Theology and the Artistic Impulse

Kenosis and the Christian Life (Sarah Coakley): Part III

2012-01-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

Sarah Coakley’s Contemplative Solution
British theologian, Sarah Coakley, gives a feminist critique of how Kenosis has been translated and applied to the Christian life. For her, Kenosis is about ‘power-in-vulnerability’. [1] In her analysis she simultaneously critiques and corrects, taking the tradition very seriously. Coakley gives us a good view of how constructive theology is done well. In her chapter, “Kenosis and Subversion,” (from her book Powers and Submissions) she explores 6 primary ways in which Kenosis has been understood throughout the tradition.

1) Cosmic Redeemer: Jesus temporarily relinquishes his divine powers which are Christ’s by right

2) Gnostic Redeemer: Jesus pretends to relinquish divine powers whilst actually retaining them (Cyril of Alexandria)

3) Jesus chooses never to have certain (false and worldly) forms of power—forms sometimes wrongly construed as ‘divine’

4) Jesus reveals ‘divine power’ to be intrinsically ‘humble’ rather than ‘grasping’

5) Divine Logos: The divine Logos’s taking on of human flesh in the incarnation, but without loss, impairment, or restriction of divine powers (14)

6) Retracting: Jesus’ life is a temporary retracting (or withdrawing into ‘potency’) of certain characteristics of divinity during the incarnate life. (19)

Coakley’s Definition
Coakley argues that in order to understand Kenosis, we must begin with the narrative of Jesus Christ, with a narrative commitment. In looking at the story of Jesus Christ, Coakley contends that Kenosis is about the humanity of Jesus not about the emptying out of pre-existent ‘divine stuff’. In other words, it is about how he lived not what he gave up to become human. This combines this presupposition with the third definition, that Jesus chose never to have or grasp at certain forms of power, and so we have Coakley coming to a similar definition of Kenosis as Fee.
Primary here is the holding together of the vulnerability of human life with the power of divinity, and this is the point for Coakley, that in Christ we have a category in which to talk about the shape of the relationship between humanity and divinity. Thus, Jesus reveals a God of vulnerability and risk who establishes and maintains power through vulnerability. When I say that God is vulnerable I mean that God, in the very act of creation, does not impose a coercive and absolute power over the creation. Instead there is space for the created order to rebel against and reject God. God is not some monolithic tyrant who demands our love and loyalty but a God who draws near and provides what is necessary for relationship and reconciliation.
Hence, the kenotic movement of Jesus reveals something of who God is for us. For this reason, Coakley asserts that Kenosis is not just “a philosophical embarrassment to explain away” (25) instead it is inherent in the narrative of Jesus. In this way, she argues that Jesus redefines ‘vulnerability’. It is not a feminine weakness but a human strength (25) and she holds (along with Radford Ruether) that Jesus’ way of vulnerability also empties ‘patriarchal’ power (25). Thus, this is why Coakley defines Kenosis as ‘power-in-vulnerability’. And here is the key point: in the life of Jesus a ‘space’ is created in which “non-coercive divine power manifests itself.” (5) Jesus’ life showed that there was space for God to be God and humanity to be humanity—this is the manifestation of reconciliation.

Our Response
Coakley turns to contemplative prayer in order to nuance her understanding of Kenosis, because it is through contemplative prayer that we practice making space for God to be God. Her assertion is that Jesus, in the incarnation, made space for humanity to be itself through his reconciling and redemptive work for the whole of the created order while simultaneously making space for God to be God in his life. It was this practice of ‘making space’ that enabled reconciliation to happen through a vulnerable life; which included death and resurrection. And it is through this vulnerability that Jesus is Lord (“divine power ‘made perfect through weakness’”)—not because he seized power but because he created space for life to happen in the midst of death.
Coakley argues that Jesus shows us a different way of living with power. The problem that she points out is that we all have power on some level and we all have the potential to abuse the power given to us. If this is true, then we have to find ways and practices that shape in us Jesus’ way of vulnerability in power.[2] Coakley believes that if we allow God to be God in our lives, then we will be empowered to live into the way of Jesus. We will give up abusive and coercive power and make space for others to be healed and reconciled.[3]
By choosing to ‘make space’ in this way, one ‘practices’ the ‘presence of God’—the subtle but enabling presence of a God who neither shouts nor forces, let alone ‘obliterates’. (35)
Further on she stresses that this way of making space for God and practicing self-emptying “is not a negation of the self, but the place of the self’s transformation and expansion into God.” (36) Coakley pairs this with the necessity of self-disclosure in our lives, that in this process of contemplative prayer we are actually known in a deep way (double knowledge). Thus, contemplative prayer holds in tension our vulnerability with personal empowerment. We lose our lives in order to find ourselves before God and others.[4]
Ultimately, Coakley calls us to live into the narrative gap and live in expectant waiting. New life and healing takes time and struggle to be brought forth. And this wait and struggle is the shape of the Christian life.

[1] Sarah Coakley, “Kenosis and Subversion,” in Powers and Submissions, Wiley-Blackwell, 2002. See the bottom of 31 for her summary and cursory analysis of these categories of Kenosis.
[2] “If ‘abusive’ human power is thus always potentially within our grasp, how can we best approach the healing resources of a non-abusive divine power? How can we hope to invite and channel it, if not by a patient opening of the self to its transformation?” (34)
[3] “What I have elsewhere called the ‘paradox of power and vulnerability’ is I believe uniquely focused in this act of silent waiting on the divine in prayer. This is because we can only be properly ‘empowered’ here if we cease to set the agenda, if we ‘make space’ for God to be God.” (34)
[4] “what Christ on this view instantiates is the very ‘mind’ that we ourselves enact, or enter into, in prayer: the unique intersection of vulnerable, ‘non-grasping’ humanity and authentic divine power, itself ‘made perfect in weakness’.” (38)

Kenosis and the Christian Life (Gordon Fee): Part II

2012-01-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

Gordon Fee: Translating the Term 'Kenosis'

Biblical theologian, Gordon Fee, can help us establish a different understanding of Kenosis.[1] In his commentary on Philippians, Fee points out that the phrases ‘did not consider equality with God something to be grasped’ and ‘made himself nothing’ function together in the poetic form of the hymn. These two ideas play off each other, saying something similar.

Unfortunately, this pairing of phrases has often been translated or understood to mean that Jesus gave up or emptied out his divinity or something vital to his being. As if Jesus, in the incarnation, was like a bag that could only carry so much stuff and had to be emptied out in order to enable the incarnation. All the God-stuff had to be taken out of the bag.[2] Fee argues that the first phrase ‘did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,’ points to the reality of Jesus, that he truly was God. This identity as God was not something that he desired; it was always his from eternity.[3] He also notes that some commentators translate ‘to grasp’ [harpagmos] in a manner more unto being. That being God, Jesus did not grasp or seize, because that is not the way God is. Power, leadership, kingship is about service not about the grasping of power.[4] Fee seems to agree with this idea that the life of Christ reveals what God-likeness is. “Rather, his ‘equality with God’ found its truest expression when ‘he emptied himself’.”[5

Fee asserts that the primary theological mistake in this passage has hinged on the assumption that if Jesus emptied himself [ekenosen] he emptied himself of something, rather than it being a statement of identity. This person, Jesus Christ, did not grasp at equality with God (he was God) and the one who didn’t grasp poured himself out by taking the form of a slave.[6] “God is not an acquisitive being, grasping and seizing, but self-giving for the sake of other.”[7] Thus this passage is talking more about the nature of who Jesus is rather than what was given up.[8]

Fee’s argument reminds me of the concept of perichoresis, as a gifting and giving of being from the Father, Son and the Spirit. This self-giving is the way of God. Thus, Christ’s self-giving and emptying in a continuous way of being. This is not given up in the incarnation—this can be seen in how he relates to the Father and the Spirit throughout his ministry. Jesus is given from the Father the renewed gift of the Holy Spirit at his baptism. This is the inauguration of his ministry. It is interested that in the synoptic Gospels, immediately after his baptism Jesus is lead by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by Satan. It is here that he truly does not grasp after power and authority. He takes no privileges—because the rule of the world was his by right—and remains a servant. And, as the Christ hymns proclaims, it is in this way of not grasping and of pouring himself out as a servant for the sake of others that Jesus is exalted as Lord.

[1] Gordon Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, 191-214, esp. 210-214.
[2] Though this is not really Kathryn Tanner’s articulation, I got this idea from her. Check out her discussion of the Chalcedonian definition in Tanner, Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity.
[3] Fee, 208.
[4] Cf. Fee, 206 for the discussion of harpagmos, which seems even more difficult to translate than kenosis.
[5] Fee, 208.
[6] Fee, 210.
[7] Fee, 211.
[8] Here is how Fee sums up his argument: “In Christ Jesus God has thus shown his true nature; this is what it means for Christ to be ‘equal with God’—to pour himself out for the sake of others and to do so by taking the role of a slave. Hereby he not only reveals the character of God, but from the perspective of the present context also reveals what it means for us to be created in God’s image, to bear his likeness and have his ‘mindset.’ It means taking the role of the slave for the sake of others…” (Fee, 214.)

Kenosis and the Christian Life: Part I

2012-01-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

There is an old Christmas hymn that I love:

Lord, you were rich beyond all splendor,Yet, for love’s sake, became so poor; Leaving your throne in glad surrender,Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor: Lord, you were rich beyond all splendor,Yet, for love’s sake, became so poor.[1]

This hymn captures the heart of kenotic Christology, that Jesus became human and set aside the power and privilege of divinity. Within the Christian tradition, this concept is understood in different ways, and however we think about Kenosis is often how we think about the shape of the Christian life.

Kenosis is one of those theological words that come from the Bible, but then does a lot of work outside of that context. It is very similar to the concept of the imago Dei because it occurs rarely in scripture yet has a very broad and varied theological history. Kenosis, throughout the centuries, has captured the imagination of many theologians and pastors.

The word, Kenosis, comes from the Christ hymn in the second chapter of Philippians. Kenosis comes from verse 7: “but made himself nothing.” It can also be translated as “he emptied himself.” The King James translates it as “made himself of no reputation.” Kenosis, in this passage, talks about Jesus' move from divinity to humanity. Jesus becomes one of us, to the point of death on the cross. It is the wonder of this mystery that has lead to the development of a theology of Kenosis. Moreover, it is also about what it means to be humanity in the light of the God who became human.

Thus, how we understand Kenosis shapes our theology of discipleship—the ‘how’ and ‘what’ of being the people of God. Often the language used around Kenosis is joined with Christ’s command to pick up your cross and follow him. Narrative theologian, Michael Gorman, refers to this as the ‘cruciform’ life: our lives should have a cruciform shape.[2] In other words, to be true Christ followers, we must sacrifice ourselves. In this context, Kenosis is often translated ‘to empty out’. Thus, Christ empties himself out for us, and, as Paul says at the beginning of the Christ hymn, we must be of the same mind as Christ. In this way, we too must empty out ourselves or make ourselves nothing or of no reputation. We must die on our own cross.

