“…And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations…” Revelations 22:2
This Sunday, May 5, a banner entitled “Upwards Falling” will be hung in the sanctuary. The banner is on loan for the week from Holland Hospital. Commissioned in 2007 for the dedication of the new chapel space at Holland Hospital, it was designed for the season of New Life, and inspired by the image of the Leaves of the Tree (of Life) which appear in Sunday’s text from The Revelation of John. The repeated leaf shape (which can also be “read” as the shape of tears), sweeps across the entire surface in an upward arc.
Artist’s Statement
“Upwards Falling” (2007) by Rachelle Oppenhuizen
The image of the Leaves of the Tree which are for the Healing of the Nations was held and carried in my heart and in my imagination for some months as I considered the invitation to create a new Easter Banner for the remodeled chapel at Holland Hospital. A desire for healing that encompasses not only the physical needs of our world, but also every symptom of dis-ease that we suffer is an ongoing cry of the human experience. Healing and Wholeness are not in every case the same thing as a “cure”, and it was the prayer for Healing and Wholeness which informed the visual ascent of this piece.
I requested permission to dedicate the banner to the memory of the bright life of James Arlyn Sollom, a close friend of my son, Reid. Jim died of cancer at Holland Hospital on November 11, 2005, the day after his 24th birthday. The work of creating this piece for others who seek the solace of the chapel space as they go through their own difficulties, losses, and possibly celebrations of New Life as well, both included and transcended the grief that we shared in 2005.
When the work was completed, I asked Jim’s dad, Mike, if he would view the piece and give it a title. He studied it for some time in silence, and then he noted the similarity of the leaf shape to the many tears that had fallen from the many eyes of those who loved Jim. “But”, he observed with a slight sense of amazement, “these seem to be going upward rather than falling!” We were quiet as we wondered together over that strange possibility, and then he reframed the observation by naming the piece, “Upwards Falling”. Yes. The title suggests the paradox of the way that both our tears and our prayers are swept up and transformed by the promise of another kind of Life which is ours in Christ. Leaves, tears, prayers, songs, color, light and praise all blending together and raised as worship to the glory of the Risen One.