Adventures in Africa: Beautiful Banners

Last week I was once again captivated by some beautiful banners, depicting various Biblical themes and words. There were many. Here are some of my favourites..

This one was the theme of the conference I went to, "On Earth as it is in Heaven". It conveys a little of the scene around the Throne from Revelation chapter 4, with Jesus represented by the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God at His right hand side. I think you could spend a week gazing at this banner discovering more and more detail shown in it. All the materials used had a sheen and many jewels and feathers were added to give the picture depth and life, as in a collage.

I love this one because it is the continent of Africa, with wild animals and some of the countries named. The heading is "For Africa to be filled with the Glory of the Lord" and echoes the cry of my heart.

"Women of Promise" was made for a previous women's conference. It depicts Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, leading the other women with tambourines and dancing as in Exodus chapter 15, verse 20, after the Israelites had crossed over the sea on dry ground. To me it speaks of worshipping God with every fibre of our being - totally abandoned to worship the Lord. Recently I realixed that Miriam was not a young woman, as depicted here. Moses was 80 when he led the Israelistes out of Egypt and she had watched over him as a baby in the bulrushes, amking her at least 90 years old - you're never too old to dance!!

These two remind me of the theme of the dance conference I went to in Durban. The left one simple repeats the word "come", stretching into the distance. The right one says "come away with me", taken from the second chapter of Song of Songs, a call to spend time in God's presence.

This one illustrates the glory of God coming down from the heavens, encircling and filling the earth. Again, the cry of our hearts!

Finally, on Saturday I went to 'Taste of Tabernacles' at Cape Town City Hall.

Enormous vertical banners and dancers with huge colourful flags filled the stage. The orchestra and choir are behind the dancers. It was a magnificent finale with us all joining in the well known song "Our God is an awsome God".

One amazing piece, which I wish I'd taken a photo of, was a scene depicting the woman who was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus' garment from Matthew chapter 9. I've always thought that it meant the hem near the ground, but they showed it as her touching the hem of Jesus' prayer shawl. The tallit, as it is known, is a white scarf with blue stripes and knotted tassles which Jewish men wear when praying. The actors then unfurled a white banner with blue stripes at either end, which was the width and depth of the entire stage and proceeded to lower it down over the heads of the people in the hall. We were in the balcony so I was surprised when the banner was raised up the front of the balcony and then over our heads too. It was really moving and symbolized us reaching out to touch the hem of Jesus' garment too.

Hendriette and her daughter Helena came with me. A booth made from sticks and palm branches had been constructed over the entrance to the hall, with baskets of fruit hanging in it. I have lightened this photo, but it is still rather dark. As we left the fruit was being given away to those who passed beneath it.

Completed in 1906, City Hall was built to replace the Old Town House, which was one of the first two storey buildings in Cape Town (1760). By the end of the 19th Century the Old Town House was far too small. City Hall is typical of Victorian town halls throughout the British Empire.