A Christmas triptych
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A triptych is a work of art that is divided into three sections. The following idea offers three striking images that you could copy and illustrate in order to make a triptych that can be a focus for telling the Christmas story.
On your marks:
A simple picture or visual aid can often help to express a great mystery and many people find this medium helpful when trying to explore the deeper truths of our Christian faith. Icons from the Orthodox Church, for example, do this by giving us a window into heaven and a doorway into prayer and meditation.
The following idea offers three simple images with which to explore the meaning of the incarnation. The mystery of God becoming one of us is something that is very hard to put into words. Together, the three pictures can form a traditional work of art in three sections, which is known as a triptych.
Get set:
Print off the three pictures. You might like to enlarge them or trace them, or if they are copied in outline, they could be coloured/painted/decorated.
Children or family groups could work on the set of three for their home.
Once the three pictures are ready to be mounted, attach each to a firm backing and then fix the three pictures together using backing tape or strong masking tape, so that they can stand upright as a triptych.
This triptych could become a focus during the weeks leading up to Christmas, reminding us of the mystery of how God became a baby, how death through Jesus can become life and how the light of God began to shine in our darkness.
If you’re using this with a group in church, you might like to light a candle in front of your triptych whenever you pray together.
Go!
Download the three images here.
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