This post was written by Jess Preston, Restoration’s sacristan. A sacristan is responsible for the sacramental adornment of the church’s sacred spaces (eg. altar, chancel, and sanctuary).
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain.”
— 1 Cor 15:54-58
As we’ve journeyed from Advent to Easter, there have been many elements of the liturgical seasons that have been represented visually in our sanctuary.
In Advent, we waited. We joined in the hopeful expectation of Christ’s coming, remembering His first coming and looking forward to His second. Using branches and dried flowers, we entered into this season of anticipation.
In Christmas, we rejoiced. Christ has come and entered into our humanity as the fully divine. Yet even in His coming, we anticipate His journey to the cross. Our celebration is mingled with that expectation and incorporated into our greenery is holly, the evergreen reminding us of the eternal life in Christ and the red berries pointing to His passion and death to come.
In Lent, we repented. We entered into a season of preparation as we headed toward Holy Week. The branches, the dried flowers, and the red berries return, thorns are added, and we take a long journey with Christ toward the cross.
And so we come to Easter. Purple and black are triumphantly replaced with white, and we enter into a time of feasting, rejoicing in the victory of Christ. And while Easter is a time of rejoicing, it holds with it the seasons we have thus walked through. We rejoice because of the waiting, and our hope in Easter contains all the elements of the journey to the cross. And with this we remember that suffering and death are not forgotten or set aside, rather they are swallowed up.
As we celebrate this Easter season, one way we visualize this at Restoration is with our altar flowers. Incorporated into our arrangements throughout Eastertide will be dried hydrangeas and sticks from Advent, red holly berries from Christmas, and thorns from Lent, creating a full picture of our hope.
It is a hope not separate from pain, but a hope that abounds within it. It is a hope that is established in Christ’s own suffering and His victory over sin and death. It is a hope that has a place for grief and tears. And as the dried elements of the arrangement are swallowed up in the life of the flowers, it is a hope that proclaims: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
