The Forest Kirk Uniting Church

Trinity banner

The White Banner

How do you draw God? 

How do you draw The Trinity?

These are the questions that confronted me when considering what to put on a banner depicting The Trinity.  So after a prayerful time and a look at my banner book which has photos of gorgeous banners from all over the world, I took the symbols of Alpha and Omega for God, the Father, the Creator of Life.

The early Greeks used Α (alpha) and Ω (omega) as a metaphor for God for they represented the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet (see Revelation 1:8).  God the Creator of Life, the beginning and also at the ending of human life.  But I take it that God has no beginning and no ending, so these symbols are also for the Infinite God.

Then the cross of course represents Jesus Christ.  I could not have the figure of a man, for Jesus is also Christ, so the cross is empty because He is risen. It is the symbol for his divine character that also has no beginning and no end—eternal life.

Jesus, however, came with the purpose of bringing Truth to mankind — the truth about God, and how to live happily with each other — ”that ye love one another as I have loved you”.

When Jesus left us, He knew His disciples and friends would be feeling very alone and without support, so He promised that He would send “a comforter”.  So the Holy Spirit came, sounding like thunder and looking like flames of fire.  So the flames at the foot of the cross represent the Holy Spirit, who comforts us like a mother; encircling us with love, care and guidance.

So we have The Trinity:-

1. God, as Father, Creator of Life,

2. The Christ, the Son, who saves us and

3. The Holy Spirit who cares for us like a mother, is Love.

So we have Life, Truth and Love.

Click to view a larger versionThen there is a circle of rays of light.  What are they there for?  Surely there is no need for anything more?

But the rays of light symbolise the unity of the Three—Three-in-one and when we have the light of understanding what God is and His relationship to us, and ours to Him, then the light shines in our lives.  Everything then is good and harmonious, happy and loving.

Just think for a moment how we feel when there is a blackout.  No lights in the house, no lights in the street.  Total blackness.  You bump into furniture as you grope around the house trying to find the matches for a candle.

Children feel scared.  There’s something nasty in the room—but when the light comes on—what joy!

You see everything is in its right place.  There’s nothing to be scared of!  Well, that’s how it is with God.  When we understand Him we walk in the light, and we know why Jesus said: “I am the light of the world”.

Finally, there’s one more symbol.  Why is the banner white? and everything is either white or silver?

Because white symbolises purity!  So God is pure Love, pure Spirit, pure Good, pure Truth, pure Life!

But there is something strange about white Light—the light that is all around us.  If you bend the rays of light, you get a rainbow!

Look at the banner over the organ for the 50th anniversary.  That has the rainbow in it which represents God too—and the covenant God gave to Noah.

The rainbow represents the 7 wonderful qualities of God –

Creator, Spirit, Unchangeable, Law Maker, Life, Truth and Love

All working together to make light in our lives.

So let us, as we look at the white banner, feel the light of understanding shining in our lives.

Dorothy Sproul

FOOTNOTE:  This is a lightly edited version of Dorothy’s explanation to the children of how she designed (and made) the beautiful ‘white’ banner hung in the church Sunday 20th November 2005.  It was really inspiring to hear her thought processes for this banner gift to The Kirk.

 

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