Bible Marginalia- the Golden Margin

 Bible Marginalia Series- #183

Processing this week from the time

 this past Saturday with Lisa Hickman.

She talked about the Golden Margin.

A Publishing term referring to the

the ideal margin settings.
The ratio for page construction is said to be 
"golden" when the proportions
 follow these principles.

 Ancient Biblical illumination 

always used gold or gilding 

to refer to the presence of God.

Lisa led us through a look

 at a passage in Isaiah 58:6-12.

She encouraged us to use the margins

 of our Bibles to process His Word 

as we move out into the World.

Then come back and take another look-

World and Word meet again.

She gave us Go- God- Gold.

When action meets our relationship with God-

it is a golden opportunity.

Margins can be the space where we record

what happens when God shows up in our lives.

And says: HERE I AM.

There are tasks here:

Undo the straps of the yoke,

Loose the bonds of wickedness,

Share your bread with the hungry,

Bring the homeless in,

Share clothing.

 Then your light

shall RISE in the Darkness.

You reflect your creator.

God shows up.

So who in our lives is marginalized, 

outcast, or in need?

Pray about: 

who, when and where the Lord 

is asking you to be present.

And tell the story in the margins.

God's Word nudges ACTION.

Thanks Lisa Hickman

 for your inspiration and encouragement.

 Supplies:

 Fine point Sharpie markers

colored pencils

 Pearlescent watercolors

Washi tape

Bible Marginalia- Obedience

Bible Marginalia Series- #182

Jeremiah 11:4

When God uses the word- 

WHATEVER,

it means- 

take notice, don't miss this.

Simply laid out here-

If- you obey

and 

Do- whatever I command you,

THEN- 

you will be my people,

AND

I- will be your God.

Supplies-

Inspire Bible

 Iridescent watercolors

Colored pencils

Washi tape

Visual Faith Creative Assembly 2016

VISUAL FAITH

CREATIVE ASSEMBLY 2016

Time to Connect, 

Encourage and Equip

Ready for all those 

gathering for the day

in Springfield, Virginia.

Lots of Resources and ideas

 for Visual Prayer and Visual Faith Art

We came with friends.

We visited with old friends.

We made new friends.

 We talked about Visual Faith 
and Community.

We talked about all the things we have learned

 in the past few months about Visual Faith.

We talked about the challenges 

of sharing Visual Faith practices with others

 and dealing with distractions.

We talked about how to equip

 and encourage others.

We shared the delight of

 Bible Journaling Inspiration.

                                                                                                                                                    Claudia Brendan- photo

We were blessed with having author 

Lisa Nichols Hickman 

with us to share about the Golden Margin.

                                                                                                         Claudia Brendan - photo

We learn about our relationships 

in the margins- 

Go, God and the Golden Margin.

Visual Faith projects
Prayer and blessing cards.

 Hannah's Catering 
brought a great catered lunch.
Time to check out social media.
Event hashtag- #visualfaithca16

Visual Faith Art
to encourage the 
story telling of His Faithfulness.

Always great to catch up.

Afternoon Breakout Sessions-

Joen Schultz- Visual Faith-

Leading Workshops
Joen Schultz- Pinterest

Holly Borrasso and Bonnie Hughes-

Visual Faith- Praying Scripture
Holly- Pinterest
Bonnie Hughes- Pinterest

Karen Hunter

Visual Faith- Worship into the Week
Karen's blog-karen scraps

Melinda Ransdell

Visual Faith- Congregational Resources
Melinda's blog-unconditionally steadfast

Erika Radke

Visual Faith- Artist's Touch
Erika's blog-faithfully created

Sierra Burden

Visual Faith- Prayer- Moms and Kids
Sierra Burden- Pinterest

Sally Sulcove

Visual Faith-Blogging
Sally's blog-journaling the bible

Deployed digital Missionaries.
Coming Together-
To Learn to Lead Others-

Giving thanks for all those the Lord 
brought together for this day 
of equipping and encouraging.

Bible Marginalia- the Living God

Bible Marginalia Series- #181

Jeremiah 10:10

Living and Everlasting

Longer life than batteries.

A crown of life for those who obey.

The Lord is the only true God.

Not very sure that the 

"whole earth trembles at his anger."

But the nations CANNOT 

stand up to his wrath.

v. 11- say this to those who worship other gods:

"Your so-called gods who did not 

make the heavens and earth, 

will vanish from the earth 

and from under the heavens."

Kind of a "take that" from our God.

OK to say when you are also the ONE-

who holds the keys to the heaven you made.

