Searching for God Through the Camera Lens
Take a minute to stop and look at a wall covered in photographs at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church. You might find God.
That’s one idea behind the “Sacred, Ordinary Life” summer photo series that encourages churchgoers to send in pictures of things in their daily lives that they find holy.
“It goes with our sermon series, and part of the understanding of it is that when we think about God, we often think about these big huge mountain top moments. . . but this summer we want to claim all the ways God is present in the ordinary moments,” said the Rev. Sarah Johnson, senior associate pastor.
“We want to help people see that God is in their everyday lives, all the time.” -The Rev. Sarah Johnson
Each Sunday, there is a story that highlights a moment within the ordinary day. It could be forgetting your keys or getting stuck in traffic, Johnson said.
“This is another way to think about the sermon through the week and go through your phone and think, ‘Wow! You know, at the time, it didn’t seem like much, but now that I think about it, it was really important and meaningful the way that God engaged in my life,’” said Sara Stoltz, the church’s director of communications.
Photos could show children eating ice cream or playing with their friends. They could capture moments in nature – anything to engage people in a new way, Stoltz said.
The series is a part of an ongoing effort to involve people in worship, visually and artistically.
Some tag the church on social media while others bring in their photographs, Stoltz said. “This way we’re engaging all generations.”
Stoltz enjoys seeing how people are identifying God through such moments as dropping children off at school and how the project helps connect members who may be in and out during the summer.
“It’s great to see people wandering over to the wall and pointing each other out and saying, ‘Oh my God; what a great picture,’ or that, ‘I know them,’” Stoltz said.
The series makes growing in faith more participatory and visual and prompts participants to gauge and identify the holy bits of their everyday lives, Johnson said. “We want to help people see that God is in their everyday lives, all the time.”
