Good Friday Art Piece

Our friend, fellow Westwindee and an exceptional artist, Mrs. Heidi Rhoades did a beautiful 4'x8' charcoal art piece on good Friday between the two Fusions. She started with a blank canvas at 6:00 and wrapped it up at 8:30.

Heidi told me beforehand she was excited to have no idea what she was going to create beforehand but create as she worshiped.

This art is now on display at The Winds.

Sound Vestibules

For the Good Friday/Easter weekend we employed the use of what I like to call “sound vestibules” throughout the auditorium and lobby space.

These vestibules were designed to create different prayer and contemplation moments by stimulating our sense of hearing. Very simple to make, the 10 vestibules were crafted with twine, burlap, large plastic storage bins, and small CD players with a repeat function.

We drilled holes in the bottom of the storage bins and tied the CD players to the inside of the bin so that when the bin hung upside down one could operate the player easily. You MUST make sure your CD players will hold a CD tight and play upside down.

We then suspended the sound vestibules in various places so that a person of about 6’ 3” could stand beneath the vestibule without hitting their head. We wrapped the vestibules in burlap and tied them at the top so that they looked like large sacks hanging from the ceiling.

Each sound vestibule held and individual CD that played either music, familiar sounds, static, or a selected reading. We changed the selections between Good Friday and Easter. Here were the selections:

Good Friday:
1. Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of U2 (thanks for the tip Nathan)
2. Gregorian Chant: Salve Regina by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice and Saint-Maur, Clervaux
3. The Screwtape Letters on Audiobook
4. Static
5. The Concert of the Earth (Le concert de la terre) –Nature Sounds
6. ( ) Sigur Ros
7. Reading of Luke 22 and 23
8. Reading of Luke 22 and 23 (two spots)
9. Selected Hymns
10. Folk Music of Palestine

Easter:
1. Selected Classics
2. More Gregorian Chant
3. Reading of Luke 24
4. Reading of Luke 24
5. Reading of Luke 24 (three spots)
6. Selected Celebratory Familiar Worship Tunes
7. The Concert of the Earth (Le concert de le terre)—Nature Sounds
8. Selected loops
9. Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of U2
10. Westwinds Live

On Good Friday, we encouraged roaming throughout the room during communion to take time at each vestibule. This was fun to watch as people closed their eyes and prayed beneath different vestibules. Some sang. Some cried.

On Easter, we didn’t draw specific attention to them but rather let everyone discover them on their own.

We left them on throughout the whole Fusion with the exception of the message. The sound stayed rather contained beneath the vestibules until the room got very quiet so our ushers stopped them during the message.

Highly recommend this one. Easy. Fun. Different.

Good Friday in Review

Good Friday was very special this year. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a bad Good Friday at Westwinds.

Long ago, I learned the importance of separating the look, feel, and drama of Good Friday and Easter. I think it is important to create a moment on Good Friday that is much like what the disciples and Jesus’ family must have been feeling like before they knew the rest of the story—pain, despair, confusion, sorrow, anger, frustration, agony, etc.

So, the only mention of resurrection and celebration we ever allude to is usually at the end of the evening as we mention the hope that is coming and invite people back to Easter Fusion. I think we do the Good Friday moment a disservice when we give an “Easter” message.

P.S. Read Dave’s message notes here.

This year, I built the entire Good Friday Fusion around the film, “MOST.”

Admittedly, whenever I hear of a Christian film that is a must-see I rarely trust the reviews. I don’t want to be a cynic but most of the “Christian” films I have seen have left me sorely disappointed and bored. So, when my mother-in-law bought me a copy of MOST a couple of years ago, it sat on my shelf for a few months before I could get myself to sit for ½ hour.

I was pleasantly surprised.

MOST is the film interpretation of the oft told story about a man who must make a decision to save his son from certain death or lower a bridge to allow a train to pass by which will save the life of many but sacrifice his son’s life.

I heard the story every summer at camp. It had become stale to me. I don’t know that I ever heard it told well in the first place.

This movie made me love the story.

The independent release was filmed in The Czech Republic and Poland (two places I have fallen in love with over the years) and it is subtitled which, for me, only added to the magic.

We showed the film in 5 different segments on Good Friday interspersed with song, communion, and a contemplative prayer session involving 10 different sound vestibules scattered throughout the auditorium (more to come on that).

I highly recommend this film for a showing at your church. You can purchase a license for group viewing at the website. It is cheap as far as licenses go and it is well worth it. You also get DVD’s and promo material with the license.

Though it is not “graphic” in the blood and gore sense, you should know that the filmmakers did not sugarcoat the death of the son. My wife said she almost threw-up and was a little upset I didn’t warn her. I saw more than a few dads wrecked in tears on Good Friday.

Honestly, when you talk about the death of Jesus through message and song every single week and sometimes multiple times throughout a week before a crowd of people, it is good to know about stories like this that come around every once in a while to stir and provoke us to engage the reality of what has taken place for us. I will admit that I talk about His death at times with the same enthusiasm as explaining what I had for dinner and that bothers me. We all need stories, well crafted and well delivered.

This film gets the Vertizontal two fingers up.

You can watch the trailer here. But, I wouldn't show the trailer to your church. Let the movie stand on its own.