What role should a Christian artist play in the world?

These thoughts come from Jay Smith, Convergence member out of the discussion series this month. Jay is in the band Middle Distance Runner.

A question that I face often in conversations with people is: "What role should a Christian artist play in the "secular" world?" This is something that I have pondered for years and have faced everyday as a musician and a Christian.

The question always seems to revolve around the fact that artists are expected to communicate something they consider important. If you are a Christian then you must present the gospel, or put people on the road to knowing God, because that should be the most important thing in your life. This may work fine in some Christian circles, but for me the problem starts here: The expressions of the artist are about all of life, not just one part. For an artist to be forced to focus on one topic forever would be creative suicide. God made us full of emotions and the life that we face every day is complex. To me, expressing these complexities in life, gives a fuller picture of what God has made and how we interact with our circumstances as his followers and as humans. This makes art a lot more relevant as it speaks to things that we all identify with on very deep and common levels.

This also makes things more approachable to people that don't share our beliefs. If we are speaking someone's language, and they see that we "get it", then we are more likely to start a conversation with that person that is based in respect.
But how do we interact with the secular world as an artist? How do we play out our mission? I say, relationally, and a lot changes when you think of things relationally. Relational evangelism is about friendships and close relations. Sound bites and big events aren't as effective with relational evangelism because they are impersonal. Relational evangelism is also more dangerous. People will actually get to know us! We will actually be held accountable for what we are like on a personal level rather than putting on a show and disappearing do some dressing room without really talking to people. Relational evangelism for an artist may not be to the viewer, listener or "customer" so much, but more to the other artists, the gallery owners, the stage managers, directors, producers etc. This is different. We can make art that is true to us and have more intimate relationships with people as Christians.

I really think that part of the problem that many Christians have with this idea is that; sadly, they really don't have a strong foundation as a Christian, or in a Christian community or with close Christian friends. You have to have the backbone to go out there on your own and be stable in a group of people that may believe much differently than you. For me, I don't see being in a secular band any differently than working for AOL, Wal Mart or Budweiser. We all work with people at our jobs that don't share our exact values, and if we aren't strong then we will suffer as people regardless of anything we believe in.

Thinking about it from that perspective, I don't see the music I make as a ministry any more than I see the graphic design I do at my day job as ministry. My ministry as a musician is in loving my peers just like it is here at work. I think that if I got all wrapped up in our music not stating obvious Christian messages and decided to leave the culture, then I would really miss out on some major opportunities to have some very great conversations. More importantly, I would be contributing to the separation of the church from our culture, which I believe is a huge problem right now.

I think the trick is to really understand who you are and that, as an artist, you are in a special place therefore you have a special purpose and responsibility. I have worked hard to become a very integrated part of the DC music scene. Being in a respected band gives me a voice in our music community to help with causes or to help the community grow. Not too many people would question my sincerity and passion for the DC music scene or my place in it. At the same time they wouldn't question my faith either because I am honest about it without being pushy or trying to sell it.

I just say this stuff just to illustrate that we should not be victims of our environments but that we should take ownership over them. To have Christians involved in artistic communities is kind of rare. For people to see that we as Christians care as much, if not more than they do about these communities speaks to our convictions as a Christians as well as our passions for these arts. Once respectful conversations are had with us, then they will see that our passions are inseparable from our faith, and that gives glory to God, and, maybe more importantly, be a reminder to the world of God's relevance again.
Jay

Prayer of Assurance

Prayer of Assurance
by Amanda Vogel
after Isaiah 61

Good news:
He has come to
bind up your broken hearts
proclaim freedom from your captives
release you from prisons of darkness

There is hope in the aftermath:
On your head, a crown of beauty will replace ashes.
On your feet, the oil of gladness will replace mourning.
On your body, a garment of praise will replace despair.

Now:
You are great oaks of righteousness,
rising up from strong roots.
You will rebuild out of the ancient ruins of your past.
You will repair the long-destroyed relationships in your cities.

Scarlet to white.
Crimson to wool.
Captive to free.
Broken to whole.

