LOVE ONE ANOTHER by Leslie Fehling
This quilted banner, completed in January 2007, is based on the passage in I John 4:7-12 which reads:
"Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
The design features brightly colored hand-dyed batik fabrics from the island of Bali, cut in shapes to resemble people of all different colors and backgrounds. The cutouts are fused onto a dark blue background in a circular shape, reminding us of the sphere of the earth, floating in space. The curved lines of hand embroidery show the connections that we all have to each other, and the message to "Love One Another" is a gentle reminder for each of us individually, as a church, and as members of the greater worldwide community to "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 22:39)
