St. Paul’s United Church

Our Alpha & Omega Tapestry

The Inspiration

In 2015, a full two years before its completion, a small committee began a conversation about worship and the church’s liturgical colours. Who knew then, upon meeting with church member Marjolyn van der Wel, that the Holy Spirit would transform a tiny seed of an idea to become a 16×4 foot tapestry vibrant with themes of the appearance of God in creation and us. Marjolyn did the initial artwork, set up the loom, hand-dyed every thread and wove the tapestry itself. There are thousands of different colours and hues in this work of art. She worked seven days a week for six hours a day for just under two years.

The Alpha and Omega

The Greek letters, Alpha and Omega, are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. “Revelations” talks about God, who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who was, is and will be. God is in time and beyond time. Behind the letters are both the sunrise and the sunset echoing the theme that God is present always, in the morning through to the evening, in birth and death and life beyond death. 

The Colour & Shapes

The curves indicate God, who moves and works in our world and reaches out to us. In response, we reach up and out to God. It is not a perfect circle as we are not perfect. The blues within the circle around the Alpha and Omega are both dark and then light. The dark blues remind us of the dark times in our lives, while the light blue reminds us of joy and happiness. No matter what happens, God is with us in all things. The yellow on the outside of the curve lifts us up to God as we are all part of the circle of life, which is in God. The curves from the sides represent the earth’s roundness placed in the blues of the universe itself. The blues in the lower portion of the tapestry represent the seas.

The jagged red ribbon reminds us of the “Genesis” and the chaos of creation where the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, moved upon the darkness. Red, like a volcano spewing fire, is the explosion of life. God created the universe out of nothing. Red is the colour of the spirit, full of energy, pulsing with breath and alive in our world.

The green is the land with growth and newness of life. The fragments of purple, darker shapes are all part of the ongoing evolution of creation. There is an aboriginal theme to the tapestry as we live in an aboriginal world and share their land. Indigenous spirituality is rich and vibrant, and we have much to learn from our First Nations people. The United Church of Canada seeks to honour all paths to God. The colours of the Alpha and Omega are First Nations’ colours of black, white, red and yellow, indicating the four directions and the elements of earth, air, fire and water. The multiple colours outlined in the black on the upper and lower midsection of the tapestry were inspired by First Nation art.

The burgundy on the lower edge grounds us in our worship, connecting all who gather into the tapestry with its vibrant themes and colours. It picks up on the colour of the choir gowns and the variety of colours in the sanctuary.

The Artist, Design and Work on the Tapestry