Nebraska Synod ELCA

by Pr. Patrick Sipes, serving at First Lutheran in North Platte

Several years ago while serving in Pennsylvania, I came across a copy of the Gospels and Acts from the St. John’s Bible. I didn’t fully know what the St. John’s Bible was at the time, (you can find out more here) but I did know I was captivated and that I had to have this book. From then on, I slowly collected and received other volumes of the St. John’s Bible as gifts. I began using the original volume on special occasions and eventually as a weekly processional gospel. Through use, these volumes took on a more proper holiness, one where their purpose was to share scripture in a beautiful way rather than being too beautiful to touch. It was in that movement that they stopped being captivating and started to become a source of inspiration.

It was with that inspiration working in me that I stopped at a craft store on my way to an 8 day silent retreat and picked up some calligraphy supplies. To pass the time on my retreat I had decided that I would take a stab at writing some scripture by hand. I won’t lie, those first pieces were painful, both to my cramped and aching hand and to my eyes. As I’ve learned and trained more, I could also now tell you everything that is wrong with those early pieces and what makes something done more recently more pleasing, but I’d rather tell you what the process itself has taught me about telling THE story.

First, calligraphy has taught me to take THE story, God’s Story a little slower. Writing by hand takes time. It’s also true that reading handwriting, even your own, makes you slow down. This is good for those listening and helps the one telling the story to get the right emphasis. Second to write something out requires taking it word by word, and as that is done, words, phrases, concepts stand out that haven’t before. Along the way, your story has time to connect more to God’s story, and then to the story of others. There is also time for images beyond words to make themselves known. Two of my favorite pieces (I will write my law upon their hearts and Zeal for your House will consume me) came only because the process of writing something else gave them room to come into being.

Finally,  though what I’ve learned (so far) is that at its heart, calligraphy is not about words or even letters, it is about strokes that are taken one by one by one, and it’s only later that we put them together into a greater whole. THE story is told in a similar way one breath, one act of love, one word of kindness at a time, and over time all of these single pieces form into a greater whole. As you tell THE story, focus on these individual pieces and the rest will take care of itself.