Presented here are three truly creative offerings from the Clayfire community, submitted for our April Project: He’s Alive! Each item shared below – a collaborative poem, a prayer labyrinth, and an interactive music/art piece – was used Easter weekend, 2011.

I encourage you to follow the provided links to further check out the work of these unique artists and curators.

This Changes Everything

A ‘poem of poems of poems,’ compiled by Mark Polet from the contributions of the worshippers at the Holy Saturday service, 2011, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Edmonton, Canada.

This changes everything!
I, broken and flawed
I, broken and healed
have my sin broken and my spirit freed

I am preciously loved by the Saviour of our souls
Nurtured by our raised-again Creator
I surrender to His Grace
I yield only to Him
I fall deeper in love with my Christ
I sit at His feet

I am no longer ashamed
I am no longer scared
I am no longer confused
I hold my head up
I clearly see
I no longer flee

In carrying this cross,
I have been lifted of a great weight

I, healed and whole,
will love others as
I am loved by Him

I choose to do God’s will
I decide to accept the gift
I am made for this time and place
I will run the good race
I will see God’s will be done in heaven and on earth
I, now standing, do
I, having done all, now stand

I have a purpose
in the mystical Body of Christ
I am ready to serve Him

I salute the great I AM
Who sees the who I am
I, who finally knows my self
can be selfless
for I am me
one of a kind
And God loves me

So, let’s make the you and I an us
And take the first step
On our road to Emmaus

About the poetic process: Interface stages an annual Holy Saturday service, The Rending of the Veil. This poem was not written in anticipation of the event, but rather created during the service by our bard Mark, using congregational responses to prayer stations.

For the service, there were numerous stations with themes reflecting elements of Christ’s cross experience… what he encountered, what he drew on, what he expressed and did. Each station had a scriptural reference and a physical metaphor for the element. Also, each station had a poem depicting in the first-person the thoughts of a Passion Story character that related to the station’s theme. The poem was mounted on a poster, with ample space for people to write their responses and reflections to the poem-station, knowing that Mark would be gathering their comments into a poem at the end of the evening. This occurred during a ‘walk-about’ meditative time mid-service. Most people responded in verse or prose.

While the congregation had communion, Mark reviewed the responses, organized, considered, prayed, sequenced and sometimes paraphrased. He then presented the poem, which became the close to our service, for we abandoned the liturgy and let the poem become our benediction. It was an amazing experience to hear each others’ hearts, hopes, desires and commitment spoken through this gathered work.

As curator, my (Jim Robertson) interpretation of what occurred is: Through the medium of this service, God spoke to us, and then gave us voices and space to speak and sing back to Him. He then gathered our voices into the Body’s Voice, and spoke and sang back to us, both personally and corporately, through this Voice. It was a blessed event.

This submission prepared by Kathleen Pate, Mark Polet and Jim Robertson on behalf of Interface Worship.

Living Labyrinth

A member of the church works at a nature center which is plagued by vines so they have an ongoing project to clear them off the trees. When I mentioned that I wanted to make a labyrinth but had no budget, she had this great idea.

This submission by Mandy Smith from University Christian Church, Cincinnatti, Ohio.

Image © Mandy Smith

Interactive Worship with Wii Controllers

Weiv made an appearance Lutheran Church of Hope: CityBranch Easter service, engaging seven congregants with Wii controllers during worship. Each Wii controller flung “paint” onto the screen, creating a colorful collage, perfect for Easter.

Link to video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIuOG5YMZHQ

Weiv is a software platform that uses the expressive power of videogames to enhance live performances. It allows a group of people to become a “visual band” that can create animations to the beat of the music or explore a virtual world. By using motion sensing devices, people can turn the natural urge to move to the music into a collaborative and communal visual performance.

This submission by Paul Gratton.