barabbas

cultural creativity

Today I had the opportunity to sit in on a talk given by Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making. The topic was on the relationship between the Church and culture. I was facinated and drawn in by the ideas he shared. He talked about how historically the Church has taken one of a number of positions toward culture: condemnation, critique, copying, consummer. We've outright condemned the "horrors" of culture - refusing to be part of any of it. We've taken the stance of critic; analyzing it from a number of angles in order to claim our part in it. We've copied it, thus creating "Christian" versions of culture that mimic what is being done in the secular world but with a Christian twist. And finally, we've consummed it, blindly taking in the culture around us without much thought or hesitation.

Andy suggests that rather than any of the above, we create culture, and by creating - we change it. Rather than being driven by fear, suspicion, a need to fit in, or apathetic laziness, we move toward something rather than away from something. We look at the world and ask "what is God doing?" and "how can we as a church join in with His work?" And then we initiate; we cultivate; we preserve what is already good in the world and look for ways to enhance and create more good. Do you love it? I love it! I'm so excited to read his book and learn more about the how and why of all this. I so long to see the Church step out of its corner and be the Church! Jesus is so good; so incredible, and God's work through Jesus is beautiful, full of hope and possibility. Why do we shrink back from that and hold it inward to ourselves? Why do we limit ourselves and act out of fear?

And what does this mean for me? How can I live into this? How can I approach my little world differently as a result?

http://www.culture-making.com/

halloween highlights

A few highlights from my Halloween activities:

- Date night spent making dinner together and staying in to watch a movie... while being interrupted over 10-15 minutes by decked out trick-o-treaters

- Answering the doorbell and being greeted by about eight 3 and 4 year olds; little miniature animals, princesses, fairies, devils, and witches grouped around staring wide-eyed at me while a whole host of parents stood on the sidewalk snapping pictures. Quite an intimidating bunch, these young kiddos.

- An 18 month old little girl dressed fully as the most impressive Gypsy I've ever seen - full colorful ruffled dress with a little bandanna around her probably bald head, toddling unsteadily toward the candy bowl at mom's urging.

- A boy dressed all in black, with various cereal box attached to his front, back and sides. When queried about his costume, he revealed with some charisma that he was dressed as a "cereal" killer - but "all the knives fell out". Knives? Not sure what he meant, but I laughed so hard at his creativity.

- Concluding the evening with an exciting and dangerous game of mafia with the youth group at church, where the lights were turned off while scary music played loudly throughout the building. Listening to the kids make accusations and create elaborate and detailed defenses was priceless.