O Come, O Come Emmanuel

This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent. As we recognize the season, and prepare to celebrate the birth of the Son of David, Jesus. Grace Gallery will be installing artwork and poetry each week in our foyer’s gallery space. I am very excited about these artists and their endeavors. We will have pen and ink, pencil and graphite, acrylic on canvas, fiber arts, and who knows what else. I am excited to see what they have made.

The show is titled, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It draws is inspiration from the Great O Antiphons from which the Advent carol by the same name also does. The O Antiphons are 8th Century texts written by and English monastic as a means to walk the last seven days before Christmas Eve. In each of the Antiphons you find an Old Testament prophecy referring to the coming of one who would set all things right.

The following artists are participating in crafting something, visual, written, or interpretive. They are: Hannah Lis, Sierra Smith, Sarah Stone, Jennifer Edwards, Timothy Bay, Phoebe Dell’Arena, Sophie-Earle McCraw, and Adah Freeman. Each artists has taken up one of the Antiphon themes and is responding to poems on the Antiphons which I have previously written. This dialogue between word and visual art is called ekphrasis which means to “draw out” or “tell out.” In addition, I have recruited my father-in-law, Ed Pilkington, who taught Theater and Speech at Applachian State for many years, to read the poems for us which you’ll be able to access online.

I can’t wait to see this all together, and I am so grateful to them for their hard work and beautiful art. I know you will be too.

-Pastor Randy