All Saints Strips and Crosses

Yesterday, I was in charge of our interactive service.  I had known for awhile that I would be in charge, and I thought briefly about doing something with altars and the way that some of our Latin American neighbors celebrate the Day of the Dead.  But I couldn't quite pull that together, given my lack of a kitchen (no Day of the Dead bread) and the way we've been worshiping the last several weeks, so I couldn't remind people to bring things for the altar.

Then I saw an idea in this blog post and decided to adopt it.  I knew that I had a sheet I could tear into strips so that we could write the names of our loved ones and saints on them.

I had planned to make a cross that we could tie our strips to it, but I didn't find anything I really liked.

Then I remembered that we already have such a cross--we used it for Easter flowers, so I thought that tying strips half a year later had a nice resonance and symbolism.

After we tied our strips, we scattered some rose petals on the memorial stones in the butterfly garden.

Then we came inside and talked about our highs and lows and prayed and had Communion.  A note for next year:  strips like these could make a beautiful banner too.  Below is a picture from Katie Mathews Treadway's church: