Visual Faith Creative Assembly- North Carolina

 We gathered at St Paul's Lutheran Church

 in Havelock, North Carolina on 

Saturday, March 11, 2017

 for a Visual Faith Creative Assembly.

 We began by taking a look at 

Proverbs 3: 1-6.

Words that stood out in our reading:

Remember, Keep, Bind, Write,

Seek, Find, Acknowledge, 

Show, Trust, 

Straight Paths and Walk in Confidence.

That sounds like a framework for 

Visual Faith endeavors.

Each spot at the table was ready for guests.

Megan Daub and Jean White 

were the organizers of this event.

They both shared a piece 

of their "visual faith story",

as well as special guests:

Peggy Thibodeau and

Belinda Bost.

 In the morning we talked about

 roadblocks to prayer and shared 

how to make prayer cards.

We talked about Visual Prayer

and our Lenten Journey.

Our gathering included men, 

women and children.

A catered lunch from Crabby Patty's
Crabby-Pattys

 In the afternoon Peggy shared a

 Watercoloring Demonstration

 for Bible Journaling after lunch.

She shared how images can start with tracing.

and gave some tips on page preps.

Belinda Bost encouraged us

 to share our faith story in our homes.

She then led us in a Make and Take- 

using playing cards.

 A ready note to bless another.

A resource table had books for purchase:
Writing in the Margins- Lisa Hickman
Pray and Color- Sybil MacBeth
Complete Guide to Bible Journaling- 
Joanne Fink and Regina Yoder
Illuminated Journaling- Jann Gray
These books serve as a basic how-to library
 for Visual Faith endeavors.

It was a colorful group

 that joined us for our gathering.

Fun thank you gifts for the organizers

 and presenters for our day.

Visual Faith Coach bags.

Find the canvas bags here:
harbor freight canvas-riggers-bag

We give thanks for all those who attended
 and helped to make this day such a blessing.
We look forward to hearing the stories 
of how more Visual Faith stories unfold.

 Giving thanks today-
 as this is the 900th post of Vintage Grace.

A Prayer- On Being....

 A friend recently sent me a portion of

 a podcast that she had listened to and I share it here.

"On Being" podcast. 

Padraig O Tuama,

 an Irish man talking about how he prays.

“Neither I, nor the poets I love,

 found the keys to the kingdom of prayer

 and we cannot force God

 to stumble over us where we sit.

 But, I know that it’s a good idea

 to sit anyway. 

So every morning I sit,

 I kneel, waiting, 

making friends with the habit of listening,

 hoping that I’m being listened to. 

There, I greet God in my own disorder. 

I say hello to my chaos, my unmade decisions,

 my unmade bed, my desire and my trouble.

 I say hello to distraction and privilege,

 I greet the day and I greet my beloved 

and bewildering Jesus.

 I recognize and greet my burdens,

 my luck, my controlled and uncontrollable story.

 I greet my untold stories, my unfolding story,

 my unloved body, my own love, my own body.

 I greet the things I think will happen 

and I say hello to everything

 I do not know about the day.

 I greet my own small world

 and I hope that I can meet

 the bigger world that day. 

I greet my story and hope that I can forget

 my story during the day, 

and hope that I can hear some stories,

 and greet some surprising stories

 during the long day ahead.

 I greet God,

 and I greet the God 

who is more God than the God I greet.

  Hello to you all,

 I say, as the sun rises 

above the chimneys of North Belfast.

  Hello.”

Somehow- greeting God 

in my own disorder- strikes home.

 Perhaps too often I have a habit

 of making a Big God

 try to fit in my small world.

Lord, enlarge my world of listening,

help me to capture the stories of others,

that I may see YOU in the day to day 

of family, friends and neighbors. Amen.

Visual Faith Retreat at the Villages- Florida

Praying in Color:

Illustrating My Faith

Feb 24-25, 2017

we gathered at 

Amazing Grace Lutheran Church

at the Villages, Florida for a retreat event.

They had prepared for and prayed

 over this gathering.

The local newspaper had shared the story.

Things look a bit different in this part of Florida.

Amazing Grace Lutheran Church

 has four legged neighbors 

on two sides of their property.

I think there are more golf carts

 than cars in this area.

And I looked for the alligators.

There was great welcome 

and hospitality here in this place.

Preparations made to gather them in.
 112 participants for this event.

Visual Art graced the sanctuary

 and gathering area.

 Highlights:

A welcoming space,

supplies for each person in a 
handmade cloth bag tied with a bow,
 a well-done skit,

new friends, and great conversations.

A look at Sybil MacBeth's introduction to 

Praying in Color.

A simple way to use any piece

 of blank paper for prayer.

Visual prayer:

ways to slow down, 

pay attention and deal with distractions.

Graph paper for prayer time.

Simple shapes for teaching

 the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.
Graph paper prayer-
with our words.

Everyone received 

Sybil MacBeth's Pray and Color book.

Other resources were given as door prizes-
like Lisa Hickman's- Writing in the Margins.

Praying for our children and grandchildren-
 a way to bless others.
We talked about ways to use the product line
 of Joanne Fink for Visual Prayer. 

Journals from our Junk Mail.
Psalm Summaries with wine cork
 stamps and magazine cutouts.
Black ink tangles to make 
individual prayer cards-
 and keep them in a 
baseball card holder from Staples.