But there has been some critique in the last 20 years with regard to the translation of Phil 2:7. Feminists, in particular, have wondered if a discipleship model based upon the sacrifice or the death of the self can ever be a positive model for women or marginalized peoples. Some feminist theologians (e.g., Radford Ruether, Bondi, and Coakley) point out that this understanding of Kenosis can perpetuate cycles of abuse and violence in the name of Christ. Those who are powerless are told that they must give up what little power that they have in order to follow in the way of Jesus. As Robert Bondi articulates this problem:

The difficulty comes at the point where we are tempted to think that real Christian love is of such a self-sacrificial nature that Christians ought not to have a self at all. Instead they must give themselves away extravagantly for the ones they love, pouring themselves out like water into sand for the sake of those they love and serve. This does not work.[3]

We might say that this pattern of discipleship as self-abnegation can be thought to be a path to salvation. But feminist point out that this model for discipleship actually reinforces negative patterns of living for some people and as Bondi so boldly puts it, “This does not work.” In the fall we talked about different models of sin that focus on pride, with a solution found in humility. To apply this to a model of atonement we can say that if sin is pride, then we must live into a place of humility in order to be saved. But if, for some people, sin is defined more as negation or the disappearance of the self (what some feminists talk about as ‘sloth’), then a discipleship model of humility would actually reinforce one’s sin, resulting in self-destruction.[4]

Hence, a discipleship model that focuses solely on the necessity of the death of the self will result in the harmful patterns for certain people. If you come from a place of power, perhaps discipleship models that are solely shaped by concepts of cruciformity and the death of the self can be empowering. However, discipleship models should be empowering for all people, in one way or another, because it is about how we are as the people of God in the world. If you do not come from a place of power then this kind of model could actually burn you out or even tear you down to the point of self-destruction or self-annihilation. As Roberta Bondi argues, “there cannot be love of others, much less love of God, where there is no self to do the loving.” [5]

The core of this kind of sin is really the underdevelopment of the self. And, if a self is required for the Christian life then in order to die to the self or to empty yourself out you must first have a self to give. I would also argue that no matter your definition of Kenosis, the self always remains intact. You must be you in order to be a disciple of Christ. Self-negation or self-dissolution is not the model that is consistent with scripture. If we really are to put on the mind of Jesus Christ, then we need to know something of the God who comes to us in the incarnation.

(Part II: Gordon Fee’s definition of Kenosis; Part III: Sarah Coakley’s contemplative solution.)

[1] Tune: French Traditional; Words: F. Houghton (1894-1972).

[2] See Michael Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross; idem, Inhabiting the Cruciform God.

[3] Roberta Bondi, To Pray and To Love, 76.

[4] “The temptations of woman as woman are not the same as the temptations of man as man, and the specifically feminine forms of sin – ‘feminine’ not because they are confined to women or because women are incapable of sinning in other ways but because they are outgrowths of the basic feminine character structure – have a quality which can never be encompassed by such terms as “pride” and “will-to-power”. They are better suggested by such items as triviality, distractability, and diffuseness; lack of an organizing center or focus; dependence on others for one’s own self-definition… – in short, underdevelopment or negation of the self…[T]he specifically feminine dilemma is, in fact, precisely the opposite of the masculine” (Saiving Goldstein, ‘The Human Situation’, p#?).

[5] Roberta Bondi, To Pray and To Love, 77.

Troy Terpstra's Mural

2012-01-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

I promised that I would put up some information about Troy Terpstra's mural that is at the offices of Tierra Nueva up in the Skagit Valley.

Here is Troy's description of the mural. I found this on his blog about a year or so ago, but it seems that the blog has been deleted. I'm glad to be able to pass his description on to you:

"At the center of the mural is Christ. He will be tattooed, appearing to be an ex-con. Jesus is an ex-con of sorts, but the idea is inspired by drawings done by prisoners and given to the staff here at Tierra Nueva. Many prisoners feel a deep sense of shame and inadequacy when invited to know a God they have always perceived as judgmental and harsh. This portrayal of Christ as a modern day convict aims to contextualize the Gospel into our present culture. Jesus of the ghetto, Jesus of the barrio, is the Jesus of Nazareth. We want the men in the Skagit Valley Jail to know the Jesus who rolled with his society's misfits and outcasts, and who longs to be with them today. On the left, the character of Jesus embraces a young prisoner in a county jail uniform. The jail chaplaincy has been an amazingly fruitful ministry, and I am continually amazed at the stories of healing and renewal that come out of the jail every week.

On the right, Jesus has his arm around a campesina (female farm worker) who stands in the strawberry fields. She is weary and a palette of harvested fruit rests on her hips. Much of Tierra Nueva's ministry is to farm workers, who continuously move to follow the seasonal work, uprooting their families and working sun-up to sun-down for less than minimum wage. Our Family Support Center assists these people in finding housing, obtaining legal help, and in many other basic needs. I want to honestly portray the labor endured by migrant farm workers, as well as the closeness to the heart of Christ they have.

At the top of the wall, the Hands of our Abba pour out the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is made of water and takes the shape of a dove. The waters pass through a gaping wound in the torso of the living Christ, the self-giving sacrifice of love which conquers death. Many characters, addicted, accused and accusing, rich and poor, liberated and bound up, undergo the baptismal outpouring. Chains, addiction, resentment, guilt, and death itself drown under the waters.

Coming up from the waters (the wings of the dove) two joyful worshippers emerge, a woman pounding the drums of mercy and a man blowing the horn of justice, crashing through the oppressive orderliness of the vertical prison bars and the horizontal field rows. I love the idea of the Holy Spirit breaking into prison. The prison cells sit under the night sky of a city contrasted with the field under the full sun of a summer day.

I have taken over a year to settle on the design, and I don't think I quite understood the process of mural making when I began this project, so the slowness has been very educational. I have drawn and redrawn this design several times, and God willing I am nearing the day when I will begin to paint it.

Bruce Cockburn has a line in his song 'Mystery' that goes "come all you stumblers who believe love rules – stand up and let shine." I like to think that this e-testimony is addressed to the 'stumblers who believe love rules.' Come by and check out the mural if you are in the neighborhood."

Beauty and Who We Are Becoming

2011-10-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

When thinking about what it means to be human, it seems like a lot of theologians begin with the doctrine of the imago Dei (that we are made in the image of God). In contrast, biblical theologian, Walter Brueggemann, does not start his theological anthropology with the imago Dei. Instead, it is the kiss of the Holy Spirit that brings Adam and Eve to life that is the foundational relationship between humanity and God. We are literally kissed by God into life, thus, Brueggeman contends, we should begin our theological anthropology with intimacy and relationship rather than with our "likeness" to God.

I think that Brueggemann's model goes well with the idea that the doctrine of the imago Dei is much more about beauty and resonance than about whether or not we are inherently good or inherently bad. We are already in the image of God, but we need to play and practice into the fullness of that image. As my priest, Mother Melissa, preached this Sunday, the banquet is set but we are starving. The invitations were sent out, but we refuse to come to the wedding feast for one reason or another. What keeps us away? Shame, forgetfulness, busyness, indifference?

One reason we avoid the feast is that beauty requires something of us. Many forms of beauty are not immediate to our senses. The deepest forms of beauty "pull us in" but are sometimes initially repulsive or strange. To know beauty we need learn its language and be transformed by its 'otherness'. Just like with a foreign language, we can never really know the meaning of even the simplest words until we are fluent. Here is Annie Dillard's take,

“Beauty itself is the language to which we have no key; it is the mute cipher, the cryptogram, the uncracked, unbroken code. And it could be that for beauty, as it turned out for French, that there is no key, that ‘oui’ will never make sense in our language but only in its own, and that we need to start all over again on a new continent, learning the strange syllables one by one." (Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 107)

Beauty, in a spiritual sense, requires us to learn its "strange syllables one by one." We are transformed in the process but it is a long road to travel. If we go back to the metaphor of the feast, perhaps we need to learn to savor the good food offered to us rather than the junk food we may crave. We need to grow into the nourishment of this spiritual food, and to crave that which will make us flourish: body and soul.

I am reminded here of the ending lines of George Herbert's poem, "Love": " 'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat,' so I did sit and eat."

'Spem in Alium' by Thomas Tallis

2011-10-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

For all of you who are more visually driven, here is the song I played at the end of class this week. It shows all 8 of the choirs and all 40 parts. Thanks to the King Singers, we can get an idea of how complex this amazing piece is. Click on the link below to get to the video...

Spem in Alium, sung by the King Singers

James Alison in Tacoma

2011-09-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

British theologian, James Alison, will be speaking in Tacoma this Friday night, September 30, 2011. The title of his talk is, "Practicing Hospitality in Polarizing Times." Alison is a Catholic theologian who has a lived into and lived out theology. I have never met him, but am intrigued by the way he articulates and lives out the gospel.
Here is the quip from the flyer:

In Practicing Hospitality in Polarizing Times, James will discuss the challenges of the Gospel, drawing from his experiences as a priest and a teacher who is an openly gay man, his work setting up an LGBT pastoral ministry in São Paulo, and his dreams of an outreach for at risk youth and rent boys.

The talk is at Urban Grace Church in Tacoma and starts at 7PM (doors open at 6:30). There will be a dessert and discussion immediately following.

Location: Urban Grace Church 902 Market St. Tacoma, WA 98402
Sponsors: Center for Transforming Mission | Urban Grace Church | St. Leo Church | Leadership Foundations

Sex & Gender

2011-09-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

This week we are talking about the doctrine of God, creation, and gender, so I thought I would give some links to a few online discussions/articles about these topics. I have more reading (as always) if you are interested in doing further reading.

The Other Journal #7: Gender & Sexuality Issue (has an interview with Dan...)

Sarah Coakley on the Church's "Sex Crisis" (in three parts)

Another Reason to Watch Football

2011-09-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

Can American football help us know God better? Well, maybe. And here is a song to help us along the way. Maybe you can sing this at your church during this NFL season!

Read My TOJ Article

2011-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Check out my new article in The Other Journal:

"Hobbits, Heroes, and Football"

OK, it is not overly scholarly, but it is fun. It starts with my reflections from a Seattle Seahawks game when I went to play with Alice in Chains at the halftime show. And yes, that's me rockin' it with sunglasses and headphones! That is the coolest I will ever be...

Makoto Fujimura: Praying in an Age of Lamentation

2011-09-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, on September 10th, 2001, my husband and I were finishing our last minute packing and saying good-bye to friends. We were leaving early the next morning for Scotland. We had sold our house and most of our possessions and we were moving half way around the world to follow the dream of higher education. What I could never have anticipated was that the following morning I would be greeted with the words, "I don't think we will be moving today. Terrorist's have attacked the World Trade Center." I couldn't comprehend what my husband Dave was telling me. I quickly ran to the TV and saw the footage. Neither tower had yet collapsed but the damage was clear.

I then realized that I needed to call my parents. They should know that Dave and I were still in Seattle, not on an airplane somewhere over the US. My mother was already at work but I caught my father at home. I quickly said that we were still in Seattle and weren't sure what was going to happen. He had no idea what I was talking about, until he turned on the news. As we talked we watched in horror as the first of the towers collapsed. And then he voiced what many of us thought at the moment, "Things will never be the same."

All air traffic was halted, planes in the air were rerouted to Canada, and everything was confusion and chaos. Dave got on the phone and got us booked on the next flight possible, the morning 15th of September, but there was no guarantee that planes would be back in the skies over the US by then. We spent the week watching the news, hearing military jets zoom overhead (no commercial air traffic), and talking with our friends. For that first day or two, everything was shut down: schools, government buildings, businesses. Americans sat inside their homes and waited in fear. What would happen next?

Dave and I wondered if it was a good time to move to a foreign country. Was the US about to launch into a world war? Everything felt uncertain, but as the week wore on we knew that it was the right thing to move to Scotland.

So we packed up our things once more and headed off to the airport the following weekend. We were there before 5AM but Sea-Tac was packed with people who were still stranded in Seattle. In line we heard stories of frustration and exhaustion as people who had been sleeping in the airport since the 11th tried desperately to get home. It was unclear which planes, if any, were leaving that day so we all stood in line waiting to hear an announcement about scheduled flights. Finally they called our flight and we got checked in at a special station.

The first leg of our flight to the UK landed at JFK in New York. As we flew over NYC, the passengers were eerily still and quiet. Hardly anyone looked out the windows, at least on purpose. As we circled around for our landing, I couldn't help but see out the windows at the smoke rising up from the World Trade Center. Almost a week later and the fires were still burning and smoldering. To be honest, I didn't know what to think or to feel. The silence inside the airport was haunting. Here, at the point were many lives, nations, and cultures intersected, people from all walks of life were in shock. We all just sat there mesmerized by wide-spread grief and trauma.

The rest of the trip was characterized by exhaustion and waiting, as well as a somber celebration of my birthday over a greasy breakfast in Heathrow airport. Once in St. Andrews, for at least a month we felt utterly displaced and fragmented, but nothing compared to those who lived at Ground Zero in New York or the family and friends of those who died in the attacks in rural Pennsylvania, the Pentagon, and New York City.

