Acquiring the Unusual Without Opening the Wallet

The season of Lent is nearly upon us –

40 days to explore a deeper faith, a richer journey and new yet-unexplored sideroads of connections to God:

THE FORGOTTEN WAYS ~ A Lenten Series @ All Ginghamsburg Campuses

And for this girl, I relish the chance to crawl inside this theme to ask what the elements are… what are the pieces that we can gather, manipulate and arrange to create this worship space of wonder and mystery? It’s an old-world look we’ve imagined, with the invitation to intentionally step into forgotten life-practices that our fast-paced, frenzied brains have completely overlooked.

 What are the elements of stage design we can incorporate? Last week a stop inside Arhaus offered a timeless, monochromatic pallet of wood tiles overlaid with fabric.

Organic, muted browns.

Books – old books. Weathered and waiting to be noticed. Extra stage elements?

Since books are generally smallish, thinking we could set these into downstage displays where they’ll be more readily seen –

 with lamps or lights or candles…

Fabric is my favorite medium. I’m always inspired by what an hour in an Anthropologie store can offer. This time I eyed some torn fabric – dyed and installed in creative spaces.

And the plants… hmmmm….

More fabric – hanging by twigs. Ancient scrollwork comes to mind – might we meld the two? We already have donated muslin and canvas in our stash. We’ve also collected bamboo poles – nice for draping and hanging.

Two of my well-worn design mantras out of REdsigning Churches come to mind:

acquire the unusual without opening the wallet

which often leads to discovering

beauty on a budget.

Simply inspired~ and excited to experience how THE FORGOTTEN WAYS will come to life.