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Luverne’s United Methodist Church is using crayons and paper to convey an important message.
“We’re committed to bringing more life to the love of Jesus in the community,” said Pastor Dorie Hall.
Called “Flat Jesus,” the message Hall conveyed to audience members at Sunday’s ecumenical church service was to color and cut out the caricature likeness of Jesus.
The service was an event of Luverne’s Buffalo Days Celebration.
Unlike the Flat Stanley Project it’s patterned after, Flat Jesus is carried with an individual and not mailed.
The Flat Stanley Project is an education exercise in which school children send a person created out of paper through the mail.
Similar to a pen-pal activity, Flat Stanley encourages students to talk, track and write about their flat character’s journey and adventures. According to The Flat Stanley website, a digital version began in 1995.
While Flat Stanley encourages learning and writing skills, Flat Jesus is a reminder to those who carry the piece of paper to convey a positive and brighter outlook in life.
“He (Jesus) brings light into the darkness,” Hall said. “He instills a sense of peace, hope and light. He’s a forever friend.”
Hall, along with church delegates Mary Gehrke, Sandy Vogt and Velda Maine, attended the United Methodist Church’s annual conference at the end of May, where another pastor brought the picture of Jesus as a coloring activity. The local delegate group talked about The Flat Stanley Project and how the picture could remind people of Jesus and open a dialogue with others.
The group incorporated Flat Jesus at Friday’s Pie and Ice Cream Social, providing the colors and paper, encouraging the coloring, cutting out and carrying of the 9-by-5-inch paper figure. Hall further spread the idea at the ecumenical service.
Hall said her lesson on Flat Jesus hit close to home on Saturday when she had to return home to retrieve her Flat Jesus.
“How often do we easily forget Jesus?” she said.
Pictures with Flat Jesus can be emailed to luverneumc@iw.net.