Significance of Jesus' Baptism

This Sunday we explored the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to find out more about what was going on at Jesus' baptism. We are in a series looking at the life and ministry of Jesus and so this wasn't about OUR baptism, but about Christ's. And really, why was Jesus getting baptized anyway? Did he need to repent? I thought he was sinless. Was this merely an example, a ritual he legally needed to complete (but, then why in the desert with the wild man John the Baptist and not in the temple)? Or was it something mysterious, awe inspiring and supernatural? Well, we are talking about Jesus...

Below are some quotes that were illuminating in preparation for yesterday's discussion:

From Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Ed. David Noel Freedman, 2000.

"Jesus requests baptism apparently not simply in order to identify himself with sinners but primarily "to fulfill all righteousness."

"To fulfill" can be translated "to bring to completion or perfection." Jesus' own baptism is thus an identifying sign about Jesus himself. He is the one who completes the intention of God, who brings to perfection all that God has envisioned since creation. Christian baptism is thus less a negation (in token of renunciation) than an affirmation of being incorporated into Christ, who is the perfection of all God wills, and thus of being granted new life as a gift.

This motif of bringing to completion all that God intends makes sense of otherwise obscure allusions in the narratives of Jesus' baptism. The Synoptics mention water and a voice, together with the descent of the Spirit - all reminiscent of God's spirit hovering over the waters and speaking creation into existence in Gen. 1:1-5. Thus Jesus at his baptism is identified as the one who fulfills the old creation by instituting the new creation. Jesus, by going into the wilderness for 40 days, is portrayed as the new Moses and the new Elijah (Exod. 24:18; 1 Kgs. 19:8). Similarly the figure of the dove further identifies him as the new Noah (Gen. 8:8-12), thus intensifying the motif of the new creation. To be baptized as a Christian is to receive and to be received into the whole sacred story in its fulfillment - a profound gift of the Holy Spirit, whose activity in baptism is so frequently asserted throughout the NT."

And from Introducing the New Testament, John Drane, Fortress Press, 2001

"Admittedly [John, the Baptist] appears to have seen with more clarity of spiritual vision than other religious people of his day, who took for granted that the objects of God's anger would be the Romans. But he did not fully appreciate the true character of the 'kingdom of God,' which in the teaching of Jesus turned out to be based less on damnation and judgment than on more generous qualities such as love, forgiveness and unprejudiced concern for all kinds of people. This had always been the one thing that the ancient nation of Israel had found most difficult to understand, and it continued to cause problems for Jesus' disciples, who could never quite grasp what it might mean for God's will to be done through self-denying service to others and suffering on their behalf (Mark 8:31-33). Though John announced the coming of the kingdom of God, the precise nature or what that might involve only became clear after the death and resurrection of Jesus."

I think I would question just how clear it became to everyone even at that point.
The early Christian church was still expecting Christ to return any day. They were expecting a divine jugement immenently and so tried to live as holy a life as possible, even defering baptism until the death bed so as not to be held accountable for new sins.

My question is this. We have a perspective and vantage point they did not have. It has been over 2000 years and Jesus has not returned. His baptism, his life, his death and resurrection were an ushering in of a new age – the beginning of God’s kingdom coming. A new creation, which according to Jesus, we are already living in to some degree. What does it mean for us and how we live as followers of Christ? How does Jesus' call to "all the nations" affect the way we view other people and our world?

In this light, Jesus' baptism takes on great significance and mysterious splendor. I'm still pondering. Thanks for all of the insight and discussion last night!
-Lisa

About Incarnation

This past Sunday our worship gathering focused on questions of the Incarnation of Christ. I wasn't able to be there, so I just thought I'd post some of my thoughts.

Oxford Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church:

"Incarnation: The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation affirms that the eternal Son of God took flesh from His human mother and that the historical Christ is at once fully God and fully man. It asserts an abiding union in Christ's Person of the Godhead and manhood without the integrity or permanence of either being impaired, and it assigns the beginnings of this union to a definite and known date in human history.

The doctrine took shape under the influence of the controversies of the 4th and 5th cent. and was formally defined at the Council of Chalcedon. But discussion continued."

I just think there is so much in this. God who is eternal enters "into human history!"

