Church Year Poster Gallery
Posters, posters, posters. I don’t think there could ever be too many posters—especially if they are used in Christian worship. These posters were inspired by the Sachplakatt (object-poster, circa 1920-1930). Each is built around either the words of scripture, the names of the season, or a hymn text. The images (which are often made from the words themselves) are meant to support the texts and the themes for that particular day in the church year. Contact me today for a quote on printing posters for your use in worship and at home: Phone, 303.329.3364 or email, chkmtn@ntw.net. Note: the copyright notice will not be printed on the full size versions of these posters.
	Advent Zephaniah 3.14,17-18 This design is playful arrangement of the letters that make up the word ADVENT, plus gradients. The scripture is the Offertory for the 3rd Sunday in Advent. The mood is joyful anticipation.		Christmas The words from John 1 are placed over the background words taken from the Nicene Creed. Although the liturgical color for Christmas is white, I decided to use a red gradient to symbolize the flesh-and-blood nature of our Lord, God truly made a human being. Light and joy are the themes of this day.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	Epiphany This is the first of the 7 posters designs that have a hymn text. The hymn is “Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn,” by Elisabeth Creutziger, paraphrased by me. The three flames are symbolic of Epiphany’s theme of fire and light: The fire of love, joy, faith and hope; and the fire of the Holy Spirit, whose very presence begins to purge sin from our hearts. The mood of the poster is joyful anticipation.		Ash Wednesday Now begins the time of self-examination and repentance we call Lent. Except for the ashen cross and the background, the poster is built up from Psalm 51.10, and the words of the liturgy for Ash Wednesday. The mood is one of somber reflection.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	Lent This poster uses a portion of the Gospel reading for Passion Sunday, John 12.24. The great paradox of our faith finds clear expression here. Jesus can only bring Life to the world by dying and rising again. How can weakness produce strength? How can death produce LIfe? Strange, but here is where we live and move and have our being as Christians.		Passion Sunday The hymn paraphrase is “Du gehst in’ Garten, um zu beten,” by Johann Mentzer. I was struck by the hymn’s expression of our need for prayer and of our total identification with Christ. The broken olive tree symbolizes both Gethsemane and the cross which looms on the horizon. The fonts are “distressed” typefaces that help express our own brokenness and our own Gethsemanes.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	Maundy Thursday The words for this poster are drawn from Jesus’ saying in John 13.34 and the Words of Institution. The mood is joy mixed with sadness and loss. Another paradox.		Good Friday Using our Lord’s words from cross, I attempted to express the chaos and despair of the 9^th hour. The words of dereliction echo and rebound from this poster as they have for 2,000 years.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	Easter Day At last the mood changes from despair to unbridled joy. Yet again I used my paraphrase of a German hymn text, “Erscheinen ist der herrlicher Tag,” by Nikolaus Herman. The words themselves become the main design elements in this poster. The poster is my attempt to express the Christus Victor idea: Victory from defeat, and life from death.		The Day of Pentecost Here I attempted to express the rushing wind of the day by running the text (Acts 2.1-4) along a path. Tongues of fire complete the picture. The mood is one of joy.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	Time After Pentecost The hymn is my paraphrase of Mark 4.26-29. Time After Pentecost is a season of growth, so Jesus’ parable seemed just right. The mood is optimistic and hopeful.		Reformation Day The hymn is my paraphrase of Psalm 46. The background is a page from Bach’s score for Cantata 80, which is based on the hymn by Martin Luther. I also used Luther’s rose, so graciously offered by Concordia on their website. I also employed five of the Latin slogans from the Reformation.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	All Saints’ Day The poster was inspired by an orthodox church I saw once. Painted on the wall were hundreds of portraits of people that worshipped there. It reminded me of Hebrews 11: He [Able] died, yet by his faith he still speaks. The font is the English vesion of a Cyrillic church alphabet. I wrote the hymn.
24” x 36”		36” x 24”
	Benedictus (Advent) This poster is also a canticle. The hymn (Luke 1.68-79), is the Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) which I paraphrased.		Lent This poster is an alternate for Lent. The text is Galatians 1.19-20. The rationale for the design is the gradient from blue to purple—it just looks good to me. I also think it expresses the mood of the text.
24” x 36”		24” x 36”
	Christmas This poster is also an alternate. The message is in the hymn by Philip Brooks, “O little town of Bethlehem”: How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv’n! So God imparts to human [hearts the blessings of His heav’n. The best gift does not come with ribbons and wrapping paper, but in the form of God made a human being, Jesus Christ.		Easter This poster was built entirely from type, and may be used as a substitute for the Easter poster above. The words are the rhetorical question of the two men: “Why seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24.5).
24” x 36”		24” x 36”