For a study guide see page 22.
Mary Button
Minister of the arts, First Congregational Church, Memphis, Tenn. Age: 31
Mary Button wants you to notice what Jesus looks
like in your church—literally. From her Lutheran upbringing in southeast Texas onward, Button has found that “the same images of Jesus” pop up in most congregations. And those images are static—“they no longer refl ect the diversity of the body of Christ,” she said. Button’s calling is to change that. In her congrega-
tional arts ministry, this means welcoming members of all ages to participate in the collaborative art installa- tions she designs for each season of the church year. Button has also created a “Stations of the
“Some people are auditory learners and get a lot out of sermons. Some are visual and are helped by seeing art,” Mary Button said. “And some are tactile, kinesthetic learners who connect through
action and participation. I want to bring people together in creating art [to have] a profound experience of community.”
Cross” series since 2010, each year con- necting the Passion story to a contempo- rary context such as mental illness, mass incarceration, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Downloads and prints of Button’s stations, available online, have been displayed in congregations across the U.S. and overseas.
Liz Colver
Community organizing specialist, Northwest Washington Synod, Seattle Age: 33
At 9 years old, Liz Colver came home from Sunday
school at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church in Seattle and told her mother: “I want to be a monk like Martin Luther.” Learning that her gender barred her from the mon-
astery surprised, but did not stop, her: “I knew I was called to serve in the church, but not as a pastor, youth director, musician or church secretary.” Years later while in seminary, Colver dis-
covered the Lutheran Deaconess Community. “Here was an intentional community of women in spiritual relationship with each other to become bold and prophetic leaders,” she said. “T ese were my people.” T e feeling repeated itself when, on internship, she was introduced to community organizing. In March 2015, Colver was consecrated as a
deaconess to serve as the ELCA’s fi rst commu- nity organizing specialist.
“To give congregations access to the language and tools of community organizing that can help open doors that were closed … and send
the church back into the neighborhood, not only around the church building but with the neighbors of church members,” Liz Colver said. “Community organizing and intentional relationships are things that Jesus tells us to do.”
June 2015 17
ministry?
an arts
Why
calling?
What’s your
BEN VANHOUTEN
THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL/LANDOV
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