Gratitude Journals- One Thing a Day-
Day after Day.
Prayers by the Month and
Advent and Lent Visual Journeys.
Baptism and Confirmation Story books- 
ways to bless and conversation starters.
Tools to use in our own families.

A blessing to be with Arleen Bohlmann
 from the Southeastern District.
  Edith Walton - wife of LCMS Florida-Georgia 
District President Rev. Greg Walton
 joined us on Saturday.
And time to make a whole lot of new friends.

The women came in colorful attire to the 
Praying in Color Retreat.

Show and Tell tables
and 
Resources and supplies.

 Time to check things out
 and ask questions.

Pray about personal spiritual practices.

Bible Journaling was introduced.
Time to read, reflect and respond
in the margins of our Bibles.

Telling the story of the intersection
 of God's Word and our World.

Sharing the VRSLY app on the iPhone 

may have created a whole team of

Deployed Digital Missioners.

Time with a very special friend from
 Concordia College- 
Ann Arbor, Michigan days.
Cathy Driller trusted a friendship
 from 42 years ago 
and the nudges from the Holy Spirit 
to bring together 
a celebration of faith, 
prayer and spiritual formation.
A retreat covered in grace and connections-
 and we Give Thanks to the Lord.
And we can't WAIT
 to see what Kingdom fruit grows-
and to hear the STORIES.

And if you can't remember
 how to reach me to tell the story, 
or can't find the card you took,
 here you go.


 A VERY SPECIAL thank you to Thrivent 
for 2 ACTION GRANTS that blessed this gathering.

Some had asked for the link to the Youtube
 of the flip- through
 of the Gospel of John
 in my Journaling Bible- here it is-
The Gospel of John

Lenten Practices- Along the Way

I have been doing a Lenten calendar

 journey every year since 2011.

Always interesting to SEE 

where the journey takes me.

My challenge this year-

  I have 3 calendars I wanted to use,

AND

3 Lenten devotionals that I wanted to read.

This choice is with a Missional focus.

Find it here:

living-the-gospel-life

I like the Creative Communication

 Publications each year. 

Our church always has a selection

 to choose from for Lent.

Rev. Paul L. Maier is a very respected
 ancient history professor

 in the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod

 and this was an easy choice.
Find it here:
Lent Creative Communications- Maier

 I always say YES to C.S. Lewis.

 So there you have it.

Done deal.

I pick out 4 colored pencils 

that I will use for each calendar.

Put each set in a page protector

 to keep things together.

I may sit down at different times

 in the day to Read, Reflect and Respond- 

to SEE how God's Word 

will Reach into my day and life.

Or I may have a longer space

 of time and do the readings

 in the same time frame.
Click here to find it:
mercy-passion-and-joy

I have also been searching out other 

Visual Faith resources

 to have on hand to share, 

and show at gatherings.

I like this book of images. 

They are ready to color, and

perhaps a bit more non-gendered

 than some Coloring books.

 My approach to using coloring books?

It doesn't have to be done in one season.

 It could be prayed over, colored in and completed

 over a number of seasons.

 Journey collected over time....

Coloring-Lent-Adult-Journey

Lent Illustrated would work for a more 

traditional approach 
with a Bible Journaling application.

This also has some basic helps for beginners.
A good choice for a group.

Lent-Illustrated

Illustrated Children's Ministry 
is fairly new on the Visual Faith scene
 and they create products
 for church and family settings.
 I like the graphic dynamic of their images
 and also work as a more non-gendered option.
This set of  8 1/2 by 11 coloring pages for the
 Stations of the Cross comes as a downloadable set.
Pretty reasonable for 100 copies for $10.
Always good to make sure you give credit 
and due for the work of the artist. 
Thanks Adam Walker Cleveland.
This set is here:

stations-of-the-cross-coloring-sheets

So we are a few days into Lent- 
and it is not too late.
Pray about where you might want to focus.
And remember-
 that GRACE
 covers all of these practices and experiments.
Get behind? 
Start again, catch up and move forward.
 You can do THAT 
as many times as you need to!
Blessed Lent to you!

 You can get these calendars
 and more in the FILES section of the
 DC Metro Visual Faith Community on Facebook.
Here

Bible Marginalia- Comings and Goings

Bible Marginalia Series- #243

Psalm 121: 7-8

"The Lord will keep you from all evil; 

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out

 and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore."

Sometimes in a day of rushing here

 and there,

 it is easy to think that 

I manage the ins and outs of a day.

Perhaps when it is going well-

I'll take credit for that.

Then when it is not...

that might be my doing too.

But, above all of this,

is this promise above....

in ALL,

forever

and evermore-

the Lord

KEEPS ME.

Supplies:

Pat Maier Bible Margin Design

found  in the FILES section here-
DC Metro Visual Faith Community

Colored Pencils

Page from Better Homes and Garden magazine

PPA Matte- Paper Adhesive

Bible Marginalia- Dust to Dust

Bible Marginalia Series- #242

Genesis 3:19

"...till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return."

Ash Wednesday-

a time to think of journey.

Lenten...

earthly...

to our heavenly home...

the path Jesus took...

how am I following...

detours...

returns...

grace.

Grace.

GRACE.