Makoto Fujimura, Shalom (lithograph on thin paper)

This past summer, I encountered Makoto Fujimura's writings about his experience of life at Ground Zero. I was deeply moved by his compassion for his family (especially his son who was at school near the WTC and had to run with his teacher and classmates to escape the destruction) and others who were attempting to piece life back together after the attacks. With so much death and destruction in your own backyard, how in the world do you stay in the city and how can you ever learn to pray again (or for the first time)? Fujimura's words and paintings explore the vulnerable presence of God in such times, without expectation of response or devotion. He and his studio mate provided space for Ground Zero artists to exhibit their artistic endeavors and questioning, often works in progress that would never be finished.

Fujimura's call to his community of TriBeCa was for Shalom, not an easy or comfortable word to live. In an essay written for Image Magazine in response to 9/11, Psalms and Lamentations: Fallen Towers and the Art of Tea (there is a longer version of this essay in Fujimura's book, Refractions), he talks of his message to his friends in the days following 9/11. He asserted that artists had a responsibility to create and point beyond the fear.

Create we must, and respond to this dark hour. The world needs artists who dedicate themselves to communicate the images of Shalom. Jesus is the Shalom. Shalom is not just the absence of war, but wholeness, healing and joy of fullness of Humanity. We need to collaborate within our communities, to respond individually to give to the world our Shalom vision.

Prayer, lament, and creativity seem to intermingle in his imagination. In the decade since 9/11, Fujimura's own work is evidence of this call toward articulating Shalom. On the Patheos Blog Portal, Fujimura shares and explains some of his visual language of lament (although the quality of the images is much better on his website: www.makotofujimura.com). Our creativity must give language not only to our sorrow but should also articulate the greater truth of peace and wholeness. War and fear are only corruptions of the good, they are not the good in and of themselves. We must all witness to the fullness of Shalom revealed in Jesus, who is the one who came to claim us as his own. The redemptive movement of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are evident in the crazy world, if only we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

May we work, with all our creative energies and capacities, toward patterns of peace and wholeness throughout the created order, wherever and to whomever we are called. Thanks Mako for your vision of Shalom that transcends the darkness. May we heed the call today and every day.

And so I wish you peace. Not an easy peace, not an insignificant peace but the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Separated By a Common Language

2011-06-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

One of the most critical tasks in the discipline of theology is to understand and define terminology. A rookie mistake is to assume that a theological term has a static meaning, or that it has the same meaning today that it had when the theologian used it, even if only a few years ago much less 1500. I often think of theological terminology as little presents packed tightly with multiple objects inside just sitting and waiting for us to open and explore. But to understand the terminology we have to be willing to do the hard work of sorting through how the language is used.

I remember teaching on the Nicene creed a few years ago when a student challenged the phrase "begotten not made." This student assumed that the term 'begotten' simply meant 'was given birth to' thus missing the theological struggle to articulate the eternal nature of the distinction-yet-unity of the Father and the Son and that the Son is 'eternally begotten' of the Father. (As the creed says, Jesus is homoousios to patri - of one being with the Father.) Theology, on the whole, is a struggle to articulate the wondrous mystery of the God who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. To reduce the language is to miss the mystery.

I think this is why so many people get frustrated with theology. Why can't the language be straight-ahead and easy to comprehend? Why are words often recategorized or reframed by theologians? But as many orthodox and heretical theologians have found, language that attempts to encapsulate that which is uncontainable or to make visible that which is invisible is bound to be difficult to comprehend. In the words of Rogers and Hammerstein, "How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?" If the nuns in the Sound of Music couldn't solve a problem like Maria, then how can we, mere mortals, ever expect to articulate the fullness of the being of God?

The theologian, Colin Gunton, talked about this as the quest to find "the least inadequate language" in which to articulate the being of God. So, no wonder we sometimes feel as if we are separated by a common language. We have to take the time hear how we each use our terminology and then we can enter into a dialogue. And sometimes it seems as if we are simply speaking with a different accent. Do we have the patience to listen and then respond, even when the other person doesn't understand. Hearing then becomes a primary task in the discipline of theology, but we often have trouble understanding one another. And in this process, we sometime ascribe wrong beliefs to the other, simply because they are using their terminology differently. Learning to listen is a spiritual discipline as well as an academic one, and we are all called to this task whether or not we are professional theologians...

So, to poke a bit of fun at this great theological task, here is video to make you think and, I hope, laugh...

Les Paul Doodle Has a Home!

2011-06-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

I just read that google's Les Paul doodle has a permanent home. So go play!:

Les Paul doodle

The Necessity of Play

2011-06-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

OK, I know that I am not alone! The googledoodle (please hit the link to hear my lame little song) over the past few days has been a joyous distraction as I have struggled to finish my syllabi for next Fall. I keep trying to write little songs, but the reality is that I have very little control with the mouse pad on my laptop. I can't seem to keep good time (my violin teachers never gave me exercises for finger strumming on my laptop!), and the limitations of the string combinations confound my creative impulse (OK, I listen to way too much 20th century music). However, I find such joy in the play that I keep returning to the googledoodle to, well, doodle about. :-)

Then I was reading in the NY Times and noticed that the man who created Mad Libs died this week. Leonard Stern was a TV writer and producer for most of his life. He wrote for such shows as "The Honeymooners," "The Steve Allen Show" and "Get Smart." According to the NYT article, he came up with the idea while writing for "The Honeymooners" but it wasn't until "The Steve Allen Show" that Mad Libs came to life. Stern convinced Allen to introduce each of his guests with a Mad Lib, inviting the audience to contribute their nouns and adjectives to the mix. Stern once relayed one of his favorite introductions: "And here is the scintillating Bob Hope, whose theme song is 'Thanks for the Communist'!"

Obituary for Leonard B. Stern

When I think of Mad Libs, I am taken back to my childhood, especially middle school and high school. My friends and I used to sit around for hours thinking of funny adjectives, verbs and nouns, creating silly stories. So many bus trips were spent passing Mad Libs from person to person and then reading the crazy story to the whole bus. We would all break into hysterics as words were used out of context and out of place to create non-sequiturs and the occasionally too true statement about one thing or another. Mad Libs helped my friends and I--throughout our adolescence--to play and relate together. Laughter and bonding are what I remember.

And so I have to say thank you to google, Les Paul and Leonard Stern. You have all helped us to stop and play in the midst of our very busy and serious lives. Thank you for the laughter, friendship and music.

If music be the food of play, strum on!

What is a Movie?

2011-06-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

I was reading an interesting article in the NY Times today, "In Defense of the Slow and Boring." In this article, two film critics, Manhola Dargis and A. O. Scott, from the Times talk about what is 'boring' in movies. Along the way, they ponder what the medium of movies really is. Is it pure entertainment? Is it educational? Can movies be high art ('cultural vegetables' as one critic put it)? And do the various aspirations of film directors and producers (for another discussion see, "Uneven Growth for Film Studio with a Message") matter when it comes to what a movie really is?

If the 'medium is the message', can a medium, such as a movie, ever really get past its status as entertainment (or money making venture)? Can movies be high art? Political motivators? Do they need to be anything more than action, speed and romance (e.g., this summer's Thor)? And does money or attention span have the final say about what kinds of movies can be made?

I have no answers, but I am intrigued... What is a movie?

Fujimura's Letter to the Churches

2011-06-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

I have been reading about Makoto Fujimura this week and ran across his "Open Letter to the North American Churches." Sometimes people ask me why I talk about the arts and theology or why artists, poets, dancers and musicians feel so sidelined by the church. It is almost a, "What's the big deal?" sort of conversation.

But here is the thing, how do you communicate to someone who does not know or understand the frustration of being welcomed in to the church, but being told that your gifts are not useful or appropriate? "If only you played the guitar or the piano" "If only you sang like 'so-and-so' then you could be on the worship team" "If only your painting was more immediate and less abstract, maybe people would understand your work..." "If only you thought more like the rest of us..." Well, I think this frustration is felt by many different people on different levels, but artists are uniquely sidelined and misnamed by the Evangelical church in particular.

One of my not so helpful inner (sometimes outer) rants used to be (sometimes still is), "Why is the music in the church geared toward those who really don't understand music? My musical education and training have made me irrelevant to the church I attend. Even worse, I hate the music and it makes me sit in the back and weep because it is so theologically and musically poor. I'm starving!" (I now go to a church that features Gregorian Chant, so I have side-stepped the issue altogether. However, I still wonder if this is the best way to deal with my disappointment and frustration with an Evangelical free church style of worship, but for now I am at peace in the midst of a more structured liturgical model.)

All this to say, Fujimura's letter sparked something within me. He articulates something of what I try to communicate and teach to my students, only much better. I'm still sorting this one out for myself, and I am thankful for any help along the way. Thanks, Mako! You give me hope.

Fujimura's Letter to the Churches

Regent Summer School

2011-06-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

I am teaching "Beauty, Brokenness and the Cross" up at Regent Summer School this July. I'm still looking for a few more students. Here is a blog post that describes the class on Evangelical Crossroads.

Tell your friends!

Freedom in the Groove

2011-06-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

OK, I cannot help myself. Joshua Redmonds' album, "Freedom in the Groove," just makes want to get up and dance. This album gets inside my soul. From time to time I crave it in strange ways. I just have to hear that opening where he turns the horn into a percussion instrument of sorts, setting up the groove and the melody for the tune, "Hide and Seek." The solid subtly of the groove grabs me in an indescribable way.

And it is the whole album, from start to finish, that inspires me, but maybe I'll talk about the rest of the album another time, it deserves the attention. For now, here is Joshua Redmond and his band live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1997 playing "Hide and Seek." Maybe it won't be your cup of tea, but I hope it inspires something in you.

Jesus and the Meaning of Rainbows...

2011-05-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

OK, you gotta check out this comic. I have to admit that I laughed and laughed! (How very irreverent of me...)

Oatmeal's Rollerblading Jesus

Intently Haphazard

2011-05-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Today's class discussion reminded me of a poem by Denise Levertov. I love the image of the intently haphazard movements of the dog. Who knows where we will go or what we will do if we follow the dog...

Overland to the Islands

Let's go—much as that dog goes,
intently haphazard. The
Mexican light on a day that
‘smells like autumn in Connecticut’
makes iris ripples on his
black gleaming fur—and that too
is as one would desire—a radiance
consorting with the dance.
Under his feet
rocks and mud, his imagination, sniffing,
engaged in its perceptions—dancing
edgeways, there's nothing
the dog disdains on his way,
nevertheless he
keeps moving, changing
pace and approach but
not direction—‘every step an arrival.’

Denise Levertov, Overland to the Islands, 1958

On Hope

2011-05-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

I love the 'goodle doodle' today (Martha Graham dancers)! A few years ago, a student in one of my theology classes did a paper and presentation on gesture in dance as a theological space for envisioning and living into the distance between promise and hope in eschatology.
She used the gesture of Martha Graham in particular--as you can see in this picture. As Christians, we practice this distance between promise and hope on a regular basis. With the Psalmist, we cry out “How long, O Lord? How long?” Why do we have to wait for the fulfillment of both God’s lament in Jesus Christ as well as the divine protest found in Christ’s resurrection? We live in the in-between. Hope is the space where we practice this fulfillment in our lives. Faith propels us into this unknown yet anticipated future in God and are moved into a practice of love.
I love thinking about how dance can help us to re-invigorate the ‘gesture’ of hope, of how we practice from here to there, from there to here. It is the fullness of the gesture (as demonstrated in Martha Graham's choreography) that forms our imagination.
I was recently at the Forum on Music and Christian Scholarship conference where a number of papers reminded me of the potential of music to call to us and induce a response similar to Martha Graham's 'gesture of hope'. Dr. Ferdia Stone-Davis argued that musical beauty could move us from a place of disenchantment (a lack of hope) to a place of re-enchantment (hope). Time is reinvested with meaning and we are moved outward. Dr. Bruce Ellis Benson contended that a model of improvisation could help us understand how beauty can move us into a pattern of call and response. Again, that we are moved outward, moved into the action of faith and hope. Finally, Dr. Randolph Johnson did a paper on how Brahms in his German Requiem was able to sound out the fullness of the gesture of hope. In the Requiem, Brahms is able to hold together the paradoxical time/space of suffering, mourning and future glory.
This is what Jeremy Begbie calls “redeemed time” in music. Music can take time and hand it back to us. Time is restructured (moves from disorder to order in the music) and we are able to sort through our thoughts and emotions. Especially when someone dies, we need this to help us grieve in healthy ways. I believe that music does not only sooth our pain, but can also help us feel deeply the loss of a loved one. Through the music we are able to gesture into the hope of our promised life in eternity with the triune God. We are not always able to believe in the promises of God fully, but we can practice into them. And I believe that music and dance can show us how expectant waiting can be formed in us. Come Holy Spirit!

