Simple Symbols

I have warm and fuzzy memories of a trip that my husband and I took to Paris early in our married years. Recently I was reminded of the time we spent in the Musee Picasso while on that trip. Prior to the visit I had always been intrigued by Picasso's art. The museum experience heightened my understanding of the mindset and process that Picasso took to evolve his work over the years to the very simple sometimes childlike forms that it became. In many ways the final result of his stroking of the paintbrush or modeling of the sculpture became a symbol. This makes me think of how in our faith the simple symbol is held as such an important connection for us as we worship God. For example, during Communion, bread and wine are things that we all can relate to. They are simple symbols that are very real to us. These symbols matter, and therefore they draw us closer to the religious experience. There is no denying that there is mystery in our faith but the symbols help our consciousness as best as they can. As you plan for worship this week what are the symbols that will help make the connection?

Like the symbols on this stole detail? 

See the stole and read about the symbols on our website. 

All Saints Day

We've made three batches of cupcakes in my household in the last five days. What's all the fuss? We celebrated my husband's birthday (who declares he's now counting backwards) with carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing, we tried a recipe for cookies and cream cheesecake cupcakes from a new cookbook and we couldn't resist the seasonal cupcake mix in the grocery store with the cute sprinkles for the cake batter and icing. 

All this sweetness has made me think of the upcoming All Saints Day celebration. According to some sources, the idea for All Saints' Day goes back to the fourth century when the Greek Christians kept a festival on the first Sunday after Pentecost in honor of all martyrs and saints. Other sources say that a commemoration of “All Martyrs” began to be celebrated as early as 270 CE. Pope Gregory IV made All Saints' Day an authorized holiday in 837 CE. It is speculated that the chosen date for the event, November 1, may have been an attempt to supplant the pagan Festival of the Dead. 

Putting the history of this day aside for a moment today we can focus on the fact that God declares everyone who has been baptized and believes the promise of the gospel to be justified, holy, and blameless.  The communion of saints therefore includes both those still living on earth and those who have died in the faith and are now living in heaven. Therefore, All Saints' Day is a very special festival, one that should enrich the worship lives of all who observe it. It is a day to recall the faithful men and women of both Testaments of the Bible and praise God for their examples. However, we also remember the saints of the less distant past.  Many congregations memorialize those parishioners who were called to be with the Lord in the past year. Finally, on this day we can glorify God not just for the faithfulness of the saints, but most of all for His faithfulness to the saints.

Signs and symbols that are traditionally used for All Saints Day include, ringing of bells, signing hymns about the saints (like For All the Saints), children dressing in costume of a favorite saint and lighting candles. This year I'm thinking of a special dinner to celebrate all the past and present saints that have touched my life....a great exercise to help my family focus on the attributes we admire and would like to personally strive for. I think this also may be an excuse to try another cupcake recipe out of my new cookbook! Sweet!

New Stole Designs

Carrot Top Studio creates handcrafted, unique ministry stoles in limited editions. When we're trying out a new idea this might mean "trying" the new design on just one stole. These stoles are often offered on eBay at bargain prices with auctions ending each Thursday night. Otherwise our edition series are typically 4-10 stoles of one design. When the series sells out it is occasionally repeated but more often than not we tweak the design or move on to another idea within the same category. The studio is now four and a half years old and we're grateful that our artistic juices still flow and we can't find enough time to design and stitch up all the ideas that float around our minds!

This week we've added two new designs to our collection. Pictured on the left is a stole suggested by one of our clients that is working with couples of mixed faith (Messianic Jew and Christian). It can be found here on the website. We love hearing your ideas and often work on special commissions but if we think it's something that other's within the ministry community might also be looking for we'll gladly add it to our collection. Additionally the stole on the right can be found here on the website. We thought of Communion when we saw this luscious grape vine fabric but this stole also speaks to the fruitfulness of a Christian life and would be appropriate at many different types of worship services.

You've been kind enough to spend a moment with us on this blog so we'll share a secret...these two new designs will debut at a great price on eBay tonight with closings next Thursday. The Messianic stole is item #150382435776 and the grapevine stole is item #150382432296. We appreciate your ideas, support and continued patronage!

Book Review

This week I've read Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World. The subtitle of this book is "A Geography of Faith" (isn't that intriguing?) and this work focuses on encountering God beyond church walls. For years I have consciouslyendeavored to not be just a Sunday morning Christian. I'm not professing to be an expert by any means, just someone who sees Sunday morning worship in a church sanctuary as a mere bit of what we're called to. 


The Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" has always spoken to me. Therefore I think the chapter titles of simple practices such as waking up, walking, paying attention, getting lost, and carrying water immediately pulled me into this read. I especially enjoyed the chapter on keeping the Sabbath that is entitled "The Practice of Saying No." A decade ago I had the pleasure of attending a national church women's conference where I attended a workshop on this subject. Realizing that I'd never really thought about the commandment about keeping the Sabbath was quite an awakening. On some Sunday's a do much better than others with making a 24 hour intentional connection to God by resting. In Taylor's chapter about this practice I laughed out loud when I read that it's polite in China to respond to "How are you?" with "Busy like crazy, but what else is new? And you?" I pondered her notion that the tradition of kicking back and relaxing on Sunday in America started to fall by the wayside when professional football began to be televised. And, I reflected on my own current practices after reading Taylors commentary of theologian Karl Barth's writing, "A being is free only when it can determine and limit its activity." This chapter extended my thinking and reinforced that I need to keep working on living in God.


An Altar in the World has caused me to pause and think. I'm glad I stumbled upon this title. I'm off to go see if I can, as Taylor suggests, see Holy in every component of my day today.

It's a White Out!

The college football team I follow often declares a home game to be a white out. The power of color is demonstrated in the stadium as the 80,000+ fans make an impressive, coordinated statement all in white shirts. We of course see the color white in our churches. Here are a  few things we know about the color white:

• White in scripture is connected with purity, joy and righteousness.
• It is the liturgical color for Christmas and Easter.
• In Roman times the giving of white stone symbolised acquittal from crime and innocence. Thus those who overcome sin are purified and cleansed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• White is mentioned in scripture. Such as: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7

Additionally, white stoles are one of the two most sold colors at Carrot Top Studio. A pastor once told me that their white stoles were more often replaced than other stole because they were bound to get dirty. We recommend spot cleaning stoles that can get wet with a gentle cleanser like clear shampoo. 

Because we're thinking about WHITE we're having our own celebration with a "white out" on eBay. See our bargain selections here.

The Color Green

What would it be like if God hadn't gifted creation with color? Today I'm thinking about the color green for several reasons. First I'm working on a new tree of life ministry stole. It will debut on eBay with our other specials later this week. Secondly, I find it interesting that the colour green in scripture comes from several Hebrew words: 'yereq' meaning green or green thing; 'yaraq' meaning green herbs, vegetables or garden greens; 'lach' meaning green or moist, fresh or new in the sense of plants ; 'abiyb' meaning green ears of corn; 'ra‘anan' meaning green and flourishing; 'eb' meaning fresh green or green shoots; 'ratob' meaning green, moist juicy fresh; ' yarowq' meaning green thing. So many meanings....and the artist in me thinks of so many different shades of green! These words translated as green have a connection with green flourishing plant life of one species or another. Lastly this brings me to the thought of spending time in nature as being very restful and bringing tranquillity and peace of mind. Like when David wrote of God, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake." Psalm 23:2-3 So we can see a connection in the Bible between green pasture and the spiritually restorative nature of God's word. I've joined a new small group that is built around a meditation based on scripture followed by a group walk where the passage can be discussed as much or as little as we feel inspired to do while enjoying the natural environment and the calming effect this provides. This morning when we walked I marveled at the deep greens in the woods starting to change to the royal colors of fall and when we passed the cows in the pasture several people actually commented on the calming feeling of seeing them. I'm signing off remaining thankful for the color green and it's many associations.

Testing Again!

If I create a post will it really show up on Facebook? Have been trying to figure this one out all day! Why can't I figure this one out?

Baptism Symbolism

Sunday in worship the baptismal font wasn't where it usually is. I suspect it had been moved the previous day due to a wedding ceremony that took place in the sanctuary. When it has been moved like this I miss seeing the reminder of baptism, then the communion table, then the cross that hangs in our chancel as visual reminders, that all work together, of the sacraments of our faith. Baptismal fonts have intrigued me since I was asked several years ago to talk about some images of fonts throughout the ages. As always when I research a topic I learned a lot. For example, here is the ancient baptismal basin which was actually behind the apse of the Basilica of St. Vitalis. Its shape is beautiful and the mosaic details are amazing.

Symbolically the baptistry was situated close to the western poral on the north side. Interestingly this was the direction from which the pagen peoples who were called to faith came. Moreover, the old missal stipluated that the deacon should face west to proclaim the Good News.

Large above-ground cruciform fonts are still being constructed in churches today. There are often steps on opposite interior sides. One is for entrance into the pool and the other for exit. This movement of entering the water and then moving forward to exit while leaving our sins behind buried in the water makes me think of Romans 6: 4…"We are therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

My church does not baptize through immersion therefore we use a movable font instead of a large basin. Regardless of how large the water container, whether the water used came from the River Jordon or not or the setting for the baptism we can rejoice in the symbolism of the use of water. Jesus spoke of water as the symbol of a new rejuvenated spiritual life. I am thankful for new spiritual life and for the symbolic reminder of this gift!

Baptism stoles with symbols of water, the Trinity, shells and more can be found here.