Firefly Imageworks

The Untold Story

Eikon is a community I’ve been involved with for the past year. With a name that, translated from the original Greek means “image reflectors,” its a new kind of church that approaches the weekly rhythm of Christian worship with a fresh perspective; meeting once a month for a large community worship service, and spending the other three to four weekends of the month, meeting as smaller Missional Communities (MCs) with a specific missional purpose. My MC, for instance, has a focus on meeting the needs of the less fortunate within Richmond, VA.

For each of the group’s monthly gatherings, I’ve taken on a key role in developing the visual presentation of the service. With services being less-frequent its easier to treat each one with a particular degree of specialness – a specialness that should (and does) filter down into even the tiniest of details.

With the service officially having launched earlier tonight, I wanted to share how this philosophy ended up effecting the church’s bulletin – which is normally a pretty staid convention. I didn’t want it to be something I just pumped out to achieve the classic objective: sharing necessary information with those that attended. I felt that in order to really be something special and unique in and of itself, it should really merge well with and become an extension of the teaching and themes being explored throughout the service it was used in – only using visual art to do so. Additionally, this should be something fresh and new for each service. The layout, typography, paper stock, and imagery shouldn’t be something that adhered to any convention, but should be fresh and aligned to that specific month’s service/celebration. Put simply, each month should be able to operate as it’s own independent art piece.

What resulted for our first night was the above image printed on one side, with the bulletin information printed on the back. The image itself began as a photo I took of one of the stained glass windows within the chapel we meet in. Within each individual pane I superimposed another photo of various community members I’d taken over the past year. Each image tells a story of the people within the image. The one exception is the blank pane in the middle of the blue cross.

The teaching itself was one that shared how the invitation into the full life and blessing Christ offers is an invitation for everyone, but all too often – be it because of our our own biases, baggage, upbringing, etc. – if we’re honest, there are people whom we personally hope it actually isn’t for. Perhaps its someone who’s treated us poorly, or someone (or some group) who we don’t like how they think, act, or dress. The list of reasons for these biases are numerous, but Christ doesn’t see it that way. Whoever wants in is in.

The center blank pane represents the person or group that we don’t want in (and sometimes simply won’t let in). With each beautiful story being told in the other panes, it asks us to consider the stories our biases are not allowing to take place; the stories that would complete the picture.

Sorry to get preachy, but I hope no matter who you are or what you believe, that you’ve found this interesting and hopefully a little inspiring. The idea – as I said before – is to have something like this on a monthly basis to share. See you on October 11!