Conference in Seattle

2011-05-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Christians for Biblical Equality are having their annual conference here in Seattle this summer. Our own Dr. Hollins will be one of the speakers. The title of the conference is "Building Biblical Community: Transforming Sex, Power and Prejudice" and will take place from July 29th through the 31st. Check it out!

On Beauty

2011-05-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the Beauty class. Not surprisingly, we discussed our definition of 'beauty'. In honor of defining beauty, I thought I would share a quote from Annie Dillard about the mystery of it all...

“Beauty itself is the language to which we have no key; it is the mute cipher, the cryptogram, the uncracked, unbroken code. And it could be that for beauty, as it turned out for French, that there is no key, that ‘oui’ will never make sense in our language but only in its own, and that we need to start all over again on a new continent, learning the strange syllables one by one.”
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 107

Arcabas

2011-05-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

Arcabas, Resurrection, 2003 (part of a polyptych)

I want to introduce you to a French artist, Arcabas. My friend Kirstin introduced me to this artist a couple of years ago. The image I have here is toward the end of Aracabas' polyptych, Passion-Resurrection. (There is a video below of an instillation of this series. All of the paintings are thought provoking.) I find this image stunning. This is a very physical representation of Christ's resurrection, yet it still maintains a sense of the wonder and the glory of the defeat of death in this act of God. It shows the tension between the pain and the cost of the cross with the triumph over the grave. This is no image of a disembodied triumphalism. It is this Jesus that sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. This Jesus, who went through death back to life, is the one who is our High Priest. I think that Arcabas captures this wondrous broken beauty of Jesus in ways that I don't yet understand. His art pulls me in and helps me to see the story anew...

Here are some links for you to check out:

A Poem for Easter Monday

2011-04-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Resurrection, Gaudenzio Ferrari, c. 1530

Seven Stanzas at Easter
by John Updike

Make no mistake
If he rose at all it was as his body;
If the cells' dissolution did not reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent,
It was not as his spirit
In the mouths and fuddled eyes
Of the eleven apostles;

It was as his flesh: ours--
The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart that pierced, died, paused
Then gathered again out of enduring might
New strength to enclose.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb
Make it a real angel,
Opaque in the dawn light,
Weighty with Max Planck's quanta,
Robed in real linen spun on a definite loom.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Transcendence, making of the event a symbol,
A sign painted in the credulity of a vanished age;
Let us walk through the door.
The stone is rolled back:

Not papier mache, not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality
That in the slow grinding of time
Will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous
For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
Lest awakened in an unthinkable hour
We are embarrassed by the miracle
And crushed by remonstrance.

A Poem for Holy Saturday

2011-04-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Easter Saturday by Elizabeth Rooney

A curiously empty day,
As if the world’s life
Had gone underground.
The April sun
Warming dry grass
Makes pale spring promises
But nothing comes to pass.

Anger
Relaxes into despair
As we remember our helplessness,
Remember him hanging there.
We have purchased the spices
But they must wait for tomorrow.
We shall keep today
For emptiness
And sorrow.

Idol vs Icon

2011-04-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have struggled with the purpose and the reasoning behind "The Artist's Way" class that I taught this past term. But Dave just sent me a link to an article in Comment Magazine by Alison Wilkinson on Marion's distinction between the idol and the icon. She then links this distinction to social networking technology and our use of this technology.

It is strange, but she seems to get to the heart of my hopes for this class. It is not the creative act itself or self expression or even our participation in artsy things that moves us toward the 'spiritual life.' Are we moved past ourselves and are we moved past things and activities toward God? How does our practice and presence in the world move us in this 'transcendent' direction, yet at the same time not leave care for ourselves behind?

Creativity is a practice that moves in both of these directions. We are taken out of ourselves yet at the same time, through our encounter with art or creation or with the creative process we know ourselves. We can only know ourselves in the light of our encounter with others. Sometimes that 'other' is a painting (e.g., Rothko or Piccasso) or it is another person or experience (e.g., the therapeutic moment). But if we linger with the painting or the person or the moment too long, as if that is the very thing that we are searching for, then we slide into idolatry. The moment of transcendence is lost.

This is why I define 'spirituality' in relational terms rather than in experiential terms. To have a spiritual experience is not to have a spiritual life. We might be transformed in the moment, but it is how we live and practice life after that moment that truly transforms us.

Thus, spirituality is practice, it is what we do day to day and hour to hour. Creativity is a practice that can either turn us inward upon ourselves or open us outward toward others. But I would like to think that our participation in beauty (of all sorts) calls us outward into the world. We feel ourselves opened toward others and toward new experience. As this is a primary agency of the Holy Spirit, then we can identify how God works through our creative and artistic impulses in the world. We are moved into the world to make meaning and to create beauty in unlikely places.

All this to say, I think this is what the class was about... perhaps I am still attempting to articulate the mystery of life in the Spirit. We are creative beings who are moved by the Spirit. But do we have ears to hear and eyes to see what the Spirit is doing today and in the moment? May we be people of the Spirit. That is my prayer...

A Bit of Musical Fun...

2011-04-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

OK, I don't know how to describe where I am sending you except that it is a bit addictive. The person who created this cite has provided a space to play with sound. In essence, it is a square of music that plays itself. You determine the notes by selecting different blocks. Give it a try:

Musical Fun

Some End of the Term Humo(u)r

2011-04-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

OK, now that most of your papers have been written, I thought you would like to laugh at others (or even yourselves; or is that ourselves or maybe others?). Here is a little help in how not to make spelling mistakes. Enjoy!

10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling (by The Oatmeal)

Music, Always Music...

2011-04-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a favorite poem of mine. I think O'Saidhail does a good job of exploring the relationship between music and spirituality. Do you see/sense the Holy Spirit in the poem?

Music, always music. And when the violins tumble
a thief has entered me.
Come and gone.
A sneaking anarchy
leaving spoors of memories I never had.

Incognito. Whimpers through crevices and pores,
quick bowings of a violin,
furious pizzicato
of what hasn’t been
whinnies and hops beyond a future I imagine.
My vigilance breaks down. Rupture of being.

This syncopation. Offbeat,
out of phase
with myself, I vibrate.
What’s this breathlessness I can’t catch up with?

That flight of thirds mincing up a treble
clef. Lines of joy.
Matrix of frontiers.
EVERY GOOD BOY
DESERVES FAVOUR. Silences are spelling FACE.

Endless glory of some muteness that eludes me.
Approach of another face,
tremolo of forsakenness
naked and homeless.
How can I fold and suckle all its orphanhood?

Music, always music. Neighbor, are you the face
of that thief breaking in,
Hollowing me out?
A tumbling violin
breathes its cries in me.
I’m womb and mother.

“Music,” by Micheal O’Siadhail, from A Fragile City

Why Creativity?

2011-03-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Matt and I were having a conversation the other day about why creativity is important. In some ways, it is the question of why have a class on creativity and spiritual formation. What difference does a creative life make for anyone? Is creativity a luxury? Is it necessary? Is it simply a lovely idea for those privileged few?

So, Matt sent this video to spark my imagination. (Thanks for the video!) I think it gets somewhere near where we want to go. Freedom to create. Freedom to be. But also freedom to be disciplined and work hard.

Let me know what you think... What is the creative life?

A Quote

2011-03-01T14:05:00.001-08:00

After class today, I started to think about Kathleen Norris, so here is a quote for you all:

“We want life to have meaning, we want fulfillment, healing and even ecstasy, but the human paradox is that we find these things by starting where we are, not where we wish we were. We must look for blessings to come from unlikely, everyday places—out of Galilee, as it were—and not in spectacular events, such as the coming of a comet. Although artists and poets have not been notoriously reverent in the twentieth century…the aesthetic sensibility is attuned to the sacramental possibility in all things.”

Kathleen Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries

Poem Shared in Class

2011-02-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hello to you all. I hope that you are having a lovely reading week. It looks like we will get snow sometime today... I hope my rosemary bushes survive...

I wanted to share the link to the poem shared by our own JEM in class the other day. Thanks for sharing with us.

"Poem about My Rights" by June Jordan

On Synesthesia

2011-02-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

I was watching a TED talk today by VS Ramachandran on the mind. About 17 minutes in he starts to talk about synesthesia, the crossing of the senses. As he is a scientist of the brain, he explains why it is--physically--that some people are more creative than others. Well, something like that. Why it is that some people can link more abstract concepts--such as metaphor--together and others cannot. Fascinating stuff.

The Book I was Referring to Today

2011-02-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

Today I was talking about a book edited by Sherry Turkle. I just wanted to give you the name: Evocative Objects. I hope that you are able to rest and be restored during reading week. I also hope that you are able to read or paint or write or sing or play or ... something that is not required.

Peace,

Chelle

On Beauty

2011-02-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

Matt sent me this video after last week's class. Very provocative...

Rothko & Pollock

2011-02-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

I realized today that I never put up the video about Rothko. I'll put up a couple just in case you are interested...

And I'll include a famous film by Hans Namuth of Pollock talking and painting. The quality is not that great, but very interesting. There is great avant gard music! About 6 minutes (or so) in is the most famous part of this painting. It shows Pollock painting on glass. You can see his brush strokes.

He Can Do the Fandango!

2011-02-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

Here is an amazing example of creative adaptation and imaginative relationality. This is a video of Jake Shimbakuro playing "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the Ukelele. I know, I was skeptical as well... but was totally won over. You'll see!

Lecture This Wednesday

2011-02-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

I would like to invite you all to attend Jon Stanley's Wednesday night lecture, "God is Dead and I don't Feel So Good Myself." Here are the details:

Jon Stanley is a graduate of Mars Hill Graduate School and is currently working on his Ph.D. in philosophical theology with the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto (yes, in Canada).

What: Alumni Speaker Series (co-sponsored with The Other Journal and The Parish Collective)
Where: Mars Hill Graduate School
When: 7PM on Wednesday February 9th, 2011

Anne Lamott at Seattle University

2011-02-04T23:56:00.001-08:00

Check out Seattle University's Search For Meaning Book Festival this Saturday, February 5th. It looks like Anne Lamott is speaking at 10:15. Let me know if you go!

Thinking about Today...

2011-02-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

I often wonder about the relationship between art and spirituality. What does art do for people? But something does happen. I think that is the point. So what happens? And why creativity? I felt like I was struggling with these questions today...

Well, I'll bring it down a bit and point you to the Union Gospel Mission and their challenge to bring art to folks on the street (and one of our students leading the way!). Why do this kind of work? That is a great question. Take a look at this article that was on the front page of the Seattle Times this evening. We'll talk more next week...

"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"

2011-01-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

So, is it fair to say that a party band articulates something of our hopes and longings in this world. What role does humor and play take in our formation as adults? (These are the questions that keep me awake at night, or is just the catchy tunes? "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...")

Liturgy, as I am defining it in this blog series, is: "the articulation of our prayers and longings by a public persona or persons (e.g., a band)." There is something very powerful about having your own deepest hurts, sorrows, desires and joys articulated for you, especially in song. If there is a great beat or groove, all the better.

Queen is a great example of this. All throughout Jr. High and High School, the songs of Queen seemed to voice the angst and the playfulness of me and my friends. How many times did we sing "We will, we will rock you?" across a gym floor or at some kind of competition? Too many to count. The teenage angst of competition and the need to be noticed are not insignificant characteristics of the American adolescent. Now, you can argue whether or not this music is a liturgy that forms maturity or prolonged adolescence (an important conversation), but it is significant that when I randomly say to a group of people, "Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?" that a wide range of people answer with the following line... (I know you are thinking it...)