Think about that like an author actually entering into a story and becoming one of the characters while still being outside the story and its author. (This analogy works too because many authors talk about the characters in a story taking on a life of its own. Even though the author is still writing and can control what happens, there is a certain amount of allowing the story and characters to go where they will.)

I think this is mind bending. First that it is even possible and second that God would desire this. To intentionally become "less than" in order to create relationship runs completely counter to every social system on earth. Not just the west! Even in tribal cultures there is a sense of moving towards the head of the pack and ostracizing in order to convey place within the system. This is a totally revolutionary, subversive concept.

Other religions (myths) which talk about god or a god like creature becoming human do not have the same motives as the Christian version. In others, the god comes to enjoy earthly pleasures, teach, give wisdom, etc. Christ is supposed to have taken on fully human form while being fully God for the express purpose of building RELATIONSHIP with us - mortal, created beings. What could God possible get out of this? That is the mystery to me. It can't be that God is sitting up there getting cosmically lonely because God is perfect. So what it is it? In some weird way it only makes sense that communion with God is part of the created and uncreated order. It just must be - these are the rules of the universe that God put in place at the beginning of time. And the whole story of the world is this working its way back to complete and total union with God. Christ is the demonstration of that as possible. Christ's coming to human form is the crack, the breaking point which is like the turning point in history that the earth starts turning in the other direction. Suddenly the eschatological "someday" is starting. The now and not yet. The Kingdom of Heaven in a very real sense is HERE because Christ is among us (STILL) and yet not yet fully realized in our personhood and world.

This stuff is just so mind blowing to me. It leaves me in awe to think of this as the God of the universe. The God who values relationship, wholeness, love as the highest values, the rule of law in the universe. Wouldn't it be more advantageous to value power and obedience and fear? Is salvation partly us "getting" this shift? This repentance (turning) if you will. What if repentance is as much about seeing the world in a completely different way, about seeing the Kingdom of Heaven before us and participating in its progression, as it is about eschewing personal sin?

I don't know. Just some thoughts. -Lisa

confession

Pride

A prayer of confession by Quentin Paquette

Lord, I’m always putting myself first.

Not asking freely for Your help:
Claiming the responsibility for myself,
Taking the credit for myself,
Accepting the blame for myself,
Presuming self-reliance,
Getting my work done,
Seeing it my way,
Saying it in my own words,
Accountable for my own cleanliness,
Forgive me my arrogance.

Not listening openly to Your guidance:
Requiring proof and meaning,
Expecting to understand in full, 
Making analogy to my own experience,
Pursuing my own agenda,
Imposing my own schedule,
Impatient for the results of my effort,
Frustrated when my plans fail.
Substituting my reasoning for Your offer to cleanse.
Forgive me my overconfidence.

Not acknowledging Your gifts:
Applauding my own successes,
Self-satisfied with my cleverness,
Boasting about my accomplishments,
Denying the power of Your work in me,
Miserly with the blessings I’ve been given,
Overlooking the blessings at hand,
Not trusting You to provide.
Unmindful of Your example at the basin.
Forgive me my selfishness.

I’ve limited myself
By leaving You out.
Accumulating dirt.
Too proud to let You wash my feet.
Help me to live in Your world.
Forgive me my pride.
Teach me humility.
Wash me, so that I may belong to You.

encouraging words

From our friend Bud Hensgen, painter, home-brewer, philosopher extraordinaire: 

There is a movement underway, however, among some protestant faith communities, to reach out beyond the traditionally dogmatic expressions of their communities to explore the fundamentals of Christianity in a way that modern Americans may be able to relate to and to choose as their faith expression.   I believe that Convergence is one of these communities.  

The hope for contemporary Christianity, in my view, lies with progressive protestant communities that are working as "faith laboratories" if you will, to how the fundamentals of Christian belief can successfully be adopted by thinking, educated Americans in order to ensure that Christian traditions will succeed and prosper in the 21^st century.

I commend Convergence for its bold efforts to work on building a faith community without binding it hopelessly to a narrow interpretation of the Bible, but rather to attempt to call together questioning Christians to explore the possibilities of building a faith community both relevant to contemporary thinking Americans and consonant with fundamental and traditional Christian principles. 

