This morning I received an email post from Andrea Skevington. I was so moved by it that I hit reply to express my gratitude and share with her some of my own art inspired by John 21.

In the process of doing that, I realized I have not yet blogged about that art installation. Given John 21:1-19 is this Sunday’s lectionary reading, it feels timely to share it, even as it comes in the midst of my current Wonders of Worship series.

Originally created for the Institute of Liturgical Studies gathering at Valparaiso University in 2023, my goal for the installation was to offer an immersive, sensory experience for scripture engagement, kind of like an Ignatian practice. The theme of the conference was “Finding Our Rhythm in the Fullness of Time.” These paintings were done on a repurposed, 20″ Ikea bamboo bowl. There was something about the nature of a bowl, being both concave and convex that piqued my curiosity when pondering fullness.

The installation includes brackets and a mirror, so that the whole piece can be seen from a seated posture. It has a ring of 6-8 chairs for participants to sit down and immerse themselves in the story. A QR code links to a video so that people can use their phones to pull up the sounds of a campfire. Handheld clay infusers offer a campfire fragrance.

Here’s the installation:

For a little bit of scale, here’s the bowl held in my hand:

The imagination is such a funny, expansive thing. Here I am pondering what it would be like to add hot-hand warmers to the experience.

Hope your own imagination was somehow touched by this sharing, too.