I just read through a great post by blogger Nicholas Flight. He’s been working through some thoughts, and some leadings from God, about being more than a consumer, but starting to create culture instead. I’d say the call is not just for Nicholas, but for us as well. Have a read and see if you’d agree.
http://nickflight.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-god-has-been-saying-to-me-i-have.html
Some great thoughts and directives come out of this blog post by “La Sabot Post-Moderne”.
I am not sure I would endorse the stoning of Thomas Kinkaide however.
Take about 5 minutes, sit back and read the article here …
The “Reforming Students” Blog has an excellent article up about cultural discernment, and how the lack of teaching in this area may have helped lead to a high church drop out rate in church attendees age 18-22. This article is rooted in student ministry context, but certainly has many elements that translate well into any context where the Church is attempting to impact culture.
I know I have posted much about this topic lately (as there seems to be a LOT of reflection going on about it), but I feel this particular article is well balanced and (here’s the rarity) brief! It boils down many points the other pieces have already made. Enjoy.
PS >> I’d really love to hear about your own “adventures in discernment”.
Article Link >> Culture :: Discernment « Reforming Students
During the summer, while working at my computer one day, I stumble across a rabbit trail. Or perhaps feel down a rabbit hole? Either way, I was interested in the Creation Museum enough to take a virtual tour and read some reviews.
My interest was peaked as I listened to the Relevant Podcast. They had visited the museum, newly opened in the US. This 27 million dollar facility is billed as a “Creation Museum” - and as such one would expect facts and scientific evidence, etc. At least, I did. Science and fact are presented, but in a way that Creation and Bible are simply assumed to be true, and extensive proof of that is not needed. At the point I learned this, I started to wonder who this museum was really built for?
Well, look further and you will see that the whole purpose of the museum is evangelism. Rather than a Creation Museum, it is more of a walk through the beginnings of the book of Genesis, walking us through the fall of humanity, then taking us forward in time to relate that fall to our own fallen world, and point to the solution in Christ.
Some of the elements in the Museum are quite graphic, as the “sins of this present age” are depicted in detail through graffiti and media clippings in a darkened back alley scene. One wall focusses on such issues as homosexual marriage, abortion and the like. In another area, we are shown a sacrificial lamb cut and bloody on a stone altar. At the end of all this, after several interspersed video pieces making the Gospel clear, participants are even invited into a chapel - presumably to receive Christ as their savior.
Pretty life-changing for a museum, no?
Anyways, apparently the facility is state of the art. If I remember correctly now, it is a major ride-designer formerly from Universal Studios who designed much of what you will experience. There is an awe-inspiring star-theatre where you can experience the wonder of God’s universe. As a display, it excels. Hey - I would love to see the life-size recreation of the construction of Noah’s Ark. Yep. But I got to wondering if any non-Christian people would really find much to like here - and if they did, if they would feel somewhat cheated when they got to the “climax’ of this living Gospel tract? I got to thinking a lot about “Bait and Switch” evangelism. I can’t say I remember Christ really doing this Himself? Or was that what the parables were all about? No, I’m not so sure of that.
How about you? Do you think the ends justify the means when it comes to evangelism? Have you been part of a Bait n’ Switch before? What are your thoughts on the Creation Museum in general?
Here’s some food for though - first a quote from their own website, then some other perspective, including tons of photos. Just make sure that when you climb back out of your rabbit hole, you come back hear and tell me how it was.
THE BIBLE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF AT THE
CREATION MUSEUM. WE’VE JUST
PAVED THE WAY TO A GREATER
UNDERSTANDING OF THE TENETS OF
CREATION AND REDEMPTION. OUR
EXHIBIT HALLS ARE GILDED WITH
TRUTH, OUR GARDENS TEEM WITH THE
VISIBLE SIGNS OF LIFE.
WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT THE CREATION
MUSEUM. YOUR LIFE MAY CHANGE
FOREVER.
Ars-Tecnica REview …http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/ars-takes-a-field-trip-the-creation-museum.ars
Sneak Peek - http://studentweb.eku.edu/zachary_lynn/museum/index.html
Brochure PDF - http://www.creationmuseum.org/assets/pdf/creation-museum/cm-brochure.pdf
This week’s issue of Vue Weekly features an article by Ted Kerr - a friend of mine who I seem to bump into around town every few months or so. One such meeting was at Urban Bridge Church’s showing of Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher. Ted was in attendence that night, as a representative from HIV Edmonton, who we had invited out for the night.
6 months later, Ted has reflected on that night from his perspective in the Vue Weekly column, “Queermonton”.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on his words - and the night in general if you were there.
