beads

Good morning…

These final words of a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks greeted us as we entered the Sonya Clark exhibit at the High Museum of Art last Saturday.

“…we are each other’s

harvest

we are each other’s

business

we are each other’s

magnitude and bond.”

A group of us from our Sunday afternoon class went to take part in the Beaded Prayers Project, an ongoing communal art project which has engaged over five thousand participants in dozens of countries. In the exhibition’s opening gallery, we marveled at the beaded amulets adorning symmetrical brown squares hanging all over the walls. These handcrafted bags of beaded prayers had been created in community art-making workshops led by Clark since 1998. Each amulet held written prayers unique to its own maker.

prayers
prayers

We chatted. We chose our supplies. We laughed. We threaded our needles. We told stories. We each sewed our prayers inside a pouch crafted with our own fingers. Our one-of-a-kind, beaded amulets connected us to all of the heartfelt prayers crafted over the years, from all over the globe. In the fullness of joy, we embodied the words greeting us at the start.

“…we are each other’s

harvest

we are each other’s

business

we are each other’s

magnitude and bond.”

God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful (1 Corinthians 12:4-11a, MSG).

…Sue…

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