What is that? Why are we so drawn in? Why do the words stay with us for years and years? And why is it so fun? And do you know how to do the fandango?

One last question: What does the music of a band like Queen say about who we are? An important question to ask.

With that, I thought I would share a video, for your enjoyment. This is Queen's "Bohemian Rapsody" within the context of the movie, "Wayne's World." I have to say that "Wayne's World" does beg the question: is my generation stuck in adolescence? Thought this is a sobering question, I still have to laugh, and laugh a lot. What does that say about me? Hmmm...

How About that Fremont Abbey?

2011-01-24T21:13:00.001-08:00

So, I just noticed that Fremont Abbey was featured in the Seattle Times. A great place for faith and art! Check it out!

Fremont Abbey

Liturgy and Popular Music

2011-01-20T14:32:00.001-08:00

I was thinking that I would start a series on the liturgical role of popular music. I think I'll start with Freddy Mercury... man that guy had a voice...

Check out this video:

Another Class, Another Post

2011-01-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 'The Artist's Way' class. I hope that this is a place and venue in which we can play. For now, I will offer up the poem by Michael O'Siadhail that I used on our first day.

Enjoy!

“Music,” by Micheal O’Siadhail, from A Fragile City

Beautiful

2010-11-05T23:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a beautiful video that features the music of Seattle Band, Barcelona. It is mesmerizing!

John August Swanson

2010-10-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

I love the work of John August Swanson. He is a visual artist with gift for capturing scenes of procession, joy and community. His work is copyrighted so I cannot show it here, but here are a couple of links:

In my classes, I often use his image of the "Festival of Lights". For some reason, I think of this as a Los Posadas procession. (I wonder if I remember that from his comments at a conference where I heard him speak about his work because it is not in the description of the painting.) It is a dual image for me. First, this image speaks of the importance of theological education. Education is never just for the personal enrichment of the student, or it shouldn't be. All education is for the benefit of others. I think of my students as preparing to go back out into the world as a procession of lights. A powerful image.

Second, this image reminds me that as we are in the world, we need to keep asking the question: "Is there room for Jesus to be born here? Is there room for hope to be born and thrive here?" Do we believe that hope is possible? I am reminded of a phrase from James Houston: "When you are in an age of darkness, light as many fires as possible." This image shows something of the hope of this statement.

Enjoy! And be one of the people bringing light and hope to the world!
-Chelle

My New Book; as if I have an old one...

2010-10-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

I have a book. Well, I am one of 5 authors. We are a diverse crowd: gender, race, theological passion, denomination, doctrine, etc. What unifies us is a love for the church and a love/hate relationship with the movement called E/evangelicalism.

Most of the authors met at the Lausanne Conference in Malaysia. (I'm the only one that didn't go...) On the way home from the conference a few of them asked the question, "Do I want to be an evangelical?" Out of this came a set of articles in The Other Journal dedicated to this question: Earth to Christians. Mark Russell, one of the original crowd, thought that this conversation would be a good book, so voila! here is the fruit of this original question.

I guess we all want to remain evangelical, in one way or another, because we spent the time writing this book. We even got together for a writing a few summers ago in order to all talk face to face about our chapters and our visions for the future of evangelicalism. It was a good time, though very tiring. We laughed a lot, cried a bit and, from time to time, fought passionately about our ideas. We, for the most part, agreed about the need for more conversation and flexibility within the tradition. We also agreed that the church needs a more robust understanding of God as Trinity and we need to live in the world in an attitude of humility and love of neighbor. What we disagreed about were the specifics of how this happens within the community of the people of God. But conversation is a very good place to start. Conversation about our passions, our difference and our commonalities (especially our love for God and God's love for us) is a vital key for creating community. If evangelicalism it going to not only survive but also thrive and flourish, then broader and more open conversation is needed to establish trust in the ranks. I tend to think that God is really the answer to all the questions but we are a diverse and creative people. Because of this, we are all called to take part in the formation of the church, the 'how' of this call on our lives to be the people of God.

The authors are Allen Yeh (he teaches at Biola), Michelle Sanchez (she is a pastor in Boston), Mark Russell (a missiologist, who writes and teaches about micro-finance in the two-thirds world and how business and missions can work together to help two-thirds world economies), Dwight Friesen (who teaches with me at Mars Hill Graduate School) and me, Chelle Stearns.

What did I write about in my two chapters? Worship and the Holy Spirit. Ahhh, for a really robust doctrine of the Holy Spirit within our understanding of the workings of the church!

So, look out for Routes and Radishes: and other things to talk about at the evangelical crossroads, Zondervan, 2010.

I for one benefited from conversing with this small group of theologians and pastors. Who are you talking to about these issues?

Peace,
Chelle

Steve Reich

2010-09-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

Right now, this very minute, I am procrastinating. I am suppose to be writing a book review. This book is all about music. In fact is a broad sweeping portrait of Western art music, which was developed over the course of the second millennium.

Ruth Katz, the author of A Language of Its Own: Sense and Meaning in the Making of Western Art Music, touches on key turning points in the formation of Western music. By the time she gets to the twentieth century, yes the century of Arnold Schoenberg!, she tells a tale of the primacy of self expression for the creative genius/composer, the dissolution of traditional musical unity (via triadic tonality) and, most importantly, the fissure between the composer and the audience. In other words, by the end of the nineteenth century, composers had became so obsessed with originality, creativity and self-expression ("But art belongs to the unconscious! One must express oneself! Express oneself directly!" Schoenberg in a letter to Kandinsky) that audiences just didn't get what was going on. Concert goers began to disconnect and stop attending performances of "new music."

As I was contemplating this, I was reminded of an interview with Steve Reich (contemporary American composer) that I had heard a number of years ago on Terry Gross's "Fresh Air." It is a delightful interview with Reich explaining his various compositions and thoughts about the various techniques that his uses. Along the way he tells a number of funny anecdotes, highlighting both the difficulty of performing and listening to his music.

My favorite story is about a performance in 1973 of Reich's Four Organs. This was not the premier of the work but, instead, a more mainstream performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC. This simply meant that the audience was more conservative--preferring Mozart or Beethoven--and did not know what they were getting into. Evidently, there were three distinct moments when concert goers attempted to stop the performance. At one point a woman walked down the center aisle, banged her head repeatedly on the stage and wailed, "Stop, stop! I confess!" Ah, twentieth century music. Who says audiences don't get into this music? I would call that extreme audience participation. When is the last time you felt motivated to run down to the front of the stage at a classical music concert (no, I don't include the last U2 concert you attended!).

Anyway, for anyone who is interested, I thought that I would include a link to Terry Gross's interview with Steve Reich. It is well worth the 40 minutes of your life, even if you dislike Reich's music. However, you may be surprised!

Oh, and look for my book review in Book & Culture sometime in the future.

Enjoy!
-Chelle

John Cage

2010-09-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

I really don't know if anyone is reading this blog, but I'll put stuff up from time to time. I have another class blog. I just wrote a post about the composer John Cage. I thought it was a good crossover to this blog, so here is the link:

http://thetheologicalmosaic.blogspot.com/

Who knows what life would really be like if we lived into chaos more. Madeline L'Engle talked about the task of the writer as that of creating (shaping) cosmos from chaos. I wonder if that is really what Cage is doing, or did he just like chaos for the sake of chaos...

For the Love of the Vuvuzela!

2010-07-02T09:43:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems that the vuvuzela has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. The melodious sound inspires the artistic impulse in all of us. After watching the Brazil/Netherlands game this morning, the sound of that most auspicious of instruments still rings gloriously in my ears. Ahhhh....

So, in honor of the vuvuzela, here are a few links to how the imagination of the world is responding. Enjoy!

Article about the South African Vuvuzela Philharmonic.

And who knew that Brahms and Ravel wrote for the vuvuzela!

Episcopal Barbie!

2010-06-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

I was so inspired by all of our female MDiv'ers today that I thought that I would share this link with you all: Episcopal Barbie, High Church Edition. I have to say that I want one. She is great in her clerical collar and red pumps. (Abigail, what say you to Barbie's collar?)

Oh Barbie, you have come a long way baby!

Reading Report

2010-06-22T15:51:00.001-07:00

Hello to you all,

Great class today. Thank you for bringing yourselves in such powerful and diverse ways.

Here is the link to the reading report: reading report. Feel free to email this to me...

Peace,
Chelle

"Naps are radical acts." Anne Lamott

To All of you Bronte Sister Fans

2010-06-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm sure you all have seen this video, but it totally cracks me up! Take that you sexist pigs!

Enjoy!
Chelle

Football Fever!

2010-06-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, this happens to me every four years, I start to get obsessive about watching football--soccer to all of you. There is something about the game itself because moment by moment you don't know what will happen next. Then you add the pressure of tournament play and you have World Cup Fever!!

Football is so much like life. You prepare and you prepare but you never know how you will perform until the very moment something happens. So many variables at play and so much risk and chance. There has to be some connection to spiritual formation here...

OK, so I haven't had as much time this time around to watch this first round of play, though I did enjoy the England vs USA match. (Click here for a Lego version of the goals...not a pretty goal for the US, but it worked.) I'm hoping to have more time this next week. Maybe I'll take my grading down to the pub...

And finally, for a funny on the philosophical side, here is Monty Python's "Philosopher's Football". Hilarious!

Enjoy!
Chelle

The Sacramental Possibility of Every Thing

2010-06-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Good class today! I really enjoyed the student presentations--good food, how can one complain? Food, sacrament, abundance, story... Thank you for your contributions.

Here is the blog that the food group is starting:
welcometable.wordpress.com

If you want to contribute: reingenuity AT gmail (etc)

And here is the quote from David Jones that Lisa used last week in her presentation. I can't get it out of my head:

"Man: sacrament at every turn and all levels of the 'profane' and 'sacred' in the trivial and the profound, no escape from sacrament." (David Jones, "Art and Sacrament")

Peace to you all this week,
Chelle

Want to See a Play?

2010-05-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Christie Lynk has organized an evening for faculty and students to go together to "The Thin Place" at the Intiman Theatre on June 4th. Conversation with the cast will follow the play. Here is her invitation:

The Thin Place: A Play at the Intiman Theatre
In every religion and every tradition, people have grappled with what it means to be human and remain connected to the divine. Life's biggest mystery plays out in one young man's quest to restore his shaken faith. When his mother suddenly collapses in church, Isaac begins to question his religious upbringing. Doubting his family, his community, and everything he believes, Isaac sets out in search of answers where no concrete proof exists. His journey, and the guides he encounters along the way, leads him to Seattle - a city supposedly without religion. In a viscerally staged race to find faith - or accept God’s absence - true stories of extraordinary and ordinary Seattleites inspire Isaac to find something he'd neglected all along - himself.

Come join students and faculty from Mars Hill Graduate School and Seattle University for an evening at the theatre on June 4th at 8:00 pm. We will meet at the theatre at 7:30 and you are invited to stay for a conversation with the cast after the show. Tickets are $11.00 for students and $26.00 for faculty and staff. Please R.S.V.P. to Jenn Frechette if you would like to purchase a ticket. We have 30 tickets reserved. See you there!

U2

2010-05-11T17:50:00.001-07:00

So, we didn't really talk about U2 in class, though I suspect that many of you have favorite stories. What is your U2 story? Or do you have a different band that stirs your soul?

Scott offered this past blog post:
http://scottsmall.vox.com/library/post/all-we-can-do-untitled-music-posts-3708.html

I would love to hear your stories...

-chelle

10AM Start Time Next Week!!

2010-05-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

For all of you that are actually checking this blog (hi, Mom!), I wanted to remind you that class starts at 10AM. We will make up this class time during presentations in the final two weeks of class. The final day we will meet at 9AM and go until about 1:30 (with a potluck lunch so you will be fed before Old Testament Survey). I am also thinking that we will meet either on Thursday June 17th or Friday June 18th in the evening for a meal and presentations.

So, see you next week at 10AM!

Peace,
Chelle

The Artistic Impulse and the 2010 Summer Term!!

