Coloring in church

About a year ago I read this article about "Stick Figures as an Act of Worship", and I told my evening church kids that if they drew stuff during the sermon to show me afterwards.  (They didn't.  But they could have.)  And I, for a few weeks, pencilled bulletin marginalia during the sermons, mostly ASL images of hands signing key words, those no-head, ASL dictionary, line drawing stills with arrows to represent motion.  I had internalized a LOT of sermons on my hands in ASL, after all. I've said for years that kids (kids of all ages) can internalize sermons even when they don't get all the bits of it, and it's helpful to sit in the Deaf section and watch the signing, or better yet, sign along, or at least pick up a few key words, because that way you're engaging more of your senses. And hearies can't turn their ears off, so it goes in even if you're not paying attention. For a few years starting when I was about 5, our church met in a multipurpose space that also served as a ballet studio. I could not tell you how many sermons I listened to, sitting on the aisle, next to my dad, about 2/3 of the way towards the front of the congregation, but facing the barre mirror behind all of us instead of facing the pastor. So, on the one hand, sorry, Pastor Al, for not facing forward. And sorry to all those sitting behind me that I distracted by facing them head-on, even if I was looking at myself and not them. Yet on the other hand, there's not much I can be sorry for, because in the midst of all that I learned about the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15, and retained the brilliant mnemonic that God promised both the SEED and the DEED -- descendants as many as the stars in the heaven, and the promised land. Covenant Theology. Not bad for 5yo.

Then this Lent, our pastor started adding calligraphic pages into the bulletins.  Adults got half-sheets on cardstock with think-about-its on the back; kids got the same image on a full sheet of cardstock, on a clipboard.  They've had clipboards for the kids for almost as long as I've been worshipping at Grace Pres and had assorted kids' bulletins, images, activities and a huge coffee can of colored pencils that you can use a handful of pencils during the service and return afterwards.

But these coloring sheets (originals carefully inked by a member of the church who was teaching himself calligraphy) weren't just take-homes, or toss-its.  The pastor encouraged the kids to show him their work after the sermons.  And almost immediately he decided that for Lent he would rig up a way for everyone to be able to display their art in the lobby so it could be shared not just with him but with each other as well.

As it happens, just that week, one of my fellow Heart of the Triad Choral Society board members had pulled out this gorgeous set of assorted Sharpie pens in a hard case

and I immediately fell in love with it and purchased my very own set, receiving it literally the day before this momentous in-sermon "everyone can and should color" proclamation.

So. Much. Win.

Here is how I spent the sermons during Lent 2018:

       

(Same image twice, but I had a midweek service I went to and I somehow had an extra Sunday bulletin, so out came the Sharpies.)


By week 2 I was swiping a clipboard and a full-size piece from the kids' stash.

Usually I could get a big one, but not always.  Still pretty.

And then... catastrophe.

Somewhere between Palm Sunday (although after the madness of prepping for EOPS 10, because I had my Sharpie pens on Palm Sunday!) and Easter, my entire hard case went walkabout.

So I was forced back into pencilling.  You may not be able to tell, but I was aiming for the hands from Michelangelo's Creation of Adam.  It turned out better than I expected, actually.  (Although I didn't sign this one, possibly intentionally.)

But Sharpies are better.  And having turned the house upsidedown and run thru where in my life I might have left them, I went ahead and ended up buying another set.  Worth it.  (And I hope whoever found the first set is loving them too.  I wrote my name and phone on the new set so if it gets lost it'll at least guilt the finder.) 

It's now after Lent and, as of last Sunday, after Easter too (the Pentecost pic was glorious, but very detailed so I'm still working on it).  I hope the coloring sheets continue.