One of the "must dos" that I have when I come to Seattle each year is to visit the Hot Shop at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Over the summer, master glass artists from across the US and the world are invited to work in the shop. We have seen an amazing variety of creations - bowls, bowls within bowls, huge glass shapes for installations in concert halls and gardens world-wide, and so much more. The master artist meets with the hot shop team of gaffers - all glassblowers in their own right - and shows sketches outlining the projected vessel to be made. Then every person on the floor has a part to play, and many are interchangeable roles. Gathering the glass from the furnace, loading the furnace with the glass beads, making the canes of color, keeping the emerging creation liquid in the furnace until the next step, shielding the arms of the blower as he works on the vessel, preparing to change the vessel from one pipe to another and so it goes on. All with one purpose, all intent on fulfilling the master artist's dream. It has a Biblical ring to it doesn't it? The Church - His Church - called to be a body of members with His dream at heart, all moving in individual and corporate giftings to see Christ fulfill His purposes, for the church to become a living, relevant source of light and life in the world. Check out www.museumofglass.org