...I think Convergence needs to continue to walk that fine line between traditional theology and experimenting with newer expressions of faith.

Connecting our Community through Conversation

Last night, we had a follow-up conversation to Thursday’s Art and Faith in Community Lecture on “Artists in Christian Community.” I truly enjoyed last week’s lecture and the informal conversation afterward. That conversation explored issues like the difference between creativity, imagination, and artistry. Last night’s conversation took a different turn. We spent a lot of time talking about artists’ contributions to worship as participants, leaders, and visitors in the pews. We talked about our creative work; critique and encouragement, and allowing our work to honor God when we’re pleased with our efforts and when we’re not. Later in the evening, the conversation moved from worship as public event to worship as living out our lives as God intended in our creation.

Even though this lecture series is focused on worship, we have to be careful not to limit our consideration of art and artists to worship. As I’m preparing for this week’s lecture, I am reminded that liturgical art – or art in worship – has some specific constraints. Of course, any constraint is an opportunity for inspiration and discipline, blah blah blah… but even constraints imposed by a community’s values and the purpose of worship can inhibit the working of the Holy Spirit through the artist to call our attention anew to some issue in our lives.

I truly believe that not just the art that artists produce, but their ways of seeing and being in the world can teach us something. The artists themselves are a resource for their interpretive skills, their visionary capability, and their modes of communication that capture an idea and a spirit of an age. As the night wore on, I felt privileged to hear mature Christians speak about small group experiences, prayer, confession, acceptance and the joys and challenges of contributing your gifts to God. I’ve been in churches many years and participated in discussions, retreats, and all sorts of teachings on these topics, but approaching these issues from perspectives of people who engage in creative work helped me see these topics in new ways. I’ve frequently been in small groups where I identified with common experiences of being a woman or student or single person, but far more infrequently have I been able to share a common experience about being creative.

I was reminded that Christians can learn so much by being in authentic communities that live out values of compassion and mutual growth. It is encouraging for me to be in a place where I can learn from mature believers who approach Scripture with the interpretive lens of artistic experience and share the way faith enables them to live out their unique calling.
-Elise

More blogging about last night: Amanda's blog: http://badcaseblog.blogspot.com

Jesus' Main Themes

Sunday's topic was "The Main Themes of Jesus' Teaching."

Here are some of the questions we discussed and some of the answers we came up with:

1. What are the main issues or topics that the church seems to be concerned with?

• abortion
  
• gay marriage
  
• role of women
  
• individual salvation
  
• authority
  
• conformity
  
• correct doctrine
  
• sin
  

2. What are the big problems our world is facing?

• hunger
  
• poverty
  
• war
  
• disease
  
• homelessness
  
• environmental issues
  
• persecution
  
• prejudice
  
• oppressive or corrupt governments
  

The point of these first two questions is to examine the relevance of the church. I'm not saying the issues in #1 aren't important. But if the church is to be God's agent in the world, shouldn't we be concerned with all issues that impact our world?

3. What issues did Jesus address most in his teaching?

• God as Father
  
• God's Kingdom
  
• Ethics
  
• Love
  
• Forgiveness
  
• The poor
  
• Prayer
  
• Repentance
  

All of these reflect our central Scripture passage for the evening--what we refer to as the Great Commandment. In Jewish culture, it is part of the Shema, the most important prayer in Judaism. The commandment is found in Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 10:25-27. 

4. What did Jesus say and do that was so radical?

He challenged the religious status quo. He said that it's not about you, it's about God and other people. He taught about grace rather than the law. He emphasized communal living, caring for one another, rather than focusing on individual spirituality. He taught about bringing the Kingdom of God to earth, not just about getting to heaven when we die.

For Jesus, the bottom line was to love God and love people. Everything else is secondary to that. Being focused on the things Jesus was concerned with will help us make sure we are addressing the right problems in our world, rather than getting caught up in things that we may think are important but don't move us closer to loving God and loving people.

Question to think about:

What does it look like for us--the Convergence community--to love God and love people? If we're called to specifically love and support artists, how are we doing at that? How can we do better?

Don't Miss This!

starting tomorrow at Convergence--this will be a great opportunity to see where we are headed in some areas and how important this is to our community and our world.