Supplies:

Inspire Bible

Washi tape

Colored pencils

Fine-point Sharpie marker

Iridescent water colors- (Michael's)

Bible Marginalia-Do as I say

Bible Marginalia Series- #180
 Jeremiah 7:23

Think this pretty well sums up

 most of Jeremiah so far.

An obedience theme 

runs through these passages.

To my ear Jeremiah sounds

 like a broken record.

Doesn't anyone hear what he is saying?

 Then I stop short,

and remember- oh yea-

that's me too.

Listening to the call of the world, 

and my selfish desires,

and deaf to God's good plan for me.

Oh, Lord, help me to 

"pay attention"

to your call to my heart.

That all may be well.

Amen.

Supplies:
Inspire Bible
Colored pencils
 Fine-point Sharpie marker
Washi tape

SaveSave

Bible Marginalia- Trust and Be Blessed

Bible Marginalia Series- #179

Jeremiah 17:7

TRUST
"But blessed are those who trust
 in the Lord and have made the Lord 
their hope and confidence."

In the Bible that I have been using for 20 years
 I have a note that this is a section
 of Scripture I want for my funeral.
Think it is the part of being
 a tree planted by the stream.
Sends out roots 
and does not fear the drought.
In the Lord there is nourishment,
and no need to be anxious.
What hope is here.
And Jeremiah is needing to be reminded.
Over and Over again.
Just like me.

Supplies:
Bible Margin  and circle from Coloring book
Washi tape
Colored pencils
Fine-point Sharpie marker

Bible Marginalia- Worship into the Week

Bible Marginalia Series- #178

The readings in worship this past Sunday

 included this section of Ezekiel 34.

 It had been the reference 

for a Pastor's installation last year

 and then this week I revisited the text.

God's text message to me.

When I look at the verbs- 

it is simply stunning to see 

the work order that 

the LORD vows to do.

He says- I will:

Search and Seek

Rescue and Bring

Feed and Bring back

Bind up and Strengthen

Destroy and Judge

So my worship into the week 

has been to contemplate and pray

 over these verses.

To let the Word of God meet me in all the places

 He desires His Word to become part of my life.

A simple practice to

extend worship time

into the days and the hours of the week.

And when I try to take back 

the ownership of "making things Happen"- 

let me be reminded that it is THE LORD 

who begins, continues and brings to completion.

What a GIFT of grace that is to me.

Supplies:

Colored pencils

Washi tape

Fine-point Sharpie marker

Bible Marginalia- Run with the Horses

Bible Marginalia Series # 177

Hanging out in Jeremiah yet......

Chapter 12:5 has the words for the theme

 of Eugene Peterson' s book-

Run with the Horses.

The NIV has:

“If you have raced with men on foot

and they have worn you out

 how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble in safe country,

how will you manage 

in the thickets by the Jordan?

The ESV also has compete with horses.

The NLT has:

“If racing against mere men makes you tired,
    how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground,
    what will you do in the thickets

 near the Jordan?"

Maybe it is the tired and wearied part

 here I can identify with on some days.

Life often does feel like a 

foot race that I am losing.

But, then it is here in the "easy part" 

where we stumble.

What happens in the tough times?

(always interesting how different

 light makes the page look different)
 In Chapter 12, Jeremiah approaches God
with a humble complaint.
Why is it that it seems that the wicked people
 and their wicked practices are still successful?
Couldn't God just bring the wicked
 and their evil ways to an end? 
God rebukes Jeremiah about his uneasiness
 in the troubles at hand, 
and cautions him to prepare 
for even greater troubles.
Israel is in a sad state.
And so am I.
 God promises mercy.
He speaks to our hardheartedness 
and stubbornness.
 On days when I need to run, or compete, 
and generally without horses- I know
His wrath does not stand AGAINST ME.

When I wallow in self-pity for failing
 at yet another heroic attempt- at anything, 
I remember my calling.
When I moan about life being difficult,
I take another deep breath.
When I think that maybe this time,
it is easier to give up,
I choose not to settle.
When I am at my wit's end,
and realize that this "is the calm time,"
I reset my gaze.
When I feel despondent, 
that life is just easier for "others",
I will find Jeremiah courage.
"I'll run with the horses."

Supplies:
Target Acrylic paint
Folk Art stencil
Washi tape
Signo uni white pen
Micron pen
Illustrated Faith arrow and banner
Alpha Letters
Faber Castell Gelatos 
Tim Holtz Chitchat mini words 

Oh Constancy

Sorting out vintage postcards for Fall.

