Creativity and Spirituality

The Creativity and Spirituality Team at St. George’s is our organized response to how we recognize and experience the creative, beautiful presence of the Holy amidst us at St. George’s. We experience that presence as animating us to respond in gratitude and as co-creators of beauty and life in acts of service and love. The following manifesto describes who we are and what we’re about. You are most warmly, generously invited to come and learn more and participate in that Spirit with us.

The Creativity and Spirituality Team at St. George’s is our organized response to how we recognize and experience the creative, beautiful presence of the Holy amidst us at St. George’s. We experience that presence as animating us to respond in gratitude and as co-creators of beauty and life in acts of service and love. The following manifesto describes who we are and what we’re about. You are most warmly, generously invited to come and learn more and participate in that Spirit with us.

We meet monthly on a Saturday morning Zoom call to plan opportunities for growing in faith in a creative way. We’ll be updating this page with descriptions of how that takes place! Contact our church office for more information.

You can learn about our ethos in the meantime here in our prayer…

Creator God,

We thank you for the beauty and majesty of your creation,

for the sun that warms us,

for the earth that provides food and shelter.

Teach us to live in ways that protect and renew the Earth,

never taking more than we need,

always giving back more than we take.

From you every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.

You have rooted and grounded us in your covenant love.

You send us forth in the power of your Spirit

to speak the truth in love,

and to walk in your way towards justice and wholeness.

Let us listen to your powerful voice inside us

Let us discover the gifts with which you have created us

Allow us to see and to feel them

to discover and awake them

and to grow them with love and joy.

Creator God, allow us to be part of your creation.

Let us feel the joyful storm of your creation

Let us be transformed by the power of your gifts,

and let us bring this power to the world outside.

Let us shine in joy where there is sadness,

Let us bring a light of hope where there is darkness,

Let us create community where there is loneliness

Let us stand up in justice and sing a song of hope

to heal the wounds of our fearful hearts.

Creator God, allow us to be part of your creation. – written by Gregor Kokorz

Who we are and what we do

The spirit is what makes us alive, what animates us—minds, hearts, and bodies, and what gives us breath. It is the energy that comes from God.  This spirit opens our minds and hearts to a relationship with God. Spirituality is the expression of that spirit.

We feel that spirit individually and in a myriad of ways

When we hear a beautiful voice, when we hear the harmonies of a lovely  choir, a plainsong, or a fantastic guitar riff

                       When we sing a beloved hymn

                       When a mighty organ swells with a Bach fugue

                       When we see a flower

                                 Or the sky

                                 Or the mountains

                                 Or a butterfly

                                 Or cathedral full of light from stained glass windows

                       When we taste a wild strawberry

                       When we smell a rose

When we see face or hear the voice or feel the presence of someone we truly dearly love

When we just want to burst out singing the Gloria

Spirituality can’t be quantified or intellectualized.  It just is.  Thanks be to God.

Creativity is an expression of that life force—whenever we do something, make something, it comes from that force within us, from our imagination, from our love, a gift from our gifts, offered to those around us:

                       Planting a flowerbox for the neighbours to enjoy

                       Making a spectacularly delicious dessert or a humble batch of cookies

                       Inventing a game to play with the kids—or your dog

                       Writing a poem or a story or a book

                                 Or a prayer

Creativity and spirituality come together from a full heart.  Creation is God’s work, and he has created us to create.

Creativity and spirituality come together in our St. George community in ways that imply

                     Sharing, that foster each other’s spirits and help bring them close to God

                       Nurturing the spirit in each of us

                       Discovering, acknowledging, and treasuring the gifts each of us brings

                 Realizing, wondering at, and enhancing the beauty around us and within us

                       Rejoicing in the glory of God