Here is an excerpt from the intro to Ted’s article, followed by the link to the full article.
Last winter my friend Lynn and I represented HIV Edmonton at a screening of what we now know to be an irresponsible and homophobic film—Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher, directed by David Sabatino. Unfortunately, no one at HIV Edmonton had seen the film prior to agreeing to be involved in the director-attended screening and group discussion. We have subsequently learned to never do that again. The film is about Loonie Frisbee, a gifted young preacher and closeted gay man who was continually let down by his community leaders and who died of complicaations related to AIDS in 1993.
Within the first 20 minutes of the so-called documentary it was obvious what we were watching was neither journalism nor art but propaganda. Lynn and I watched the film with rapidly beating hearts and clenched fists, both of us hoping that everyone else was also realizing how lacking in rigor and potentially damaging the film was.
As the lights rose, we waited for the first comment from the audience. Our hearts sunk as the hip-looking middle-aged woman started the group discussion with a “thank-you†to the director.
I came accross another great piece by Jeffrey Overstreet today - this time on whether or not a Christian Movie Industry (somehow typing that makes me feel dirty) should exist, and what constitutes a “Christian Movie” in the first place. Read the article by following the link below.
I came across a fairly comprehensive examination of what “Christian music” is, and isn’t (if it is anything at all). Some good points are made - and some challenges thrown out. Have a read and let me know what you think.
A few years back, we attempted to clearly define the editorial coverage policy for Christian Music Today. Part of that task included trying to define “Christian music”—a daunting, if not impossible, assignment. If we drafted too narrow a definition, wed be omitting some great faith-inspired music. But too broad a definition might stretch well beyond our intentions—not to mention offending and/or confusing many readers.
We settled on three different criteria by which we felt we could define the genre; I call them the three Ls of Christian Music. Each works in its own way, but each also comes with some loopholes.
Read the Whole Article: Defining? Or Discerning? - Commentaries - Christian Music Today
I just got back from a brief jaunt to Banff/Canmore. Boy - is it a beautiful place to be. Driving in you get engulfed in the mountains. It’s as if you notice something large and transcendent coming over you, and you can actually watch it overtake you from all sides. Eventually, you look back, you look sideways, and every which way is beauty.
Sure beats the view from my bedroom window (no disrespect to Florence, my neighbor).
My wife and I went down with a group from our church - not for missions, but for a bonified vacation. We stayed in Canmore, and yes, we did hot tub! I am refreshed, and wondering why I don’t make the 4 hour drive more often. 4 hours is not so long to go to be in another world altogether.
Anyways, the point of all this is that we all noticed an explosion of creativity in both Banff and Canmore. Art galleries, studios and the like on every street. And not all of them are painting mountains and wolves (well, not in Canmore, at least).
Driving back, a travel companion asked why there was so much art in Canmore - this little town hidden in the Bow Valley. I thought back to my other small town experiences. Gatsby, Alberta. Smeaton, Saskatchewan. Definitely not centers of art and culture. The answer seemed obvious to me. When surrounded by beauty, one wishes to create beauty. To perpetuate beauty. To communicate beauty with the world. To explore beauty and it’s meaning within themselves.
Anyways - not a deep revelation. But it got me thinking about why we creatives don’t find more time to surround ourselves with beauty. Perhaps even with Christ? If it is so easy for me to be inspired when I visit the mountains, or the river valley even - why don’t I do that more? If one trip to the art gallery or the shops of Whyte Avenue gets my mind racing with creative plans, why am I not there for an hour every day?
Maybe I should be. Maybe the “time off” would actually be more productive in the long run than all the “time on” I put in each week.
Or am I just wanting more vacation?
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If you are Brittish Airways, not very important. If you are Nadia Eweida, the 55 year old employee of the airline who has been banned from publicly displaying her cross at work, it is vital.
image from BBC
Today, “Woman loses fight to wear cross” is the most read story in the UK (on BBC news’ website). The story tells how Nadia Eweida was asked to conceal her cross, in line with the uniform regulations of Brittish Airways. She refused, citing religious freedoms, and is now on an unpaid leave, awaiting a second appeal to the courts after a failed first.
So, is this just a case of wardrobe infringement, or is it the restriction of religious freedoms? And regardless of the answer, how ticked off should Nadia be? How ticked should we be?
