Liturgy for Wind + "Am I Elemental?" Painting

I did a two-part project for this course. The first is a painting. The second is a liturgical reading. As I was doing my reading/video watching for Week 4, I was struck with an image.... my first tattoo! For me, this is a pretty big deal; I've known that at some point in my life, I'd take the plunge but was waiting for something to really jump into my mind. And that's exactly what happened. The four parts of the elemental life have really struck a chord with me and how I want to live the rest of my life. I know they are not really four separate entities. One is less without the other three. This painting is my best representation of the image in my head (I will give my tattoo artist license to improve upon my image, especially the flames). The tree itself is my life. The roots are my being grounded. As I'm grounded, I'm inspired by people pouring in through community, and I reach as far as I can for that. As my life grows, it catches the wind, blowing me about in all the best ways. As the wind blows, as I connect with people around me, there is no choice but for me to catch fire. I am empowered! The moon/stars is a simple representation of the relationship between my father and myself (he passed away about 9 ½ years ago); he taught me to touch the world and to see beauty in everything. For me, this makes it complete. The image will go on my left inner forearm, from wrist to elbow, with the flames fluttering around a few inches, and the roots wrapping around as well. I had initially planned the roots to be at my elbow, so I could look at the image myself. Then God reminded me that I need to reach out to community, so I reversed it; the streams of community will flow from my hand. The second part of my final creative project is a liturgical reading. I chose Wind/Inspiration as my, well, inspiration :) This was a lot more difficult, but a lot more fulfilling, than I had originally thought it would be! I started by doing hours of google searches on things like 'biblical passages about inspiration,' only coming up with passages about the Bible being the inspired word of God. I looked for passages on renewal, wind, etc…. always coming up with less than I'd hoped. The one passage I found which I really liked for this piece was 2 Corinthians 3:18, which when reworded became the Canticle. Everything else is just words and phrases God gave me as I worked on this project. The piece is written with an understanding that the reader is probably familiar with the teaching(s) on the elemental life. The section, "Air is in all and breathes through all / It is not bound by definitions of spirituality / It is not confined to the walls of a church" was inspired directly by Dan's teaching on there not being Christian things and secular things, as if there is a real line drawn, but that all things are creational, and some of those are sacred (1). The blessing was inspired by the well-known Irish blessing, "…. May the wind be at your back…" The section, "of touching the world, and letting it touch me" comes from a conversation I had with my best friend during my study of week 2. She lived a pretty sheltered life, as well as living in town, while I lived out in the country and was free to roam. My dad was a nature-loving man who taught me about more things than I can possibly remember, including astronomy and beekeeping. Amy was over at my house as often as she could be, and she was telling me about how strong and vivid her memories of being with us are. She said to me, "You taught me that it was okay to touch the world." I do not yet know for sure how these pieces will be used in my church. We have a monthly gathering called Presence, in which we explore different worship arts in an extended time of prayer and worship. My hope is that at some point, I can assist with a brief teaching on what it means to live an elemental life (whetting appetites for the full Essentials course!) and we as a body can utilize the reading. I would also like to incorporate some of the key themes into our Discovering Creativity small group for kids. We will be doing some study on movement, and may have the kids show us what earth, wind, water and fire look like. (1) Wilt, Dan. Live call with David Ruis, 12.03.08. Am I Elemental? Liturgical Reading on Wind - Word Format