i set up the room in the round with a mock campfire in the middle. i tried to create the atmosphere of those moments we experience in intimate community around a campfire while sharing drink and food and stories and music and parts of who we are with each other.
this is what i was going for...
okay so it actually looked more like this...
but hey it was inside during the cold of winter with around 35 people, so ya know, i improvised.
and let me tell you the setting didn't matter at all on the quality of conversation and connection that took place amongst people while we gathered.
we talked about what it means to minister to each other and what that can look like through creativity. i brought up the importance of "communion" in community (connecting with others through relationship) which can look like so many things but always has the purpose of love. and we worked together on an art project as an example of that.
the art project represented how we are all broken & hurting people with inner struggles of life. being in relationship with God guarantees us we are not alone and there is hope. being in relationship with Community allows us the safety to experience the hard work of inner healing and see it lived out daily. when we begin to trust God with our lives and start to give those areas that are hinderances, struggles, heartaches, pains over to him to partner with us for healing and growth...and when we allow him to do that within the safety of trusted fellow human beings, he is able to create some beautiful things in us and others.
while we created, my friend & artist, Jessie Nilo played some beautiful songs for us on her guitar, continuing the mood of intimate campfire communion...
here is the result of 3 groups made up of broken people (all of us are) working on a new creation together with each other and with God...
photo taken by J Lund
i enjoyed the conversations we had with each other (whether verbally or through the art activity or just through our presence together). we are all creative (made by a creative God). what can we do with our creativity? we were all made for relationship and we were all made to minister to each other.
thank you to all who attended this month's ENVISION meeting and for partnering and participating in the ongoing conversation that God is having with us.
if you want to learn more about ENVISION and how you can get involved, you can click here.
if you want to learn more about my art travels and how i minister throughout the world through creativity you can click here.
