"I am making everything new!" - Jesus, in Revelation 21

Lately, I've been understanding the Sojourn arts ministry as a way in which we can join Christ in making all things new.  As artists, we can take the materials that we find in the world and we reform them, or renew them, into other things that hopefully make the world a more beautiful place.

When God made the world, he didn't leave too many 'blank' places.  Yes, there are deserts and polar ice fields and the state of Kansas, but even those places are not really blank.  They are surprisingly full of life and color and texture.  However when people make things, we often leave blank spots.  The wall behind the stage at the East campus was one such place.

Thanks to Julie Gross and some other Sojourners, that wall, and thus the whole feel of the room, has lost some of its cold blankness.  The stripe pattern is made from sheets of wood veneer which have been dyed and stained the different colors.  The colors tie together the different wood colors from the rest of the room and the layout of the stripes breaks up the monotony of straight lines and right angles while not standing completely apart from the existing room.  While there's no biblical reference to the shape or content of this wall design, the project is deeply theological and worshipful because it attempts to make things new in light of God's apparent distaste for blankness.

So, this Sunday the East Campus will be greeted with both a new stage background in time for mothers day and the opportunity for free family photos.

On top of that it's also Commitment Sunday, where we all financially commit to give to the church over the coming years so that renewal can continue throughout Sojourn and throughout the city.  Our church depends upon the Holy Spirit, grace and prayer, but it also depends on money to keep ministry moving forward.  And of course the truth is that both inside and outside the church, when money is tight, the arts are one of the first things to go.  So, for the sake of the whole church, the city, and for the sake of Sojourn Visual Arts and the 930, please consider how you can financially commit to Sojourn over the coming years.