Between Heaven and Earth

The idea for this banner came to me in Orvieto, Italy where every day at 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. the churches would sound their bells loudly 3 times. For me, an American Christian, this was a new and positive experience because the ringing had the effect of stopping me in my normal activity and causing my eyes and thoughts to turn upward, literally, to heaven.  I found out that this “call to prayer,“ reaching back to the 14th century, is called the Angelus.  It commemorates the resurrection of Christ in the morning, his suffering or passion at noon and the annunciation in the evening. The angel referred to is Gabriel who revealed to Mary that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God (Luke 1: 26-38).

The banner is organized into 3 registers or horizontal bands. On the top register is a drawing of the Lamb that was slayed and who now advocates for us in heaven.  In the middle register are the cathedral bells ringing and below is the earth with the lilies that remind us of the annunciation.  Joining the three registers vertically,  a ladder harks back to Jacob’s dream of angels traveling back and forth from heaven to earth (Gen.28: 10-22).  A passage from Isaiah 61, reminding us of the Messiah’s ministry of peace and reconciliation, underlies the whole composition.

I often think of banners as the New Testament version of Jewish prayer shawls. At the bottom, in the place traditionally reserved for the shawl’s tzitzit or tassels, are small bells which ring and serve to remind the viewer of the Angelus prayer and that greater reality above us.  These bells are attached to the banner by a scarlet ribbon, a reminder of the blood of Christ shed for us, weaving up and down in reconciliation between heaven and earth