Notes on the new banner

If this is your first visit to this site, please check out the post entitled A leap of faith--I could really use some help making this blog a vibrant expression of faith-in-action in our state. That particular post is where I laid out the kind of input I'm asking for.

My husband, Demetrius created a new banner for this site, after I spent a couple weeks struggling with a mental block about how the banner should look. I kept trying to think of what kind of imagery would suggest things like connectedness, big picture, "we're all in this together". Somehow I was getting nowhere with that train of thought. I also tried thinking of imagery that would be evocative of one of these verses:

Micah 6:8
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Amos 5:24

But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Didn't get to far with those, either, but I bring them up because they are integral to my vision for this site--a place where people can hear the voices of people of faith in Ohio who are striving for social justice.

I kept thinking that bread should be involved somehow--since it has both religious significance and symbolizes the need to feed the hungry. I think I also kept coming back to the idea of bread because of the Lord's Prayer, and particularly the way Marcus Borg has explained its meaning. And I liked the idea of incorporating concepts like "open table" and "radical welcome".

Someone on another blog suggested a candle, as in "this little light of mine", and "it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness". And, of course, candles are used in many faith traditions.

So, out of all of that wandering in the wilderness regarding what the banner should look like, Demetrius came up with the idea you see above.