 A bit too early to put out Thanksgiving ones.

Loved the leaves here and grabbed it to place on 

the window sill above the kitchen sink.

I love using small vintage flower 

holders to place postcards around.

And then I read it.

Oh more here than fall leaves.

CONSTANT

CONSTANCY

CONSTANCE.

Historically-  In the Middle Ages ivy 
was still associated with wine. 
A branch or bunch of ivy 
was often hung on a pole outside 
a tavern to indicate
 that the building sold wine or ale. 

The love language of flowers-
 wedded love, fidelity,
 friendship and affection.

Ivy is an English word that means 
faithfulness.

The horticulture world often considers
 it a pest and a nuisance- 
you can never get rid of it.

The word constant means:
occurring continuously
 over a period of time.
Continual.
Persistent
Sustained.

 The name Constance means:
(Latin- Constantia) firm of purpose
(English from French-Constantia)
Standing together,
constancy

This card probably dates back to pre-1910.
 Sent for a penny.
to Wilbur Ries- in the City.
from Uncle Ferd and Aunt Becky.
 Not sure of the occasion- 
or the real message conveyed here.

Biblically:
the word Constant comes up here:
Constant suspense- Deut.28: 66
Constant grumbling-Num. 17:5
Constant distress-Job 33:19
Constant dripping- Prov.19:13
Constant terror-Isaiah 51:13
Constant friction-1 Tim. 6:5
yea- a bit on the negative side.

So I will focus on-
"But solid food is for the mature,
 who by constant use
have trained themselves
 to distinguish good from evil."
Hebrews 5:14 

And so my prayer:
Lord, let the constancy of my name
 bring you Glory for your constant faithfulness 
when I am not constant.
Let my life show the mature use
 of your Word- to bring honor to you.
Let me have a willing heart to be trained.
Let me seek solid food.
Let them say- that I cling to Thee.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Visual Faith- Luther's Small Catechism

 Recently I saw on Facebook 

that Concordia Publishing House shared - 

the resources for teaching tools

 for Luther's Small Catechism.

catechism-flash-cards

(thanks Elizabeth Pittman)

A Grand day when you are 

a visual and kinesthetic learner.

 Been waiting for these resources for 50 years.

Printed them out on cardstock.

 Put them together on binder rings.

These are 1 1/2 inch.

(One inch would probably work.)

 Collected them on a 3 inch binder ring.

(What I had in the house)

Cards ready to go.

They can easily be moved around, 

taken off the rings, 

and handled as memory- flash cards.

Helpful for the RECITE part.

But, that isn't the only part needed

 for using the resources in the Small catechism.

How do we connect to the HEART part?

The journey, the collected story?

The learning- along the way?

 I decided to use a journal purchased 

on clearance at Michael's this summer-$6

Said there are 36 pages in it but only found- 32.

(found this project took 24)

I chose this one as the black,

white, kraft colors

 were more unisex- less gender-specific.

The pages are 6 1/2 inches wide by 8 inches.

pulled out some of the more floral pages

Printed the memory cards on regular copy paper- 

fearing that cardstock would be 

too heavy for the project.

(after done? think cardstock 

could work and be more durable)

Start each section on the right hand-side-

 that will allow you to have complete sections

 and then you can move then around in your binder.

I cut down the cards as printed 

because then they fit a bit better

 on the page with two of them.

(for the binder project)

Used washi tape- 

a decorative paper tape- to adhere.

Concordia Publishing has each section labeled

 with initials and numbers so they can easily

 be put into order as you are working with them.

(Thank you very much- this was helpful.)

The washi tape adheres the card 

to the page but allows you to turn it

 over to check memory work.

some pages had words I didn't really need

yup- just cover them with washi tape.

Made tabs to easily find the sections.

Depending on how the journal is to be used- 

the catechism parts could be given out as studied,

And can be rearranged in the journal.

 Learning packets 

and extra study sheets 

can be easily added.

The Lutheran Witness provided some 

clip art for collage for the cover.

Print a paper copy of the Catechism cover,

 add a couple of stickers.

Ready for study time,

interactive, hands-on, write-in, 

add to and journaling the journey. 

My friend- Melinda Ransdell

 is creating Faith book materials 

for St. John's Dover, DE.

faithbook

Can't wait to collaborate 

with her on these materials.

Thankful for the new teaching tools.

Might have been help for a visual,

 kinesthetic learner 50 years ago.

Might have helped 

with my distractions in 7th grade.