OUR LOGO
Calvin's New Logo
Our logo is filled with symbolism about Calvin Church and says a lot about us. It is primarily a combination of an ancient Celtic trinity knot integrated into a stylized labyrinth.
The trinity knot stands both for our Scottish background and for the fact that we are trying to be deeply Trinitarian. We are trying to be open to living according to the purposes God the creator curated us for, the call of God in Christ for us, and by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
The labyrinth symbolizes our emphasis on prayer, meditation, and contemplative practices as well as the fact that on our spiritual and life journeys we are all pilgrims seeking the holy. It reflects our own prayer labyrinth, which we installed on the property in 1998.
Calvin’s logo also has a contemporary style, which emphasizes that we are willing to take ancient traditions and make them relevant to today. The combination of the trinity knot and labyrinth reminds us that we are on an eternal journey where each and every day is significant (original coloring below).
Calvin’s new logo strives to honor our past and look to the future. The color scheme is that of a rainbow to symbolize God’s covenant with Noah. It is also in the pattern of the Pride Progress Flag to publicly communicate that Calvin is an open, inclusive and affirming church.
Originally, we traced Calvin’s being open, inclusive, and affirming back to the beginning of this century, 2000 when Rev. Dr. N. Graham Standish was the Senior Pastor. When his predecessor’s widow heard that she asserted, “Calvin’s been accepting of all people forever” and everyone who knew, and loved Rev. Dick Anderson nodded their heads in agreement.
Calvin’s new logo incorporates the color scheme of the Progress Pride Flag, which was designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018. It combines the Rainbow Pride Flag with the Transgender Flag along with black and brown stripes that represent Black, Indigenous, and people of color. It was designed to communicate that while we have made great progress, we still have a long way to go.
What the Colors of Calvin’s new logo symbolize:
RED – The red in the logo represents life. This makes sense if you think about the blood of Christ and how often blood is thought of as a vital life force of the body. Red also represents passion among many cultures. And, passion is ideally where life originates from.
ORANGE – Orange represents healing. As a color, orange is believed to be a fun and celebratory color. Fun and celebration are both healing activities.
YELLOW – If you guessed that yellow represented sunlight, you would be correct. The color yellow is said to stimulate new ideas and thoughts.
GREEN – Calvin’s original logo’s green of the labyrinth stands for the earth, and for the fact that we also live in the real world and seek to integrate the spiritual into the practical. Our new logo adds that nature is a healing place, and the color green is associated with new growth.
BLUE – Calvin’s original logo’s blue part of the Trinity knot stands both for heaven and the sky, which is our recognition of the importance of the spiritual. Our new logo adds that blue symbolizes serenity. Little is more important than the ability to feel calm and serene. Blue is known as a relaxing color that soothes the soul.
PURPLE – The purple presents Spirit. Purple is often thought of as a regal, royal color that, on its own, denotes pride. Like blue, purple is considered a calming color, but rather than being associated only with calm, the color purple connects us to the spiritual realm.
BLACK and BROWN – The colors black and brown represent people of color. This was an important addition because people of color have often been left out of the LGBTQ+ narrative despite being the driving force behind the movement. It wasn’t until recent years that our society acknowledged that the pride movement originated thanks to Black trans activists who fought for their rights at the Stonewall Inn in June of 1969.
PINK and BABY BLUE – Traditionally, the colors pink and baby blue have been used to represent whether a baby is a boy or a girl. Here, the colors denote those genders. They are considered together because when mixed they become purple reminding us that gender is fluid and not as black and white (pink and blue) as we’ve always thought.