Spaces

Ifwedidn’thavespacesitwouldbedifficulttodistinguishthings.

If we didn’t have spaces it would be difficult to distinguish one thing from another. We wouldn’t know where a thing ended and another began. Spaces are critical to establishing identity.

Relationships for example require boundaries. We need to have space between our relationships so as not to be consumed by them. But if the space grows too               wide, we begin to lose our sense of the whole. On the basketball court spacing is critical to success. It spreads the defense out so as not to concentrate on one area. It allows players to cut to the basket to exploit seams. It keeps players from bumping into each other.

We have a tendency to have bad spacing in our lives. So our work lives spill into our private lives. We become overly and underly attached to people. Even in terms of our spiritual lives, spacing plays a critical role. In the New Testament the phrase, “In Christ” is used all throughout. The space between us and God becomes absorbed; there is no longer space! Christ becomes our primary identity. So life is not an endless journey to get closer to God but a realization that He is already with us in Christ. The Christian life is not an endless journey to true spirituality, but the awakening that He has made His residence with us and we are His living temples.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Food as Foretaste

For the past few years I’ve been turning into a bit of a food snob. Some people say I’m picky but I like to say that I have a discerning palate. Anyways a few months ago I was eating a piece of homemade apple pie from one of the women at our church. It was reported to be the very best apple pie people had ever eaten. I skeptically took a bite and felt the sensation of warm, moist sweetness on my tongue. It’s like I had an outer body experience; it was that good! Part of the greatness of the first bite is the expectation of the second and third. I’ve had that apple pie several times afterward but I can never get that initial feeling back. Maybe it’s because food at its very best is all just a foretaste of a greater reality to come.
Heaven is described in Revelation as a banquet. All the flavors and sweetness of food in this life is merely an appetizer to the main course to come. Just remember not to spoil your appetite.

Filed under: Food

Thinking about Obama

One of the things that my wife and I argue over is politics. She’s very leftist and I considerate myself moderate. This presidential campaign has been a difficult one for me to decide. I have mixed emotions about both presumptive candidates. Here’s some thoughts about Barak Obama.

I love Barak for what he represents. He’ll be the first African-American president. He understands and can articulate the issues of race in American today. His initial speech in response to the Rev. Wright scandal was brilliant and nuanced. He also represents the power of a grass-roots movement. He came out of nowhere to dethrone one of the most powerful and recognizable names in politics. He’s brought countless thousands into the political process. Finally he represents the desire for political change in Washington. All of these things are positive.

But the question remains is this: Is it enough to vote for someone based on what he represents? The President is not just a representative but the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief. Obama can turn out to be a wonderful representative but a poor executive. He lacks any real executive experience unless you count running a campaign. He’s certainly worked on pieces of legislation but not in substantial number or weight. It seems like we would have a better measure of him if he ran for President for the following term.

From a Christian perspective he seems to be suspect for many. His church background comes from a church steeped in Black Liberation Theology. Not only is this church far from the Evangelical mainstream, I would argue that it’s pretty far from the black church at large in America. I’ve heard various interviews of him talking about faith. He was interviewed before his declaration for candidacy on the Charlie Rose Show. In that interview he proceeded to describe faith as a different sphere from reason. He didn’t say that faith was unreasonable. He said that it was essentially unprovable. This distinction certainly represents a postmodern contemporary opinion but squarely falls outside the boundaries of orthodox theology. From an evangelical perspective I would say he clearly falls outside the lines of what most would consider orthodox.

Having said that I don’t believe we should vote for a President based upon his orthodoxy. It can certainly be something to consider. But you can be a very solid Christian and make a very poor President. The converse can also be true. You can be a very strong atheist and make a wonderful President. Calvin reportedly said that he would rather have a competent non-Christian leader than an incompetent Christian. 1 Timothy tells us to pray for our leaders and those who are in authority without stipulating that they must be Christian. In fact the leaders at the time were unabashedly anti-Christian during Paul’s imprisonment.

I think many Christians tend to vote too easily among party lines. As the election draws near we need to be much more engaged in discussion as we seek choose a President that can lead the “city of man” as we seek to build a “city of God.”

Filed under: Politics

Basquiat

One of my favorite artists is Basquiat. He was an American graffiti artists that became prominent in the 80s. There was a big Basquiat exhibit a few years ago at Los Angeles’ MOMA. I think he’s the forerunner to a lot of contemporary artists like Murakami and of course the street artists like Shepherd Fairey that we see today.
I like to think of him as visual hip-hop for the creative soul. He mixes in a lot of themes and begins to challenge the distinction between high and low art.

The image above is a self-portrait. It’s reminiscent of the most primitive forms of art found in the caves of ancient man. He’s carrying an arrow like an ancient hunter. But there are also signs of modernity. He has seeming dreads on his head and his grill-like “smile” and eyes seem comical. His right hands and toes are exaggerated. He is a very ancient/modern hunter and his own comic hero in a newly arranged landscape.

A lot of Basquiat’s drawings explore issues of race, class and alienation. Basquiat was part Puerto Rican and Haitian and grew up in the streets of New York City. He became a cult celebrity and seems to struggle with his newfound fame and status in his works. Art can be a way to understand and explore cultures other than our own. It can evoke conversations about class and race in modern society. It’s one of the many reasons that Christians should really be engaged in the arts today. Much of artistry today become the worldview of tomorrow’s generation.

I’ve been thinking alot about the place of art and design in the church. It’s either not discussed at all or given a secondary status. But artistic design gives us an avenue to portray the beauty of God to an unbelieving world and also to engage the worldview of a broken generation. Let’s continue to work, pray, converse, dream and create as we seek to reach our fragmented generation for God’s glory.

Filed under: Art

A Hundred Little Distractions

These days there are countless new ways to waste time: Facebook, Youtube, iChat, widgets and countless other little seconds of distractions that equal hours. Centuries ago Blaise Pascal wrote that “Most of the evils of life arise from man’s being unable to sit still in a room.” He said that the miseries in our life occur because we are always trying to entertain ourselves to keep ourselves from really thinking of our true estate.

When the blessed man is described in Psalm 1 he is described as someone who meditates “day and night.” He’s a person who is deeply rooted because he understands God and his own soul. He has a foundation that cannot be shaken by the winds of change.

As a culture we are a thousand feet wide and one inch deep. We do a lot of things but we are not centered in any one thing. We are a thousand disconnected IMs and a hundred different Facebook messages but nothing in particular. I long for depth, substance and genuine conversation with my God and His people.

Filed under: personal

The Modern Creed

Creeds these days are out of vogue. We don’t like old historic creeds, telling us old fashioned truths. I stumbled upon this “modern” creed by a British poet Steve Turner. It brilliantly captures the modern mindset:

This is the creed I have written on behalf of all us.

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in
horoscopes, UFO’s and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same–
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it’s compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.

Turner brilliantly captures the essence and contradictory nature of modern ‘credal’ thought. It should awaken the compromising Christian mind and summon us into action. I love the Rich Mullins line (which he actually borrows from G.K. Chesterton) that he didn’t make the creed but “it is making me.” Creeds are not made by men, but truthful creeds make us.

Filed under: Uncategorized