2010-05-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all,

Welcome to Theology and the Artistic Impulse. My hope for this blog is to stir up conversation, thoughts and, most of all, creativity. I am willing to post your thoughts, announcements and ideas on the blog, so feel free to email me your posts. (I retain the right to edit...)

I have asked Cheryl to post the George Mackay Brown story ("An Epiphany Tale") that I read in our first class. You can find the story on our.MHGS in the "Theology and the Artistic Impulse" folder.

Watch this space for announcements and the occasional random thought...

Peace,
Chelle

Gerard Manley Hopkins

2009-12-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

OK, I admit it, I loved talking about GMH today. Such a rich Christological Creation theology. Don't you think that Christians today need a deeper, more robust theology of creation? OK, not everyone likes poetry, it can be very challenging, but at least we can appreciate the beauty of Hopkins' vision of 'inscape.'

Here is the link to the power point slides from today. I deleted some of Kirstin's pictures from the power point so that it would fit on the google site (the file size is limited!). If you are interested in seeing more of her pictures, you can go to her blog. Then you can let me know why it is she should write a book that includes her photographs!

Peace,
Chelle

Mary Poem

2009-11-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

MARY OF NAZARETH

I am mystery,

rebel,

mother,

refugee,

a voice crying out compassion

in the face of cruelty,

human misery.

I am Mary of Nazareth,

I sing my reckless trust,

my ache,

confusion.

Mine are the dirges any mother sings

whose child is cut

down too young.

I sing

of dashed dreams

that turned to diamonds.

I was young and hopeful,

the future danced in my eyes!

I always had a wild streak

(some said

I was a rebel),

My head uncovered,

my hair flying,

I ran

through the streets

with friends.

My voice carried

loudest

they said.

I did not always

heed the Law,

or my parents,

or anyone else.

I sometimes spoke

out.

I asked the why of things.

I was silenced.,

but never

for long,

because

a restlessness ran through me.

It seemed I wanted more from life

than most.

The longing wouldn’t go away.

They hoped that Joseph would

tame my restless spirit

with domestic dreams, a family future

I accepted,

but secretly,

I tucked away

my restlessness

in the corner of my heart

far from

the eyes of anyone.

Yet, God spied my hidden treasure, and smiling,

asked if I’d dare bring

that MORE in me to life,

new life,

for all like me

who dream for more than Law.

I swallowed hard, but

said

YES!

I surrendered to birth

a bigger dream

than hearts could capture then.

I said YES

to birthing MYSTERY

midst the darkness.

My YES blasted walls

of Law and custom.

It brought talk,

sniping,

pointing fingers,

stones,

as I walked

pregnant with MYSTERY,

God’s dream.

I remember…

that dark night,

NO’S

slamming in my face,

locked doors,

far from family,

my body bursting

I gave birth

to MYSTERY shining

on a bed of straw

midst blood and tears,

beggar’s breath,

shepherd’s sighs.

Yes, I remember…

hot sand, night chills,

running, foreign lands,

fleeing, strange streets,

fugitives, Herod’s cold cruelty.

But, I do remember warmer days,

watching my boy grow.

I saw myself in him.

I wondered who he might become.

I loved his fire,

his integrity, his joy.

And as he grew, I saw

his YES,

His YES to God and

no one else!

I was afraid.

Mother love could not last longer.

He was a young man

with the future in his eyes, and

compassion in his arms!

I let him go.

I let him go into his YES,

into streets,

salons,

and synagogues,

open arms of prostitutes and beggars, and

Into the slippery hands of hypocrites!

I am a martyr’s mother.

I let him go into his YES.

I let him go into God’s arms.

GOD’S ARMS BECAME A CROSS!

And my YES

hung limp

on the tree—

a last

lifeless

leaf.

I cried all martyrs’ mothers’ tears.

I wailed the death of dreams and hoping.

I moaned my flesh and blood

martyr-child snatched

too young

from the nest!

WHERE ARE YOU NOW GOD?

WHO ARE YOU

TO LET GO OF

YOUR PEARL

SO EASILY?

WHAT KIND OF CRUEL GOD

ARE YOU

THAT SNUFFS OUT

YOUR OWN DREAM?

HE GAVE YOU EVERYTHING,

YOU GAVE HIM DEATH!

SCORPIONS!

SNAKES!

YOU GAVE US STONES, NOT BREAD!

But, I remember…

how there was new

breath

and wind

and blessing.

how God

breathed

into our empty.

Death couldn’t hide,

Death couldn’t hold our YES!

YES! there was breath

and bread

and blessing!

YES! An empty tomb! YES!

bread broken and blessed on a road! YES!

ARMS OPENED

AND HEARTS BURNING

WITHIN US! YES!

There is breath

and wind

and blessing! YES!

He lives!

among us!

I birthed a bigger dream

more than our hearts

could contain,

more truth than death’s arms could bear!

Dreams lie waiting hidden

in you hearts to be born again

carried to all who long like us for MORE.

My sisters, my brothers,

carry them, bear them.

Bring them to YES!

Bring them to birth

midst the darkness!

By Patricia Clemens Repikoff

From DASHED DREAMS AND DIAMOND

Power Point Slides: November 17th, 2009

2009-11-19T17:51:00.001-08:00

Here is the link to the power point slides from class.

Hope you liked Luci!

Peace,
Chelle

Thoughts from Luci Shaw on Beauty...

2009-11-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some quotes and poem from Luci Shaw's essay, "Beauty and the Creative Impulse," in The Christian Imagination, Leland Ryken, ed, Colorado Springs, CO: Shaw Books, 2002:

"Beauty is there to be noticed. Too often it is taken for granted because we are moving too fast to let it in and allow it to deliver its message in us. We need to pay attention. To show indifference to beauty is an insult to its Creator." (90)

Earlier in the same essay she talks about "a prairie woman in 1870 who wrote in her diary a note about her quilt-making: 'I make them warm to keep my family from freezing; I make them beautiful to keep my heart from breaking.' " (88) Shaw continues, "God made us human beings in his image; we participate in creative intelligence, giftedness, originality. We each have the faculty of imagination deep within us, waiting, like a seed, to be watered and fertilized. Imagination gives us pictures by which to see things the way they can be, or the way they are, underneath. The prairie woman, hemmed into her sod house with her small children by months of sub-zero cold and snow, used her imagination redemptively. Around the traditional quilt patterns--double stars, wedding rings--her imagination pieced in the exuberant flowers and leaves that redeemed the long winter, that brought her soul back to life. She created beauty and richness from the ordinary stuff, even the castoffs, of her life." (90)

Quilt-Maker (89)

To keep a husband and five children warm,
she quilts them covers thick as drifts against
the door. Through every fleshy square white threads
needle their almost invisible tracks; her hours
count each small suture that hold together
the raw-cut, uncolored edges of her life.

She pieces each one beautiful and summer bright
to thaw her frozen soul. Under her fingers
the scraps grow to green birds and purple
improbalble leaves; deeper than calico, her mid-winter
mind bursts into flowers. She watches them unfold
between the double stars, the wedding rings.

(from Polishing the Petoskey Stone, Shaw Books, 1990, 33)

Fujimura Slides

2009-11-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to the power point slides from this past week.

See you next week!! Very exited that Luci Shaw is coming!

Peace,
Chelle

Makoto Fujimura, Take II

2009-11-10T16:51:00.001-08:00

So, here are some images from Fujimura. Thanks to Hilary for finding these. This first image is entitled "White Tree" (2000). The link here is to a page of other images with commentary by Fujimura. Check it out.

The other image that Hilary found is entitled "Shalom."

I need to read more of what Fujimura has written before I comment further about his work. I'm really intrigued by his paintings and by his visual theology.

Tell me what you guys think!

Peace (Shalom),
Chelle

Makoto Fujimura

2009-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

OK, here is my first post about Makoto Fujimura. Mostly this is to show a video of him painting. I'll do a bit of commentary about his art in the following post. Meanwhile, here is a video!

And here is a link to some of his essays.

Enjoy!

Power Points from November 3, 2009

2009-11-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Hello all, here are the power points from yesterday's class.

Broken Beauty: Part I & Part II

Peace,
Chelle

Power Points and Other Things...

2009-10-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't put up the power points for the last couple weeks, so here they are:

October 13th: Part I & Part II (the file was two big for one file)
October 27th

As for other things, my orchestra is playing a concert tonight. One of the pieces is a bit of aesthetic theology, or it is just a creepy story. At the beginning the piece we hear both the hunting horns and the Church bells calling to the main character of the story. Should he go hunting or should he go to church? He decides to go hunting. It ends up that this was a bad choice, for as he is out hunting, evil spirits come and take him to hell.

I know, an uplifting story. What can I say? Strange French-Catholic stories from the 19th cent. I thought that you would enjoy an old movie version of the piece. I have to admit that I laughed when I watched it! Enjoy!!

Peace,
Chelle

Christ Pantocrator

2009-10-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a bit of Rita Nakasima Brock's and Rebecca Ann Parker's Saving Paradise. (Check out their website for great images from their exploration of early Christian images.) Even just the prologue is a good read. The question is why it is that the crucifixion, the dominant image of the Church today, was not depicted in the first 5 centuries of Christendom, or widely used in churches or devotional practice for 1,000 years? That is a great question. Their argument is that the dominant image is that of paradise.

With this in mind, I would like to share a few images with you all. The first is an image of Christ Pantocrator from one of the churches in Ravenna, Italy. Someday I'll go there and do my own research. For now, I'll rely upon the pictures of others.

The second image is from St. Giovanni's Cathedral in Laterano. This image does depict the cross, but not a dead Jesus upon it. Instead the cross becomes the Tree of Life found at the end of Revelation. The Spirit is baptizing the cross and the water of the Spirit is channeled in four flowing streams from the cross; the water of life from which the whole world can now drink. This is really a stunning image, incorporating a very complex theological vision of salvation and redemption. Beautiful. Check out the Saving Paradise webpage for the entire mosaic and more description regarding the image. It is interesting that hovering over this portrayal of the cross is Christ Pantocrator, ruler over all things.

I am still wondering what these early Christian images have to tell us about the tradition of our faith and about who we are as Christians today.

Peace,
Chelle

Power Points from Today

2009-10-06T19:13:00.001-07:00

Here is the link for the ppts.

-Chelle

Penguins

2009-10-02T15:54:00.001-07:00

So, on the way to school the other day, I saw a guy carrying a large, blow-up penguin across the Ballard Bridge.

Kinda makes you stop and think...

Butternut Squash Soup!

2009-09-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

Every year I anticipate the first batch of butternut squash soup. I don't know what it is. Something about the change in the weather, the leaves falling, pulling out all of my favorite sweaters...

Yesterday I made my first batch and it is/was very good. Nothing says "Happy Autumn!!" like a bowl of this soup. It is just plain yummy!

Plus, butternut squash is cheap right now. (Recession proof goodness!) I'm not going to give you are recipe, because I don't really have one. It is always changing. Here are some of my guidelines that I use: I love a bit of apple (not too much), a bit of ginger, a shake or so of cayenne pepper, lots of garlic, onion or leeks, beta carotene veggies of different sorts (this soup is a good emptier of the veggie drawer, just don't use mushrooms!), and some kind of broth. (I dump it all in a pot and let it boil.) When it is all soft, I puree! I don't use butter or cream, but if you want a little you can add a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt to the top. If you need some more saltiness you garnish with some pan fried bacon or pancetta or just cook up some sausage.

There are lots of good recipes out there. Give it a try.

-Chelle

PS Here is the link to last week's ppts.

Power Point Slides, September 15th, 2009

2009-09-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the link for the power point slides: Icons.

Enjoy!

Chelle

PS Let's watch the Evelyn Glennie documentary on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009.

Beauty and Experience

2009-09-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

After class on Tuesday, I began to think about Evelyn Glennie. I know that most of you have never heard of her, so let me introduce you.

Evelyn Glennie is a percussionist. Moreover, she is a soloist, very unusual. She has performed solos with many of the world's major orchestras. I have seen her perform a couple of times, and she is amazing. She usually has a large array of instruments and items in front of her when she performs and she is always bare foot.

