Easter Focus

Tapestry

Tapestry is one of the world's oldest forms of narrative art. The weaver stretches warp yarns between two rollers on a loom. The weaver passes a bobbin between the warp yarns, pulling a line of weft yarn, line by line, changing colors as the design of the tapestry requires.

The picture of the tapestry begins to emerge as the tapestry is being woven. Unlike a painting, the picture is part of the very structure of the tapestry. The picture is the fabric.

The ministry of the church is a kind of tapestry. The story we tell is part of the very structure of our common life. The Kingdom of God emerges in our midst as we share life together. The gospel we have to share is the very structure of our lives woven together in faithful covenant community.

Exodus chapter 26 describes the construction of the Tent of Meeting, or Tabernacle, made of ten curtains. These were a series of Tapestries displaying cherubim, heavenly creatures of the divine court. The cherubim called to mind God's presence in the midst of the covenant community. To try to represent God directly would have reduced God to a graven image, a violation of the second Commandment.

The Gospel of Mark reports that when Jesus died, "the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from to bottom." This also was tapestry. It separated the "Holy of Holies," which symbolized the dwelling place of God, from the rest of the Temple. Many scholars believe it portrayed stars spread across a field of blue. This tapestry depicted the heavens that, in the Hebrew cosmology, separated God from his creation.

The ripping of this Tapestry in the temple dramatizes the claim of faith: that in Christ Jesus, God draws near to us in a radically new way. No longer a separated by the heavens, God in the power of the Holy Spirit moves in the midst of us, like the warp and weft of yarn on a cosmic loom.

We are devoting the Easter Season to a review of our parish ministries. Our theme is Tapestry because, like this ancient narrative art form, our lives woven together tell a story.

We devoted the season of Lent to developing a personal Rule of Life. Parishioners kept a Lenten discipline as they used our Rule of Life workbook to help them explore their faith and to come to a better understanding of their role in the Kingdom of God, like lines of yarn of unique color and texture.

Our parishioners are busy people. We keep our heads down and give ourselves to the vocation to which God has called each of us. Parents have their hands full just trying to feed the kids, get them into the bathtub, into their pajamas and into bed. Work in the Silicon Valley demands the very best of us, often over long hours.

In addition to these commitments, many of our parishioners have responded to God's call to service. They have embraced specific roles both within our parish and beyond our parish, to reach out to others with the love of Christ. Some work with our Social Services Ministry to support social service agencies and other partners in ministry. Others support families trying to raise their children in a healthy community. Still others work to provide pastoral care to people who are hurting.

It is little wonder we fail to see the big picture, the story of the Kingdom of God that is emerging in the midst of all of this faithfulness. Parishioners with head down, plugging away, making their unique contribution, may overlook the important work others are doing, or, they may even fail to value their own very unique and very important contribution.

Throughout the Easter Season we will lift up our heads and step back so we can see the wonderful Tapestry of the Kingdom of God. We hope to behold the wonderful work of art God is creating out of the very structure of our common life together in this faithful covenant community.

Monthly Focus Archive

2006:

Easter Focus: New Covenant
Lenten Focus: A Covenantal Response to Poverty
February Focus: Moving Forward

2005:

December Focus: Longing
November Focus: The Gift of Years
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Foundations
Summer Focus: The Book of Acts
Easter Focus: Tapestry
Lenten Focus: Rule of Life
January Focus: The Next Wave

2004:

December Focus: Surprising Grace
November Focus: Free Indeed
October Focus: Money Madness
September Focus: The Outrageous Promise
Summer Focus: Into the Fullness
June Focus: Thick Faith
Easter Focus: All Things New
Lent Focus: A Hungry World
February Focus: Commitment
January Focus: Unity

2003:

December Focus: Hope
November Focus: Worship
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Seasons of Faith
Summer Focus: The Gospel of John
May Focus: Faith
April Focus: Resurrection
March Focus: Truth
February Focus: Covenant Groups
January Focus: Sabbath

2002:

December Focus: Shut Up and Sing
November Focus: Spiritual Gifts
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Intentional Faith