By now, I hope you have had the chance to have gotten a peak at the graphic for this years Serve theme. If I did my job correctly, you have maybe asked yourself: What does this mean? … What is with all the dots in an upside down triangle? And, like a good song, I am going to tell you why I created it like this, but I hope you come to place a bit of your own self into it and that it grows to also have its unique meaning to you.
I am so excited about this year’s Serve theme! Long before we picked the verses for 2015, I was wrestling with them, turning them over and over in my heart and mind. What I came away with and what I think is a central part in this year’s theme is that I have a Holy responsibility. Jesus himself left me with some divine duties and put the Holy Spirit inside of me to carry them out. Wow! I don’t know if that makes you excited or scared -maybe it should make us both? I am excited!
Back to the graphic – After pondering the weight of these beautiful verses, I could not escape the overall shape that the design ends up making. I immediately envisioned this shape representing the responsibility coming down from God himself to us like our heavenly instructions that we receive in these verses. But at the same time, I wanted subtleness to the shape with the idea implied yet not “in your face”. Therefore, the 52 dots make up the downward triangle or arrow and leave room for negative space, allowing the design breathe.
52 – Yes, there are 52 dots. There are 52 weeks in a year. The whole idea this year, like in the verses, is that it’s not just about the Serve week, it’s not just about our salvation, it’s not just about the “God High”, it’s not just about ____________________ (fill in the blank). Jesus called us to go and make disciples and to live out the principals of justice and service every day of our life, and he breathed the Holy Spirit in us to do so! Are you excited yet?
So yes, the inescapable dots come into play here. The red one can be seen either as the Serve week, the Holy Spirit leading the charge or the day we received this calling from the book of John. From there, I hope the eye is drawn to, and the relationship is seen, between that dot and the fact that the word “OTHER” is in red as well. The whole point of this summer is just that; carrying this idea, this Serve week or this calling into the “OTHER” (or to all others). The other dots, then, are simple; they are the rest of the week, the rest of the month, the rest of the year, the rest of our life. The other dots are the other 51 weeks every year that we are to bring the Gospel into. It’s not an easy task or a calling to take lightly and maybe this is why they ended up being spread up, like there is a hill we have to climb, a step we have to take; are you ready?
The seven dots on top represent a week. I thought it important, in light of the Holy weight of this, to represent something tangible. We can do this a week at a time. We can take the principals of Serve into a week at a time. We can lean into this holy discipline. God can use us to change the world.