The Artist and Faith in Community

Artist in Residence, Elise Edwards, will lead a series of lecture and discussion groups in July on the theme of the Artist and Faith in Community. 
This series is free and open to the public. 
Thursdays, July 10, 17 & 24 at  7:00 pm

 

Discussion Topics:

^{-What is the place of the artist in Christian community?}

^{-Worship Planning and the Design Process}

^{-The Connection Between Art, Faith and Civic Engagement}

Elise is an architect and designer. She holds an MTS degree from the John Leland Center for Theological Studies and is a Ph.D. student at Claremont Graduate School in Claremont CA. Elise is also a founding member of Convergence and the designer of our renovation projects.

remembrance

Last night we talked about communion as remembrance. Over the past week I've thought a lot about this. I discovered that remembering is far more than just mental ackowledgement, looking back at past events.

True remembering involves the heart as well as the head. It is about connecting the past and the present--not just mentally, but emotionally, spiritually, even physically. It is also linked to imagination--which helps us as we remember on these different levels.

When I was young I spent a lot of time daydreaming about the future--being a famous actor, or an all-star baseball player. I realized that in recent years I spend less time thinking about what lies ahead, and more time looking back--reflecting on wonderful memories--my wedding, the birth of my children, special times with family and friends, funny stories...

I was surprised how powerful remembering can be, and how physical. When I remember my father, who died four years ago, I close my eyes and I can see him, smell him (he was a real outdoorsman), I can even feel the stubble on his cheek when I hugged and kissed him.

A few weeks ago Brady (who is 2) got a balloon, and played with it for hours, throwing it, batting it around the room, trying to catch it. Yesterday I was reading to him, and he was identifying and naming objects in a book. He came to a picture of a balloon. I watched in amazement as Brady reached toward the book, and pantomimed picking the balloon up, throwing it up in the air, and batting it with his hand, while laughing at the memory.

Remembering became emotional and physical for him. He was fully engaged in the memory, using his imagination to go back and experience the balloon all over again. 

That's what communion should be for us; remembering Jesus and the last supper with our thoughts, emotions, spirits, even our bodies (hence the eating and drinking). In addition to looking back, we also remember that Jesus said He would be with us always, so when we gather and take communion, Jesus is just as present with us as he was with the disciples. 

I experience this every Sunday when we gather at Convergence--this incredible sense God's presence as we eat, talk, listen, pray, and sing, and share our lives with each other.

at the end of all human energy

Amy, inspired/encouraged by Jim and Amanda wrote this during our worship gathering about the gospel story: the feeding of the 5000.

At the end of all human energy

We went to the mountain to pray

We went away from the crowds and the noise and the chaos

All the distracted, destroyed lives and bodies and broken spirits

All seeking healing.

But they followed You there.

They followed us: unwilling,

at the end of all human energy,

seeking our own souls to feed.

You looked upon them with compassion

You the Bread of Life

in Perpetual Offering of Yourself,

willing Sacrifice.

We were waiting for a warrior.

We did not understand.

At the end of all human energy

we said

Oh Jesus, please send them away

Send them back to the streets and the towns

and the seasides and the slums

Send them back to the muck where they came from

Let us feast on You alone

Let us be with You.

Alone.

And You turned to us and said

"You give them something to eat."

At the end of all human energy

We gazed at the Bread of Heaven,

ravenous to be filled to bursting,

ravenous to possess and not to share

We did not understand.

That You, with a prayer

had all that we needed

and oh so much more.

12 baskets filled to overflowing

You gave without questioning.

At the end of all human energy

We did not understand

That in dying we live

That in giving we receive

and that in You, the Bread of Heaven,

we were only beginning to believe.

The Best Laid Plans

Remember the Mulch! My friend Beth and I had a conversation about how sometimes we make plans, we think we know The Plan, we try and figure out how make plans happen and God has another plan altogether.

This weekend, we had 23 volunteers who were willing to come and help at various times to spread mulch in the flower beds. The city was to deliver mulch on Friday...calls were made, things double checked, plans set. And when I arrived on Saturday morning, there was no mulch.

What??? How could they do this? How could they ruin our plans? You know how hard it is to get 23 people willing and ready to work in the heat of summer?

