion placed at the center of the installation of on this day, contains all of the installation’s colors and creates visual continuity through all the days of worship.

All of the movement and imagery radiates out from the center—the mystery of God, a resting place for the eyes, the center of everything. The movement of the Spirit is all around—the breath of life, empowering. And the light of Christ holds everything together.