Green Altar Frontal

Having made the purple altar frontal in memory of Dad, I wanted to make something to celebrate the arrival of Elizabeth; and so the idea came to make a green altar frontal. Green is a colour representing hope and growth, and as a liturgical colour symbolizes our spiritual growth in Christ. It is a colour we associate with Spring, the springing forth in nature and the opportunity for new life and growth.

In the liturgical year, green is used on ordinary days; all those boring bits of the year in between the bigger festivals, feast days or somber days. Green is the colour of revelatory experience and is used to mark the seasons following God’s revelation – the season of Epiphany celebrating God’s incarnation as the infant Christ, and the season of Trinity, celebrating the revelation of the one Eternal God as revealed in the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Ordinary time is a time for individual growth, development and discipleship. I have created an intricate, continuous knot, intended to represent our circle of life – the ups and downs, highs and lows, the twists and turns we all face. This is worked in a plain gold, showing God is with us through the journey we take, always offering us opportunities for hope and for growth.

I have chosen a triskele knot to be the focal point, representing God the Holy Trinity. This is worked in various gold threads and beads as textured embroidery. (This seems appropriate as most of the Sundays in Ordinary time are counted as Sundays after Trinity Sunday.)

One of the challenges for me in the last few years has been to find God in all those twists and turns that life takes; learning to find the joy and peace that God offers even in the boring and / or difficult bits of life!  There are two biblical passages / verses that have inspired me for this design. Ecclesiastes 3 v1-8 – a time for everything; remembering that it is normal that life has its ups and downs. And Hebrews 13  v8 – ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (one of the first Bible verses I remember learning). Remembering that whatever route our journey takes us, Jesus is always there; his love and forgiveness for us is the same, whatever we may be facing day by day.

Thank you too, to Myrtle and Mary, who have sponsored the project. Our prayer is that this altar frontal may inspire our worship and help us to encounter the living God.