Creative Spaces

One of the first things we felt the Lord leading us to do when we began Dandelion Ministries a year and a half ago was to connect with the other artist pastors that we already knew. One is a playwright, one a poet, another a singer/songwriter, and one a film maker/actor. For over a year now we have been meeting via zoom every other Friday to share what God was doing with each of us creatively, give encouragement, and pray for each other. This past weekend we saw the fruit of this group.

Kate and I packed our pickup with guitars, kids and a 5’x7’ painting. We hit the road back to our old stomping grounds in Charleston, SC to partner with a couple churches in creating space to hear and receive God’s comfort in our place of lament through these various art forms. Kate added her visual art, and I added some of my original songs to the mix. Our friends, The Revs. Matthew and Henrietta Rivers, at St. John’s Chapel, hosted us Saturday evening. The Lord proved faithful once again as we watched his Holy Spirit minister to everyone in the room. The Rev. Louise Weld had this to say, “I was so blessed to be part of the Arts Night led by Kate and Sean at St. Johns Chapel in Charleston. An amazing time of worship and an encouragement by the Holy Spirit for us artists to collaborate through song, spoken word and visual arts to celebrate (and commend) the comfort of God.”

Then Sunday morning we were invited by our friends at St. Michael’s Church in downtown Charleston to lead a creative space with the families of the congregation as a part of their Global Impact Celebration. This time we retold the story of Jesus meeting the women at the well in John 4. We were delighted to be at St. Michael’s the same day our fiery and beloved friend, Bishop Thad Barnum (instrumental in encouraging us to begin Dandelion back in 2020), proclaimed the good news in this woman’s amazing encounter with the Lord. Jesus loved her out of her secrets and into his forgiveness. His grace transformed her shame into her testimony…”come see a man who told me all I ever did.” He brought new life out of the depths of her broken relationships. We invited the children and parents to respond together in paint about how Jesus had met them at their well (where they were mad and sad) and made it a fountain of living water. You can see some of the responses below.