A weekly blog of Creative Ideas for Leading Worship
Creative Ways to Mark the Church Seasons with Visual Symbols
(See also the post: Visualising the Church Year)
Simple, meaningful ideas to help your worship space tell the story of the liturgical year
As worship leaders, we’re often deeply aware of the rhythms of the Church Year – but how do we help our congregations feel those changes too?
In many churches, colour plays a key role. Here’s a typical summary of colours of the church year:
- Purple/Violet: for preparation – Advent and Lent
- White: for light and joy – Christmas, Easter, baptisms, weddings
- Red: for fire and Spirit – Pentecost, ordinations, funerals of highly respected congregation members
-
Green: for growth – the ‘Ordinary’ weeks from Pentecost to Advent
In our church, we use pulpit and lectern falls and communion table cloths in these colours to anchor the season visually. But colour can do much more than quietly decorate. With a little creativity, it can preach – teaching, inviting, and deepening the experience of worship.
Here are twelve imaginative and accessible ways to make the liturgical seasons visible and meaningful in your worship space.
1. Banners and Ribbons in Liturgical Colours
Suspend fabric banners or flowing ribbons from the ceiling, across walls, or near the front of the church. Choose rich materials like silk, linen, or satin to add movement and colour that reflects the spirit of each season.
2. Seasonal Candle Displays
Create a candle arrangement that changes with the liturgical cycle:
- Advent: three purple, one pink, and a central white Christ candle
- Lent: six purple or black candles, extinguished weekly
- Easter: white or gold candles to symbolise light and resurrection
- Pentecost: red tealights or flame-shaped holders
3. Nature on the Communion Table
Bring the outside in with symbols from creation:
- Bare branches or stones during Lent
- Fresh flowers and butterflies at Easter
- Feathers, flames, or wind chimes at Pentecost
- Living plants or bulbs for Ordinary Time
4. Scripture and Symbol Table
Display a focal Bible verse for each season, printed in a beautiful script. Surround it with meaningful symbols – a crown, a lamb, a flame – to help the theme take root visually.
5. Seasonal Art Corner
Invite creative people in your community to contribute art that reflects the season. This could be a painting, a quilt, a piece of sculpture, or even a digital image printed and framed. Rotate the artwork as the Church Year progresses.
6. Prayer Table with Colour and Texture
Set up a small side table draped in the seasonal colour, with candles, a Bible, or tactile prayer items. This is especially powerful for children, visual learners, and those drawn to quiet contemplation.
7. Church Year Circle Display
Create a large wall-mounted circle showing the liturgical calendar in segments of coloured fabric or card. Use a peg or symbol to mark the current week. Let children help move it each Sunday to reinforce the cycle.
8. Worship Leader Sashes or Scarves
In churches without formal vestments, create simple scarves or stoles in the appropriate colours for lay worship leaders, musicians, or readers to wear – a quiet but meaningful signal of the season.
9. Ceiling Mobiles or Hanging Symbols
Suspend symbols from the ceiling or light fittings:
- Doves, flames, or wind spirals for Pentecost
- Stars or crowns for Epiphany or Christ the King
- Raindrops, leaves, or fish for Creation Season
10. Interactive Children’s Table
Set up a weekly table where children (and the young-at-heart) can place or rearrange symbols of the season: a rock for Lent, a lily for Easter, a crown for Christ the King. Change the cloth colour for each season.
11. Multi-Sensory Prayer Stations
Especially during Lent, Advent, or Creation Season, invite the congregation to visit small prayer stations using colour, sound, scent, or touch:
- A bowl of sand (wilderness)
- Anointing oil (blessing)
- Shells or water (baptism)
- A bell and silence (centering)
12. Seasonal Photo Wall
Invite people to share photos that symbolise the current season, e.g.:
- Sunrise for Easter
- Autumn leaves for Creation
- A lit candle in darkness for Advent
Print and display them in matching frames in seasonal colours.
Summary
By layering in visual and tactile elements, we give the whole congregation – not just those reading the lectionary – a chance to see the gospel unfold. These symbols don’t need to be expensive or elaborate.
A few well-chosen colours, textures, or shapes can stir imagination, deepen reflection, and turn ordinary worship spaces into sacred storytelling places.
What creative ideas have worked in your context? Share them in the comments – I’d love to feature reader suggestions in a future post.
Ngā mihi
Philip