Members of First Congregational Church UCC in Saugus Paint Icons to Deepen Spirituality

Story submitted by Rev. Martha Leahy

During a 2009 Lenten series on spiritual practices, Rev. Martha Leahy of the First Congregational Church UCC in Saugus, was teaching members of their adult spirituality group, "Seeking the Word," about different forms of prayer.  These forms included praying with guided meditation, music and art. 
 
"For our session on praying with art, we had paintings set up on easels and books of sacred art to contemplate, and we were embellishing a community prayer bowl with beads," she said.  "A local art teacher, who happened to walk through our Fellowship Hall on his way to another meeting, stopped and asked what we were doing.  When I described the purpose of our gathering, he offered to come teach an art class at our church.  I said yes right away.  His specialty was icon painting, so we decided
that we would give it a try."  
 
Weekly classes were scheduled in the month of October to coincide with the church's yearly Pumpkin Patch ministry.  This ministry draws hundreds of people to the outside of the church to buy pumpkins, but there was rarely anything offered to invite them inside.  The extra income had been great for the church treasury for the past 5 years, but Rev. Leahy and others felt they could be doing more to attract seekers and, hopefully, grow disciples.  In 2009, the church decided to create special outreach ministries to do just that.  They offered Sunday morning breakfasts, afternoon cookouts, a harvest craft fair for children, a chili cook-off, and the weekly icon painting class.  Throughout all the October festivities, five new families signed up for Sunday School.     
 
Advertisements for the icon class, which were posted in the local paper, on the Mass. Conference website and on the church's website drew 12 participants.  This was an ecumenical gathering of Catholics, Episcopalians and UCC members from all over Essex County. 
 
Teacher Steve Belyea showed introductory slides about the history of icons in Christian worship and explained, "An icon is a religious painting, usually on wood panels, done in the Byzantine style, either Greek or Russian.  The paintings are usually of Jesus, his mother, Mary, or a saint.  If you visit a Greek Orthodox Church, you will see these beautiful icons inside the sanctuary.  For more than a thousand years, Eastern Orthodox Christians have used their hands and hearts to create icons as a way to proclaim God's reality in a visible and beautiful way."  Another way to describe icons is "visual theology." 
 
Rev. Leahy opened the first class with a poem by Edward Hays called "A Prayer of Gratitude for the Gift of Sight," from Pray All Ways: A Book for Daily Worship Using All Your Senses.  The class was largely taken up with mastering basic mixing and painting techniques.  Mr. Belyea taught the class how to create paints in the same way that they were created centuries ago, by mixing egg yolks, ground pigments in various colors, and water.  The realization hit quickly that this would not be a quick and easy way to create art.  Belyea's own icon creations sometimes took him months to paint.  He told the class that the early monks who created icons would make it a spiritual practice to give their art away when they were finished. 
 
For the second class, Rev. Leahy opened with another Edward Hays poem called, "A Prayer for Waiting," which acknowledged that a prayerful relationship with God needs time in order to be properly nurtured.  While Gregorian chants played, the artists quietly worked on their pieces and allowed themselves to slow down and enjoy the process.
 
Three classes were not nearly enough to complete the icons and a fourth session was added.  Many artists worked on their paintings at home in order to complete them for an art show December 6.  The show was combined with the church's annual Christmas concert, a free gift to the Saugus community for many years.  This is another way that one public event at the church is nurturing and supporting a new outreach ministry.
 
Although the classes did not result in making any new disciples for Jesus Christ, the call and commitment of those who participated was deepened by their experience.   
 
One of the artists, Barbara Bodengraven of Topsfield, said of the class, "I just love the concept of spiritual arts; I keep written as well as visual art journals.  I make little shrines and look for any and all artistic ways to express my spirituality and faith in the world."
 
Isabell Van Merlin of Lynn, who painted an icon of the holy family, said the class taught her, "that I love to walk in beauty with others, talking to God, expressing myself using my eyes and hands, thinking about 'what does a family group mean", 'what does blue mean, or yellow or gold or green?', listening to wonderful prayers and music, feeling community and The Presence."
 
Rev. Lois Coppola of Haverhill agreed that, "not only was the icon painting exercise helpful in formulating a creative contemplative prayer opportunity, it also had the added experience of being in community with others.  Look forward to more."
 
Rev. Leahy added, "Most all of the artists said they would return for another art class and many have said they would bring a friend.  The feeling of gratitude - for our senses, for community, for revelation, and for God - can only deepen our commitment to our faith traditions and, hopefully, draw seekers into an experience of spirituality they may not have had before." 
 
The next series of classes at First Congregational begins in February 2010.  Titled "Praying with Art: The Landscapes of Sacred Places,"  the class will paint watercolor landscapes of Holy Land scenes in the style of 19th century painters.  Other projects considered were creating illuminated letters (as in the Book of Kells), altered books (a visual representation of a psalm or prayer using found materials), and Mexican retablos (small religious paintings on wood, tin or copper). 

Rev. Leahy asks that you "keep yourselves open to the possibility of encountering the holy through art."
 
Rev. Martha Leahy can be reached at the church office 781-233-3028, email uccsaugus@verizon.net, or via the church website at http://www.1stchurchsaugus.org.