I first saw her a number of years ago and was amazed that I could enjoy a concerto for percussion and orchestra so much. It wasn't until years later that I found out that she is deaf. That profoundly surprised me. How could someone play so well, especially with an orchestra, and not be able to hear. A very good question.

She plays by feeling. She hears through her whole body. It really makes you wonder what hearing really is.

I began to think about her because she breaks out of the normal categories. She just lived into her vocation even despite her limitations, or her perceived limitations. If we are talking about being given the vision to really see the world as God sees it, then she is a great example. She has been given the "ears" to hear, even though she cannot hear. She hears the world in a transformational way and then shares that experience with the rest of us.

There was a documentary made about her a few years ago. Perhaps we should watch it in class? Here is the trailer for "Touch the Sound":

What do you think? Should we watch it?

Do yo want to hear something really crazy? Awhile back when I went to visit my friends who live in Methlick, Scotland I had an unusual encounter. Matt is the pastor of a small Church of Scotland congregation there. Julie, his wife, convinced me to play my violin in the service--it was the first week of Advent, so some special music was in order. After the service, an older woman approached me and thanked me for playing. We began to talk a little bit and it came out that her daughter was a musician who played all over the world. She was a percussionist... I looked at her and proclaimed "Are you Evelyn Glennie's mother?" Low and behold, she was. And Evelyn had grown up in that small town in Aberdeenshire. I was flabbergasted and amazed. It is a small world.

Why do I say all of this? Because beauty is not always what we expect It is not always what we know. Moreover, beauty, in whatever form, opens us up to the world in profound ways. I watched the trailer to this documentary and almost cried. It moved me for some reason. This made me realize that I don't always know why something is beautiful, but I know beauty when I encounter it. I guess that is as good a place to begin as any.

Peace,
Chelle

The Seven Last Words

2009-09-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here are the seven last words of Christ on the Cross. Here is the link to the document of the seven phrases; and the power point from today's class.

1) Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do
Luke 23:34

2) Woman, Behold, Thy Son! ... Behold, Thy Mother!
John 19:26-27

3) Verily, I say unto you, today thou shalt be with me in Paradise
Luke 23:43

4) Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani? (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)
Matthew 27:46

5) I thirst
John 19:28

6) It is finished
John 19:30

7) Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit
Luke 23:46

A New Class: Beauty and Worship

2009-09-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

Kae suggested that I continue this blog so that I can post powerpoints and other such resources for the class. So, here is the ppt for the first week on Beauty. Thank you Adrienne Chaplin for such a thought provoking essay on Beauty.

Let me know if you have anything to contribute to the blog.

Peace,
Chelle

Reading Report

2009-03-25T09:45:00.001-07:00

Here is the Reading Report for The Artist's Way.

-chelle

Lewis on MacDonald

2009-03-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

We read C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce for the theology class this weekend. At the very end, Lewis has an imaginary conversation with his guide and mentor, George MacDonald. (Keep in mind that in reality, they did not live at the same time. But this does show the influence that MacDonald had on Lewis' theological imagination...)

So, here it is, a conversation between C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald from The Great Divorce:

"In your own books, Sir," said I, "you were a Universalist. You talked as if all men would be saved. And St. Paul too."

"Ye can know nothing of the end of all things, or nothing expressible in those terms. It may be, as the Lord said to the Lady Julian, that all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well. But it's ill talking of such questions."

"Because they are too terrible, Sir?"

"No. Because all answers deceive. If ye put the question from within Time and are asking about possibilities, the answer is certain. The choice of ways is before you. Neither is closed. Any man may choose eternal death. Those who choose it will have it. But if ye are trying to leap on into eternity, if ye are trying to see the final state of all things as it will be (for so ye must speak) when there are no more possibilities left but only the Real, then ye ask what cannot be answered to mortal ears. Time is the very lens through which ye see--small and clear, as men see through the wrong end of a telescope--something that would otherwise be too big for ye to see at all. That thing is Freedom: the gift whereby ye most resemble your Maker and are yourselves parts of eternal reality. But ye can see it only through the lens of Time, in a little clear picture, through the inverted telescope. It is a picture of moments following one another and yourself in each moment making some choice that might have been otherwise. Neither the temporal succession nor the phantom of what ye might have chosen and didn't is itself Freedom. They are a lens. The picture is a symbol: but it's truer than any philosophical theorem (or, perhaps, than any mystic's vision) that claims to go behind it. For every attempt to see the shape of eternity except through the lens of Time destroys your knowledge of Freedom. Witness the doctrine of Predestination which shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in which to be real; but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper truth of the two. And wouldn't Universalism do the same? Ye cannot know eternal reality by a definition. Time itself, and all acts and events that fill Time, are the definition, and it must be lived. The Lord said we were gods. How long could ye bear to look (without Time's lens) on the greatness of your own soul and the eternal reality of her choice?"

Readings & Music

2009-03-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

Just in case, I wanted to remind you that we are reading the Saliers article "Theology Sung." Suggested is Art & Soul parts 3 & 4.

Also, remember to bring in your songs. It would be great to have words as well, so if you put them onto power point slides, we can put up any words for the class.

See you Wed!
Chelle

Power Point Slides

2009-03-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here are the powerpoint slides from the George Day!!

More George!!

2009-03-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to MacDonald's "The Fantastic Imagination."

Enjoy!
Chelle

George!!!

2009-03-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I know that you are excited about reading Lilith this week. Yes, it is a crazy and wacky book! I have really enjoyed it and now feel that I understand C.S. Lewis so much better. (I went on a Lewis binge over Christmas break.)

Those of you who have read a lot of Lewis should be picking up resonances with MacDonald. I felt this with Lilith much more than with Phantastes, but that may be because I have assigned The Great Divorce for the Theology II class meeting this weekend. Definitely resonances there: having a guide (Mr. Raven [it is George MacDonald in The Great Divorce!]), meeting those that are lost and cannot help themselves along the way, or (if you think of Til We Have Faces or The Space Trilogy) the importance of participating in the process of redemption: a becoming the causes us to desire true redemption.

Overall, it seems that George (or GMD, as my friend Kristin writes it) longs for us to have an imagination that explores faithfully what life with God is and could be. We'll talk about this in more depth in class, but if you are interested check out GMD's essay "The Imagination: Its Function and Its Culture." I'll post an edited version of this essay later--I just need to scan it into my computer.

Anyway, I'm having fun reading George!!

Peace to you all,
Chelle

Jen's Offering: 'Writings' & 'Eucharist'

2009-02-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

'Writings' (Painting)
'Eucharist' (Song) (I'm experiencing technical difficulties, so I hope to have the song up soon!)

Thoughts from Courtney on "Seredipity"

2009-02-23T16:17:00.000-08:00

[Chelle's post on Serendipity] reminds me of Steve Taylor's advice to Donald Miller to be a working artist and "put in his hours". As a storyteller, I think of seminary as "putting in my hours" in some ways. The art we make happens out of what we are immersed in, right? I can't force a serendipitous discovery in rehearsal…but I can rehearse. I can't seem to write performances that reveal God…but I can revel in the revelation I've received and just keep performing. Chelle, you asked "how do these moments happen?"
Is it merely a matter of "noticing"? That language makes me think I could train my senses to sneak up on serendipitous moments and take them by force if I'm self disciplined enough. I do believe in the discipline that keeps our eyes and ears open and ready to receive the beautiful…but isn't there an element of gifting there? It's serendipitous because I wasn't seeking it---but I found it. Or Someone gave it to me.

I guess I'm trusting at some point that the sun will set just right and the people will stand and listen and eventually sit on the grass while I'm telling my story. It will be Serendipity born in the midst of discipline? I'm not saying that one comes from the other, but they definitely seem to touch. I guess I'm left with the same question: How DO these moments happen? I don't know, but thank God they do!

-Courtney

a thought from this summer... or "pat the puppy"

2009-02-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a "pat the puppy" moment (a la Annie Dillard). My husband and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to Green Lake to hear a friend's bluegrass band. They were set up down from the Bathhouse next to the path.

The music was fun and enjoyable to listen to--I really like that old-timey harmony! I sat back, listened to the music, watched the people, watched the dogs, watched the people with their dogs (lots of dogs) and observed people's reactions to the music. For one thing, the band was really good. When you are walking around Green Lake, you don't expect to come across a good bluegrass band. So, people would stop and stand. Then they would move closer. Then they would come and sit down. Of course, there were those who started to dance, but that never lasted very long. I think everyone was amazed by and drawn to the music. The audience came and went, but everyone seemed, well amazed is not the right word, they seemed delighted and surprized. Serendipity. (The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.)

This moment of joy and discovery came and went very quickly (almost as soon as I noticed it), but I was there, under the fading blue sky of a warm Seattle evening listening to music, content with the world.

How do these moments happen? Random beauty surrounds us, yet we rarely stop to notice. We have no ears to hear nor eyes to see. We just don't have the time, or don't take the time to truly live where we are.

A few years ago, Joshua Bell, one of the great violinists of our time, participated in a little experiment. A reporter in Washington thought it would be great to set up Bell as a busking violinist in the subway. They were worried that they might cause quite a scene and were prepared for crowds and a bit of chaos. What they were not prepared to face was indifference. Only about two people (out of over 1,000) stopped to hear him play. Only one really recognized him (she had just heard him perform a few weeks earlier). Indifference rather than serendipity. Random beauty ignored.

Here are a couple of articles about Joshua Bell's experiment, if you are interested:

* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/04/06/DI2007040601228.html

I don't know if there is really anything that we can really learn from this. We all have our moments of "noticing". However, if we don't ignore something at one time or another, then we would be overwhelmed by it all--not just the beauty. "How could any human being endure such ravishment of the senses, every hour of every day for many winters and summers?" But if we don't look, hear and touch, how will we ever experience serendipity?

Yet we prepare for a great music, and we want to be ready to play when the time comes.

Serendipity to you!

Chelle

A New Class, but an Old Blog

2009-02-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

I thought that it would be fun to start including this blog in our class. It may be that you love having a class blog, or that you choose simply to ignore its existence. However you view this, it is here.

What is the class? The Artist's Way. No, we are not using the book. Why not? I'm not really sure, I just wanted to teach this class differently.

Anyway, I thought that I would let one of you, yes you students, have the first word; via Maritain. Here is a thought from Jen G!! Thanks, Jen.

"Since the community needs art and artists, the community has certain duties toward them. Just as the writer must be responsible, so must the community.

In actual fact what the artist, the poet, the composer, the playwright expects from his fellowmen, as a normal condition of development for his own effort, is to be listened to, I mean intelligently, to get a response, I mean an active and generous one, to have them cooperate with him in this way, and to feel himself in a certain communion with them, instead of being confined, as happens so often nowadays, in an intellectual ghetto.

This means that the primary duty of the human community toward art is to respect it and its spiritual dignity, and to be interested in its living process of creation and discovery. It is no more easy or arbitrary to judge a work of art than to judge a work of science or philosophy. A work of art conveys to us that spiritual treasure which is the artist's own singular truth, for the sake of which he risks everything and to which he must be heroically faithful. We should judge of it as the living vehicle of this hidden truth; and the first condition for such a judgment is a kind of previous consent to the intentions of the artist and to the creative perspectives in which he is placed. In judging of the artistic achievements of their contemporaries, people have a responsibility, both toward the artist and toward themselves, insofar as they need poetry and beauty. They should be aware of this responsibility."

- Jacques Maritain in The Responsibility of the Artist, 89-90

Well, I hope that we will have more thoughts to share about life, spirituality and the vocation of the artist. Until then, go in peace and serve the Lord.

-Chelle

Cabe

2008-08-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Photographic reflections upon the doctrinal theology of James Wm. McClendon, Jr. by Cabe M.
"The Rule of God"
"The Identity of Jesus Christ"
"The Fellowship of the Spirit"

Mark

2008-08-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

Kristen

2008-08-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

Finding Voice

I wake. My eyes slowly open for what seems like the first time. Overwhelmed by colors,shapes, sizes; I blink hard. I look around slowly. I see faces. I see corners, bright lights,doorways. My breathing feels heavy and hard. After moments I notice that I have no movement of my hands, of my feet. I try to move, but I cannot. I glance down to see my wrists pressing against the tightly bound ribbon. I pull, but there is no movement. I go to open my mouth to speak, but my lips, as my legs and arms, are bound; there is tape across my face. Panic sets in and subsides. I relax into the bondage. Why fight?

