I love reading the editorial messages in the front of magazines. In a recent one, the editor was exclaiming the fact that even though it was early fall, the magazine was focused on spring already. Of course they are! A good magazine must be looking ahead and preparing material that its readers will experience months later. It made me think about how similar this is to planning ahead for worship. Even though we would rather just be reveling in the Advent plans that are now being fleshed out within the community, we must also have an eye to Epiphany and Lent. It can be a difficult discipline sometimes.

One practice I have learned helps me a lot–steeping in what I call an “anchor image.” For me, the starting point to planning a worship series is getting a good metaphor that can anchor us in the spiritual journey. This photo is one I took while leading a group this summer on a pilgrimage to the beautiful Santa Cruz forest of giant redwood trees. At that point, I was already thinking ahead to a year’s worth of worship themes and our walks through these woods offered so many images of “road,” “path,” “journey.” I began to play with this as an anchor image. Knowing I wanted to follow the lectionary this liturgical year in Lent, I engaged in lectio divina of the scriptures for Lent and, amazingly, there were many references to “making a way,” “making crooked paths straight,” etc.

At this point in my creative process, I begin to “steep.” This means two things: 1) that my “noticer” is on high alert; and 2) I let the image play in the background of my consciousness. I begin to see things related to “paths” all over the place! I make notes (that eventually become ideas in the brainstorm section of the Worship Design Studio) and simply start collecting and collaging. One night while looking for a movie to watch on Netflix, I ran across a movie I had heard was good but had never watched called “The Way.” Bingo. “Watch it!” was the Spirit’s nudge. In the middle of it, I remembered that a friend was actually on the pilgrimage depicted in the movie. Went to her FB page… she was just about to arrive at the destination the next day after a month of walking. Goosebumps.

This is what happens when we allow ourselves enough time to steep in a metaphor rather than cramming our planning process into a timeline so tight that we have to produce something right away. For Lent in the Worship Design Studio, I am working on the theme, “The Way,” and my pilgrimage last summer, the movie by the same name, the lectionary itself and my friend’s trip have all become rich fodder for what the series will become. And I can enjoy Advent knowing that by the time we get to “production” for Lent, there will be plenty to create with. M-M-Good.

Note:  if you are stressing over planning for Epiphany through Lent, we’ve already got the theme and lots of ideas for the series, “The Passionate Jesus” posted in the Worship Design Studio!