Members of First Congregational Church UCC in Saugus Paint Icons to Deepen Spirituality

Story submitted by Rev. Martha Leahy

During a 2009 Lenten series on spiritual practices, Rev. Martha Leahy of the First Congregational Church UCC in Saugus, was teaching members of their adult spirituality group, "Seeking the Word," about different forms of prayer.  These forms included praying with guided meditation, music and art. 
 
"For our session on praying with art, we had paintings set up on easels and books of sacred art to contemplate, and we were embellishing a community prayer bowl with beads," she said.  "A local art teacher, who happened to walk through our Fellowship Hall on his way to another meeting, stopped and asked what we were doing.  When I described the purpose of our gathering, he offered to come teach an art class at our church.  I said yes right away.  His specialty was icon painting, so we decided
that we would give it a try."  
 
Weekly classes were scheduled in the month of October to coincide with the church's yearly Pumpkin Patch ministry.  This ministry draws hundreds of people to the outside of the church to buy pumpkins, but there was rarely anything offered to invite them inside.  The extra income had been great for the church treasury for the past 5 years, but Rev. Leahy and others felt they could be doing more to attract seekers and, hopefully, grow disciples.  In 2009, the church decided to create special outreach ministries to do just that.  They offered Sunday morning breakfasts, afternoon cookouts, a harvest craft fair for children, a chili cook-off, and the weekly icon painting class.  Throughout all the October festivities, five new families signed up for Sunday School.     
 
Advertisements for the icon class, which were posted in the local paper, on the Mass. Conference website and on the church's website drew 12 participants.  This was an ecumenical gathering of Catholics, Episcopalians and UCC members from all over Essex County. 
 
Teacher Steve Belyea showed introductory slides about the history of icons in Christian worship and explained, "An icon is a religious painting, usually on wood panels, done in the Byzantine style, either Greek or Russian.  The paintings are usually of Jesus, his mother, Mary, or a saint.  If you visit a Greek Orthodox Church, you will see these beautiful icons inside the sanctuary.  For more than a thousand years, Eastern Orthodox Christians have used their hands and hearts to create icons as a way to proclaim God's reality in a visible and beautiful way."  Another way to describe icons is "visual theology." 
 
Rev. Leahy opened the first class with a poem by Edward Hays called "A Prayer of Gratitude for the Gift of Sight," from Pray All Ways: A Book for Daily Worship Using All Your Senses.  The class was largely taken up with mastering basic mixing and painting techniques.  Mr. Belyea taught the class how to create paints in the same way that they were created centuries ago, by mixing egg yolks, ground pigments in various colors, and water.  The realization hit quickly that this would not be a quick and easy way to create art.  Belyea's own icon creations sometimes took him months to paint.  He told the class that the early monks who created icons would make it a spiritual practice to give their art away when they were finished. 
 
For the second class, Rev. Leahy opened with another Edward Hays poem called, "A Prayer for Waiting," which acknowledged that a prayerful relationship with God needs time in order to be properly nurtured.  While Gregorian chants played, the artists quietly worked on their pieces and allowed themselves to slow down and enjoy the process.
 
Three classes were not nearly enough to complete the icons and a fourth session was added.  Many artists worked on their paintings at home in order to complete them for an art show December 6.  The show was combined with the church's annual Christmas concert, a free gift to the Saugus community for many years.  This is another way that one public event at the church is nurturing and supporting a new outreach ministry.
 
Although the classes did not result in making any new disciples for Jesus Christ, the call and commitment of those who participated was deepened by their experience.   
 
One of the artists, Barbara Bodengraven of Topsfield, said of the class, "I just love the concept of spiritual arts; I keep written as well as visual art journals.  I make little shrines and look for any and all artistic ways to express my spirituality and faith in the world."
 
Isabell Van Merlin of Lynn, who painted an icon of the holy family, said the class taught her, "that I love to walk in beauty with others, talking to God, expressing myself using my eyes and hands, thinking about 'what does a family group mean", 'what does blue mean, or yellow or gold or green?', listening to wonderful prayers and music, feeling community and The Presence."
 
Rev. Lois Coppola of Haverhill agreed that, "not only was the icon painting exercise helpful in formulating a creative contemplative prayer opportunity, it also had the added experience of being in community with others.  Look forward to more."
 
Rev. Leahy added, "Most all of the artists said they would return for another art class and many have said they would bring a friend.  The feeling of gratitude - for our senses, for community, for revelation, and for God - can only deepen our commitment to our faith traditions and, hopefully, draw seekers into an experience of spirituality they may not have had before." 
 
The next series of classes at First Congregational begins in February 2010.  Titled "Praying with Art: The Landscapes of Sacred Places,"  the class will paint watercolor landscapes of Holy Land scenes in the style of 19th century painters.  Other projects considered were creating illuminated letters (as in the Book of Kells), altered books (a visual representation of a psalm or prayer using found materials), and Mexican retablos (small religious paintings on wood, tin or copper). 

Rev. Leahy asks that you "keep yourselves open to the possibility of encountering the holy through art."
 
Rev. Martha Leahy can be reached at the church office 781-233-3028, email uccsaugus@verizon.net, or via the church website at http://www.1stchurchsaugus.org.