Back at the burning bush
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God; / But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, / The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” The members of Friendship Presbyterian Church longed to awaken to the heaven-crammed earth, so pastor Shawna Bowman constructed a five-foot bush out of a building tube, foam, and wire. She lit it up with Christmas lights and paper flames. Then members of the congregation asked one another, “What is our burning bush?” Each person plucked a flame with words of mission on it: “To speak up in truth.” “To work for peace.” “To forgive.”
The people at Friendship Church are creative on many levels. They regularly construct art in worship, celebrating with paint, paper, and color. Bowman has an undergraduate degree in studio art and art education, along with years of experience in teaching art at an elementary school. Friendship draws from her experience, setting the communion table with dishware from home, decorating the church windows with acrylics, and creating swirling murals. The people have also learned to be creative as they form their community and shape their narratives.
Friendship began when six churches of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), located within a five-mile radius in northwest Chicago, met with one another to see if they could collaborate. All were struggling to maintain big buildings. “They went through a really hard process—grief work and identity work,” Bowman said.
