Throughout the Festival, please pause and enjoy the creation of a sand painting. Artist and pastor, Katie Jo Suddaby is one of just a few non-monks in the world who makes Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. Delicate and impermanent, sand mandalas are one of the world’s oldest forms of art therapy. Tibetan monks and nuns have created sand mandalas for thousands of years; meditating on peace, and helping viewers accept life’s impermanence. Pastor Katie Jo uses modern images to teach the same ancient truth. The losses of the pandemic inspire her design for the Festival of Homiletics. All are invited to watch the picture take shape, to ask questions, then to participate in the Dissolution Ceremony where the sand painting is brushed away. This brief, moving ceremony will take place Thursday during lunch break.
