Perhaps it's due to the months of indoor living in the winter or
the culture of Alaska, but among the many women I have met, a large percentage of them sew, knit and/or quilt.
Each Sunday I admire these 2 banners on the front walls of our church.
The colors aren't nearly as lovely in these pictures as actually are (sorry!), but these large banners reflect the wildlife and beauty common to Fairbanks. The words on the banners are the first lines of a great, old hymn.
This banner depicts the Sandhill Crane I had blogged about in September.
Thousands of these gather here each summer and they are representative of warm, long days full of sunshine and flowers. These cranes are very welcome visitors that bring emotional warmth to the people who live here. They are like the proverbial springtime robin that always made my heart sing when I first would spot him in late March in northern New York, the promise of spring in his song despite the snow he sat upon.
This second banner hangs at the opposite side of the church front.
The moose is a fairly common site here and not quite as welcome as the cranes
for he feeds on family gardens causes traffic stoppages. But he is still charming in his gawky, large moose way and to be greatly respected.
There are other smaller yet similar wall hangings throughout the church
and each is a work of art. They all remind us of the world we share "with all creatures of our God and King" in both sky and on land, and we praise God for this beauty around us.
The words of the next line in this old hymn are appropriately:
"Alleluia! Alleluia!" which means "Praise the Lord!"
No comments:
Post a Comment