But much like life, there was a lesson in the destruction of my plans. Once again God took control in order to make sure I got the message. You see, the flower beds had slowly been taken over by weeds. Destructive little things. They would have been difficult to get out once we buried them with mulch and it would have taken twice as much work later to make sure they were gone.

It's like God was trying to tell me "You have to be prepared for change BEFORE change can happen." Change is hard. New things take time and care and planning. And sometimes you are planning for the wrong thing. And it takes God changing your plans to get you back on His path...not yours.

I am someone who has made a lot of plans in my life. Got into situations thinking I knew the plan. I knew why I was put somewhere...only to find out that God meant for me to be there just not for the reasons I thought. Most of the time it was preparation...just like pulling the weeds, I had lessons to learn, my own weeds to pull. Things and ideas that needed to be pulled from my life to make way for new. Things I should not just cover up but instead needed to rid myself of completely.

So what about MY plans? I had to be willing to let my plans fly out the window and go where God was taking me. And that was and is the absolute hardest part. To let go of my expectations, my wants, my plans...to get to the thing He knew I needed. The life I was meant to have.

All that from a failed mulch delivery. The good news is that mulch will hopefully come this week. And the ground is ready for it. And now the process of getting myself ready for change is starting to happen. I no longer know the plan. I just know that my job is to be ready to follow. To prepare the ground for the mulch.

--Michelle Nolton

a lament

Beautiful lament from Sunday's worship:

After the Worst That Could Happen... Did

There is nothing left to say now

I have struggled as much as my emotions can bear

I have fought with the demons of doubt and despair

and there is nothing left to say now.

There is nothing left to do now

My emotions are drained and my body feels weak

I open my mouth, but there's nothing to speak

There is nothing left to do now.

There is nothing left to pray now

I have cried tears through my fingers, my head in my hands

I have given my will to what You would command

and there is nothing left to pray now.

There is nothing left but this silence,

the sound of my breath in the still of the room.

Finally my heart is quiet

Finally my mind is quiet

But I don't know if you'll enter this empty silence.

Make these bones You have broken rejoice

Make this heart that has broken rejoice

Make this soul that is broken rejoice

Oh, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice in the LORD

Because only in Him do we know

that what's broken will soon be redeemed

and only in Him can we know

that the worst is never quite what it seems.

Oh God, help me shout alleluia

Let me cling to the shreds of the hope You have given

--the comfort that is meant to save--

Let me cling to it, praising,

knowing that You were raised from the grave.

Build from these ashes a cathedral

Build from this brokenness life

and with Your comfort, kind Jesus, sweet Spirit,

Take my hand, make me fully alive.

We worship the God of resurrection

We worship the God of resurrection

We worship the God of resurrection

and we sense, in our sorrow, redemption.

--Amy Moffitt

worship Sunday--religious culture of Jesus' day

Sunday evening was great; but I need to do a better job of time management, worship keeps running long!

We talked about the religious/spiritual culture of Jesus' time, and did some comparing with the Christian culture of our time. People broke up into groups and examined different groups --Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots; as well as the general Jewish culture, and the overall (outside Judaism) culture of the region. 

One interesting discovery was that most Jews of Jesus' time did not belong to any of the 4 groups mentioned above. Here are some general observations people made, as well as some of my own:

Judaism was sometimes very legalistic. Jews believed in and followed the law, but some, like the Pharisees, build rules around the laws, to help people follow the law, and became very restrictive and legalistic.

Judaism was patriarchal--men were in control, women did not have much of a voice--and hierarchical. 

Some parallels in our church culture: we, too, have divisions and different groups. For the Jews, the differences were mostly over orthopraxy (Greek for "correct practice)--how they lived out their faith. For Christians today, I think most of the division is over orthodoxy (correct belief).

I think the modern church wastes a lot of time and energy arguing over issues of theology that aren't crucial, missing out on opportunities to live out the love of Jesus in a world that really needs it. 

Jesus stepped into Jewish culture with teachings and actions that were radically different. I believe a church community that truly lives out the teaching and follows the example of Christ will also look be radically different. In the coming weeks we'll talk about how.