Why fight?? Why fight?!!!!!! WHY FIGHT???!!!

I pull hard. Really hard. on everything. I feel the skin on my wrists break. The chair beneath me moves--this feels good. I pull harder. Again, and again, and again. And again and again and AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND---------

Silence. Stillness. My shocked and terrified eyes stare disbelieving at what they had assumed was not possible--my hand has been freed. My hand!! MY HAND!!!! Quiet. Fear. Excitement fear, excitement fear.

My fingers run over the ribbon. The ribbon that incapacitated my hand, the ribbon that continues to bind the remainder of my appendages. Slowly my finger tips become aware of their power.

My mouth. MY MOUTH!!! My hand flies to my face. My body pulsates. My finger skims the outline of the sticky plastic silencer. In a moment of madness my hand strips the tape from my mouth. Breath. Breath. Sound. Make sound. Whimper. Quiet cry. Laughter. VOICE!!! Put it back put it back PUT IT BACK!! My hand flies to my face and smacks the tape back to its original placement. Silence phew silence. Oppression. Safe, safe, quiet oppression. Safe oppression. Yes, safe. Oppression.

Oh, but I must know. I must!! I must!!! Just once more. Please please please.

Hand flying to face tape ripping off mouth widening scream releasing
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hand returning to face returning tape silencing mouth silencing scream obliterating voice obliterating voice obliterating voice.

Kae

2008-08-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

THE SWEATER

“The aim of the artist ought to be to bring into the world objects which do not already exist there...objects which are especially worthy of love.”

William Gass

The purpose of contrasting these two sweaters and two pairs of socks is not to demonstrate a qualitative difference; it will be obvious that the ready made garments are qualitatively more refined, more consistent in nature and size, we might even say more perfect. No, the contrast is better seen in the difference in character. Sentimentalizing aside, it is clear that there is a difference in the character of the hand made pieces. It is almost as if the hand-knit items bear a personality all their own. How can it be that the ethereal nature of human care and intent crosses over to be come evident in an inanimate object?

This becomes immediately evident when such an object is presented as a gift, in lieu of its matching ready-made partner. Imagine opening a birthday gift holding a pair of socks. Nice enough, especially if they are made of Smart Wool™. Now imagine being given a pair of brightly colored striped hand knit socks, made for your feet alone... The joy of the gift of this reaction was my pleasure to receive when I gave a friend a pair I had just finished knitting as a going-away present along with the scripture: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bear good news.”

May we never underestimate the un-named in that which we give and receive

Josué

2008-08-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

Phil

2008-08-21T08:49:00.001-07:00

Fruit of the Spirit Series by Phil N.
'love', 'longsuffering', 'faithfulness',
'joy', 'gentleness', 'meekness',
'peace', 'goodness', 'temperance'

(india ink on paper, copyright: phil nellis, 2008, used by permission)

Daniel

2008-08-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

PRESENTATION ORDER:

Song: “The Power of Pentecost” –Traditional Song

“What’s that feelin’ that I feel?
It’s Pentecost, Pentecost.
Can’t explain it but I know it’s real—
The power of Pentecost.”

Poem 1:

I was born into flames.
Pentecostal syncopation, no doubt,
Can be sourced as the root of all my
Rhythmic woes. “So it goes.”

And now I am so distantly removed from the
Three-hour Sunday Nights. “God showed up,”
And we got so carried away, the preacher,
He didn’t have nothin’ to say—too busy spinnin’
Like a top, I suppose. When a man’a’God
Moves like that—only the Lord knows.

Two things I know, beyond the doubts
That cloud my mind. I have seen and
I have felt what it means to be alive.

You think you know what I mean
When I say, “God showed up.”
But I can see it in your face.
There is something that can only be known when
Charismatic, boisterous song descends
To weeping, praying, seeking…God.
And going to the place where silence waits…

Pregnant with possibility…
The immaculate conception democratized
Through the playing of Babel in rewind,
’Cause you’ve never woven songs of this kind—
The unencumbered, intertwining, melodic phrases;
Bending lines—that stretch across the space
To make a unity so diverse, you find yourself
Trembling. Embodied.

Song: “Comfort Ye” –from Handel’s Messiah

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Saith your God, Saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare, her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that her iniquity is pardoned.”

Poem 2:

Throughout my childhood, I would have explained
That the work of the Spirit was of
Power to proclaim—
Now I barely note a single day when
I fail to ponder the power plays
Inherent in terms like, “Spirit filled,”
“Sanctified,” and “Fire Baptized.”

As a boy, I didn’t know
what it meant to pray in groans that
words cannot express. But
I did know things no boy should have to know.

The weight of souls and
The silence that grows from
The fear of what could happen in my own bed.

It was here that I learned what was meant when it was said,
“I will send to you a comforter.”

Here, in the place where the darkness bleeds,
Language leaks into silence
That speaks.

Music beyond words that can
Fill the soul.

(Darkness) –Song: Sacred Harp Singers- Cold Mountain Soundtrack. Start at 1:49.

Poem 3:

Language goes beyond the banality of shaping together lips and teeth and tongue.
Even lovers long to express more than is afforded by the vocabulary of kissing.

It takes technique to structure strokes and scratches straight upon a page.
Be it by pen injected with India ink made from plastics produced in Peru and
Assembled in Alabama, or the digitized hum of a chipset converting keystrokes to
The binary equivalent of an eye exam.

Now which is better? …Zero or One?...Now A or B?

And this just trips the lever on the linguistic layer machine.
Much may be said of sign, signified, symbol, and referent,
Object, phoneme, morpheme (I may need a morphine), participles,
Pronouns, predicate adjectives, tenses and creoles,
Pidgins, jargon, syntax, composition, flow, and cohesion—All
Pieces of a puzzle that allows us proclaim:

“I love you”
“Bless your heart”
“Could you pass the mayonnaise? Mmhmm, the big jar. Thank you, precious”

Sometimes I sit speechless,
Like when my Pawpaw makes some audacious claim,
To which my Nana replies—she doesn’t bat an eye—
“You ain’t gonna!”
And when he says back,
“I are too, Dunnit,”

…I have no idea what he just said.

And it’s only then, in the moments when language fails to
Body forth the complex chaos that structures into speech, do we
Truly relish the beauty of God’s Spirit, inviting us to play
In the mysterious communion pouring forth, One-in-Three.

Song: “Heaven Above” –original song by author

“We were meant to live some kind of life.
We were meant to bear all of the heartache.
We were meant to love—we were meant to grow…
Heaven above, heaven below.
Kingdom of God reign in us.
Take off these clothes that hide all these scars,
Give us new robes made of love.”

Vangie

2008-08-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

'Photograph Graveside' by Vangie R.

There is a slight brown like singed eyebrows declaring that sunshine occurred.

A slight change in elevation over Grandma Dudie’s body.

What remains…

In her ark.chest.coffin

The full height of myself between the corpse and the surface

The earth pushed up and made a slight crack in the corner of the marble

Beloved Wife and Mother

Esther M. Roswall

1918 1982

The Salvation Army crest sits between the years looking like a sun spreading her skirt out into a curtsy with an obnoxious crown

That old Victorian symbol standing between Esther’s birth and death where her life should be…

The shadows once belonging to her daughter and granddaughter float ethereally to the right as to not disturb the Sun in her pompous glory

Yet darkening grandpa’s bloodiron gravemarker

Mauritz W. Roswall

U.S. Army

World War II

July 13, 1911 June 19, 1995

Exact dates with a simple cross raised between

Stark. Metallic. Cold.

Ingeting.

Floating above the soft cheek the heavy hand,

Returning into adomah

Powerless to comfort, empowered to shush….

'Funnel' by Vangie R.

What great push edged Agda off of the great appendage of Northern Europe: The sterile soil yielding only bland potatoes nudging her to risk crossing the sea från

Sverige to Chicago, to Minnesota to the

logging/fishing outpost trying to be a city called Seattle

Ever the outsider

Marrying Gus nee coalmines now a halibutman

Leaving the ministry

birthing 5

Losing golden curled Ruthie

Losing Sverige

Gaining America?

Your baby girl

Nursed you

Until…

Esther overcoming the darkness with voice, trumpet, accordion, guitar

American yet trapped between

Mama’s passing, you were finally able to live into your vocation of ministry

Mauritz duly impressed, loving you until

Condemning you to a separate, arctic bed

Serve him, everything must be snäll as he gives

your love rations to the church secretary

Little Lulu

“little adult”

Your best friend

your baby girl

Its poured into

Her

muted…

Carol with horn and piano and choir and horned rimmed cat eye glasses

Enduring the robotic sterility of what makes Sweden famous

No sibling, alone, move from place to place to place

Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Coos Bay, Eureka

Will your only friend be Mama?

What you want to be when you grow up is the same as your Mama and mormor…

Given up to marry a hick logger

Move to a trailer park and

daddy puts his hat on and leaves

Manic Depressive

Rage carries on hidden behind flimsy walls

A comfort found….

Evangeline brings good news to take your pain away.

Gritted teeth and a slap, followed by tight maternal embrace and dubbed

“a fragile little flower”

I am your little comfort

Forever Exodus, getting the hell out of Forks

Thirsting for something else than these generations

of starved women feeding on their young

Mothering their mother

Babying their husband

Drains from above into …

And I

have

no…

'Benediction of the Artistic Impulse' by Vangie R.

A gift descending

A tongue

Of fire

Resting as a hand of blessing

May gasoline like oil pour inconveniently

Over you

And light the match

Explode into fire

May your skin melt off like Hiroshima

This cursèd blessing will swallow us into something…

This glorious agony!

Because we know that you’ve gotta lose your life to gain it.

Mike

2008-08-13T18:30:00.001-07:00

Novum Organum by Mike B.

Student Presentations

2008-08-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for turning in your papers. I'm grading them right now!

I will be putting up on the blog the art work that people have sent me. If you don't want me to put up your work, please let me know!!

Cheerio!
Chelle

Papers

2008-08-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a number of questions coming my way about papers. You can email me papers until Monday morning, or hand deliver them to Mars Hill by today. (You can also snail-mail them into Mars Hill by today, but I won't get them for awhile.)

Let me know if there are any other questions.

Peace,
Chelle

Technology Powerpoint Slides

2008-08-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

A few of you expressed interest in the slides from Dave's lecture on technology.

-chelle

Participation

2008-07-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

"I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young [women] will see visions."
Joel 2:28

After class on Saturday, my husband and I rushed over to the Moore Theater for the kids poetry slam. Our god-daughter and her sister were in a play. Well, it wasn't just any play, it was a play written by our god-daughter! (Yes, we are very proud.)

They performed the play three times so that each child could participate in a different way--acting, props management, lights, stage directing, etc. There were moments of brilliance and moments of chaos (they had only practiced for a week!) but overall it was really good and enjoyable.

And I couldn't help but think of Annie Dillard's "Expedition to the Pole." We are like the kids up on stage, delivering lines (sometimes audibly), pushing around unmanageable props, standing around (out of character) waiting for the next line of the story to take place. What is important is that we are up on stage and are participating. We are in the midst of the action--sometimes via the control room (is that a metaphor for the role of the pastor, shining light on the action?). We so want to be perfect and wonderful, but really we just bumble along. However, our bumbling activity is a joy to observe. Every time I see my friends' children on stage I love them (my friends and their children) more . They are putting themselves out there, they are growing creatively and they are participating.

I can't help but think that God loves us all the more for being on-stage, participating in the mystery that is the redeemed life. We (in the church) are the Keystone cops, the dancing bears, the guitars players, the singers of songs. We dream dreams and sing our songs. And somehow, it is what we are meant to be and do.

Peace,
Chelle

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.

from "Ode" by
Arthur O'Shaughnessy