GREETINGS GENERATIVE PEOPLE OF CHRIST THE KING,
I have so enjoyed the stories you have shared with me, and I trust that you are sharing with others here, at Christ the King, and beyond our community of faith. I have had a wonderful conversation with one of my own family members about what it means to be generative, to bring forth as we have expanded the meaning of generation to generation beyond our family trees to think more expansively as we tell our stories and how they intertwine with the characters of the Bible and those who have gone before us and for those who come after us. We all have a story to tell.
I have also enjoyed reading the stories of those who have created this theme for us and how they moved from theme to artwork. Graphic designer, Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman shares the story of how this image was generated.
"When we decided on the theme, From Generation to Generation, the imagery that kept surfacing was the connective tissue of people through the visual metaphor of a family tree. At first, I was focused on this metaphor's more literal imagery, like branches, leaves, and roots, but instead, I kept being drawn in to the people. When I started incorporating more representational imagery of people, I found that the result was translating more as a nuclear family or a more narrow idea of family, which we definitely wanted to avoid. I knew I wanted to emphasize the particularity of each person while imaging how their story fits into a larger narrative—one in line with the generative work of God. I drew simplified silhouettes of people in a radial fashion positioned around a center point. At once this imagery took on a depth of meaning: the lineage of Christ centered around His light, the nativity scene centered around the manger, and the larger movement of God through each and every created being—radiating and growing like a flower, etc. Ultimately, the image represents how we are all connected, our stories are woven together, and each of us has a purpose in the beauty of God's continued unfolding Creation."
Tell your story. Figure out how your story intertwines with the characters over the generations who have shared their stories.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