Well, reading this story, I was not led to react against Brittish Airways as much as to question the reaction of Nadia Eweida. I am not looking down on her. I need to add here that I found myself in an almost identical situation in high school, when working at the public library. I wore a shirt with a large cross on it that I had made at home (and was quite proud of), and was asked to remove it (well, OK, not remove it right then and there - just not wear it again). Actually, it wasn’t the same situation either, since we (student pages) were allowed to dress however we wanted within reason. There was no uniform. I fought the decision. I threatened to quit. I eventually won, stayed and stopped wearing the shirt voluntarily. I figured if they would bend so far for me, it would be the Christlike thing to do to bend for them, out of love.
And that is when I likely first asked the question, “how important is a symbol”?
If I look back at that work situation, it is certainly the way I interacted with my boss throughout the ordeal - the letter I wrote her, the words I said and my actions at work - that impacted her more for Christ than that shirt ever could. And I would guess the same about Nadia’s cross.
Nadia Eweida believes, ” It is important to wear [the cross] to express my faith”. Is that so?
Is that Biblical?
As artists, perhaps we need a balancing reality check once and awhile. As important as our artwork may be in the grand-Kingdom-scheme-of-things, it will never trump a well-lived life.
Where do I get this? Well, from Jesus Christ.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
-James 1:27 (NIV)
This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.
- John 13:35 (The Message)
Hmm.
So how far does wearing a cross go to show that Jesus loves someone?
Or what goes farther - wearing a cross, or humbly taking it off in service to your employer?
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
- Ephesians 6:5 (NIV)
Hmmm.
All of this makes me wonder again, “what is more important in the end, the art that I make or the art that I live? The story I write or the story I enact?”
Just thinking thoughts here people. I had to get it down while the article was still fresh in my mind. I may be right, I may be crazy - but I’d love to hear your thoughts on it either way.
You can read the original article here.
I don’t know about you, but I wish the emerging church would just hurry up and emerge already. I’m getting a little tired of hearing about it.
That said, I just read a great article by David Fitch called, “A Warning List For Those Who Would Join a Missional Church Gathering”. I would recommend the article to anyone wondering what all this “emerging church” stuff is about - or anyone feeling like it may be leading our train off the rails. I would in some cases agree, as would David, I am sure.
Go read about David’s 10 things here and reflect on how they affect us as artists and media producers in the Church.
Here are some thoughts I have.
Stories are more powerful than production. Rather than focussing on super-slick art or expensive video, we should be telling stories that come from within our Church community. Some of the best videos we have done for our church could never be used by you. Sure, I would let you use them - but they just wouldn’t make sense out of the context of our community.
Another thought that stems from David’s 10 Points is that perhaps we do not always have to answer all questions with our art. It is OK to pose questions and leave it at that. People don’t really want fast answers. And even if they do, they certainly do not need them.
So, read the article and share your thoughts here. I’d love to hear them.
As a church-media-guy, I have to admit one of the biggest pitfals is the temptation to make it all about the media.
For me, it would be all too easy to just focus on my art - producing videos and graphics for Sunday services - cloistered away in a dark office 5 or six days a week. And that would be my service to the Church. But would that be my service to Christ?
The arts can be a lonely pursuit. I know I am a quantum-time person, and I get a lot more done when I can lock myself away for hours on end and focus on my work. That is where I can truly create - where I slave over something until I emerge the victorious artist, masterpiece in hand! That is when I can do what I have truly been called to do - to create without limits! That is my greatest service to this world! Or, is it?
You see, it’s been a steep curve for me, but I have been learning that no matter how good the work I can produce is - no matter how creative my ideas or flawless my execution (and even in that alone I have much room to grow), without a righteous life lived out in relationship, I am only “a resounding cymbal, or a clanging gong”. The work, itself, is really nothing.
And that is hard to take, is it not?
Jesus had this to say,
43-45″You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.
Luke 6:43-45, The Message
“You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts.” Hmmm.
I read that this morning, and I wonder, how “life-giving” is my life? Part of that is the work I will create today, but there is more, I believe. And no one is excluded from that “more”.
As artists and Christians, we cannot live our lives in isolation. The work God moves us to create may truly be incredible, but we cannot overlook the greatest masterpiece set before us - our very life, lived in a way that gives life to all we meet. Lived in relationship with others.
Jesus’ own life was this way - lived in a way that I am still here dissecting it and getting inspired thousands of years later. Sadly, this cannot be said about some of the greatest artists we can think of …
Pollack, Warhol, DaVinci, VanGogh, Kubrick, Mel Gibson (?), etc, etc.
Remember that the world may be happy to look at your work and stop there. But God sees a different kind of “fruit” in my life. And I want to make sure my tree is abundant with it.
