Kristy Shellenberger Yordy's sermon at Assembly this morning was The colors of the new covenant -- in our midst, on our heart and she created a rainbow as she talked of the former covenants and the way their colors are woven into the new covenant described in Jeremiah 31. Daughters Sophie and Meiling helped by pouring a rainbow of M & M's into a bowl and leading the congregation in a repeated response of "The days are surely coming...when I will make a new covenant." The rainbow of colors continued in various spots around Goshen this afternoon. It's an amazing spring -- we hardly had a trace of our usual muddy March. In the evening we joined a worship service at Benton Mennonite, celebrating the feminine face of God as the Grower. I don't have the words of the song we sang that drew on the words of Hildegarde of Bingen, but here's another quote by her that includes her frequent theme of "greening" -- and as creation awakens this spring, and with all the resounding melody I've enjoyed today, it seems particularly apt.
Without the Word of God no creature has being. God's Word is in all creation, visible and invisible. The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. All creation is awakened, called, by the resounding melody, God's invocation of the Word. Hildegarde of Bingen Jennifer Byler Youngberg painted the beautiful silk banner below as a visual for the service. And bringing the rainbow imagery full circle today, we poured a rainbow of colored sands into vases in celebration of the way even the tiniest seed and the tiniest grain of sand is held in God's love.
2 Comments
Kristy Shellenberger Yordy
3/26/2012 09:38:39 pm
Sally, this is a beautiful entry. Did you notice how I talked about the 'greening' power of the torah on Sunday? I had never thought about this in relation to Hildegarde of Bingen. The images here are nothing short of spectacular, each one in its own way. the 'diamond clad daffodil' ! Did you coin that phrase? sounds very Mary Oliver. :) Also, did you notice the faint strand of spider web near the red bud? Anyway, thank you for this smattering of visual delight and for helping me integrate these images that I also experienced this past Sunday. Kristy
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Sally
3/27/2012 05:30:11 am
I enjoyed the symbolism of the colors as you spoke of the former covenants -- isn't it fun when something like ''greening of torah" suddenly connects with something else, like Hildegarde, or the green Grower in Jennifer's banner. Or when you notice the spider web as you look at the photos ( I saw it when I worked on the blog, but not when I took the photo). I'd love to read your rainbow section from Sunday again sometime. I hadn't thought of the blood of the new covenant in relation to birth before -- it's stirring some intriguing reflections.
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My approach to contemplative photography --
"Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver in "Sometimes" Archives
August 2020
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