“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

1 Corinthians 12:12

Creating our own Body of Christ

Through two nights of hands-on creations, participants in this year’s Vacation Bible School witnessed, and perhaps better understood, one of the tenets of our faith — we all as individuals and as a group are part of the Body of Christ.

Life-size outlines of many of the participants were traced on large rolls of paper, colored through a variety of creative methods, cut out to form the actual body shapes, and then blended together on two large murals — each representing the belief we are all one in the eyes of God.

The project was led by Janet Magelis of the World of Wonders Nursery School, which holds its classes in our building. The “body” murals were cut, interlaced, and pasted onto two large cutouts, one a chalice and the other a loaf of bread, signifying the Body of Christ and the unity of communion.

The two murals will hang in the sanctuary as a reminder of this year’s Vacation Bible School and a reflection of our lives together.

After being colored, the body outlines were cut out, waiting to be selected for one of the two murals.

When you see the murals in the sanctuary, realize they are the actual body shapes of members of this church. See if you can guess which shape belongs to which person. Some of the shapes are of the Rev. Ruth Morrison, Janet Magelis, Camille Braun, Jasper Fontana, Jennifer Chatfield, Mark Braun, Luke Gagne and Colin Davidson.

Each body outline was carefully placed with others to create a perfect symmetry with each other.

Sometimes when a body shape didn't fit on one mural, it was delicately moved to the other.

 Much of the painting of the body shapes was done on the first night of VBS, including a bombardment of balloons filled with paint and a random splattering of a rainbow of colors from brushes.

A final approach to the body coloring came on the second night with bubble painting. A wide range of acrylic paints, mixed with dish soap and corn syrup, were distributed into individual bowls. The painters would then blow air into the bowls with straws, creating a large volume of colored bubbles.

After the bubbles mounded above the rims of the bowls, the body shapes were skimmed across the top of the bubbles. Some of the bubbles would adhere to the paper, creating interesting designs and textures once the bubbles dried.

In addition to the bubble paint being used on the body shapes, it also was used for a variety of other cutouts, including butterflies, hearts, angels, boys and girls, and dogs.

After all the body shapes were positioned, trimmed, pasted and admired by all, Rev. Ruth Morrison celebrated the culmination of the two evenings of spirited creations by serving communion. It was a fitting end and accented the understanding that we all belong to the Body of Christ.

The chalice mural.

The bread mural.

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

1 Corinthians 12:27

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