Will my colour change?
To choose a colour that represented how I feel about the Bible immediately challenged the way I approach the Biblical text. It was a jolting experience, forcing me to consider my emotions and to think in an entirely new way. This simple exercise made me realise how limited my approach is when I face the Biblical text and how I communicate it to others. My colour was a warm pink to represent the comfort and security I associate with the text and the way it continually points to the God who is faithful, unchanging and loving. Steve highlighted that the text is not always sweet but violent and offensive, to challenge comments like mine. Am I living in denial wanting to only represent a sugar coated God? What implications does the postmodern context have in terms of how I communicate the text? Will this course force me to consider the text differently? Will my colour change?
Even though I am aware that this generation of youth see the world and communicate differently to me, these lectures have highlighted the undeniable reality that if we don’t take notice and realise the significance of this we will miss the opportunity to engage with an entire generation.
The contemporary and classic version of the movie ‘Romeo and Juliet’ made crystal clear what I suspected in a vague capacity, that modernity is characterised by one long gaze and a lone narrator, as contrasted to this postmodern era, characterised by fast paced visuals, short bursts of text and a multiplicity of voices. The presentations brought me to a fresh conviction to; be vulnerable and be me, loosen my grip on my expectations of how the text should be communicated, listen to the experience of others, let the text also be about lifestyle, to be open to other sources – allow my boundaries to be pushed out, to celebrate diversity when contradictions appear and always acknowledge that deep connectedness and relationship are integral to living the text.
Another facet that was wonderfully fleshed out for me was the humanness of the text. The humanity of Christ and the other characters was brought out so vividly through the use of visuals, dwelling in the text and hearing in community. The Bible contains flesh and blood stories that continue to speak to our present flesh and blood stories and enabled me to appreciate the other characters and their stories and what my response might be to them. These exercises provided new depth and experience when engaging with Scripture and underscored the benefit of using these new techniques when communicating the text in my context in the hope that the presentation would incur an event in the recipient as the Holy Spirit does His work.
‘DJ-ing’ and sampling raised the question for me of how well do I know my cultural context? Peter in 1Pet 3: 1-7 didn’t start with the text but with his culture. It also stressed for me that the sacred and secular are not to be separated, but as I dwell in culture, I can also dwell in the text and allow them to intertwine to enable Godly truth to be made vivid and relevant. Not to be scared of going to secular sources for material to use, because this is what the text is speaking to anyway. The example in 1 Peter 3 was a great way to validate for me that the use of cultural examples are not just helpful but a powerful way to communicate God’s truth!
Analysis of sermons was helpful and emphasised to me how the text and culture can be used in; juxtaposition, subversion or amplification to enhance meaning or raise questions for the listener.
Most powerful was the concept of community. Of course this is not new, but to be engaged practically in groups, to hear the text and relate impressions and listen to each other, was life changing. If I remember nothing else I want to keep fresh in my mind, not just the theory of why community is important, but how to work with community to enhance understanding and application of the Biblical text. It is my personal prayer that I may develop craftsmanship in this area, as has been demonstrated in various ways during this intensive, for the purpose of growing individuals and community in God. What an awesome treasure we have been given in each other. Each holding an idea, an impression, that together, paints a brilliant picture of God in our lives!
It was refreshing and consoling that the integrity of the text and good scholarship is to be always maintained. Creativity is not a licence to water down the gospel message. In fact my experience of story telling with Luke1:39-45, highlighted the necessity and value of good, prior exegetical preparation.
If our environments say something about the text then that certainly begs the question, does my church building environment work with or against the text? Right now, it works against. It lacks colour, diversity, the seating does not promote the sense of community, has no temperature control therefore uncomfortable, and focus is on the person up front.
Spirituality2go reframed for me the potential that ‘give-aways’ can affect, and the vital importance of shifting emphasis from the Sunday meeting to the rest of our lives during the week. The intentionality of producing these with postmodernity in mind was new. This became poignant even yesterday when driving past a church with a sign which read ‘Without the bread of life, you’re toast’. Who did they want to reach and encourage with that sign? For the Christian it may raise a chuckle and cause them to ponder, but for the non Christian, they would be left clueless and excluded. They have presented the text without consideration of the culture.
This week has caused me to wonder when and where these new approaches would be helpful. As brought out, it is good to provide a variety in the diet we present, a point I hope to remember in the future, and a healthy challenge to step out of my comfort zone.
This week has given me the permission I knew I always had but forgot to acknowledge, that God is creative so I should be too! He has created me with wonderful capacities to engage with my world and with others. To convey the text I just need to start exercising the withered muscle of my imagination, deliberately try new approaches to engage the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, the emotions and the imagination. I am challenged to live and communicate the text in new ways and have fun!
I started off at the beginning of the week with a monochromatic view of the Bible, but by the end I feel I have widened my appreciation for the text to encompass a myriad of possibilities and views that the colour I would choose now would have to be an array of colours to represent the depth and richness I have come to appreciate about living the text in my postmodern context.
7 comments:
Hi Maria, thanks so much for your thoughtful and comprehensive reflections. I am both encouraged and challenged as I read over them. I really picked up how you have wrestled with the ‘colour’ of the text and using the text in creative, life giving ways. I resonate with your comments as when Steve spoke about how there is colour in the text, this opened up a whole new way of thinking for me. I am encouraged that we can engage with a text which has colour and tells real life flesh and blood stories. This really brings the text to life and adds a whole new dimension when speaking or using the text both alone an in a group setting. I have been challenged in my role as Chaplain and Youth Pastor how I can do this in my ministry setting. I am convinced we need to start with the people who we minister and lead right now. So, I was speaking at a Benefit Dinner last week and I sought to bring ‘imagination’ into my talk, by asking the leading question, ‘I wonder if….’ Keep at it Maria, I know God will continue to use you as you take risks for him! All the best, Mike
Maria, you have brought up a great point about Djing and 1Pet 3: 1-7. You are right Peter do not begin with the text but with his culture, which is a point that I missed about the whole Djing concept. I am challenged by the understanding of culture first before I go and look at new ways of engaging the text in the postmodern world. Bob Rognlien says that we need to break out of the solitary Sunday to Sunday routine and be more creative with what we do. I think Djing could be something that would enhance our worship services.
I too was challenged by the idea of listening to the community in regards to the Biblical text. Lucy Rose uses a method that she calls conversational preaching, which allow the community of believers to speak out what they think and feel about the text. This risky, but I also think that it would be more appealing not only to many Christians but also to those who are genuinely seeking God, as they could voice their questions. However, I can see that this ideal is challenging, not just to us but the current status quo that is in many churches, which can often be one of things are done the way they are done because it has always been done that way.
Rose L, Sharing the word: Preaching in Roundtable Church, 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997 p. 122
Rognlien B, Experiencing Worship Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2005 pp 175-76.
Hi Maria
Thankyou for your reflections. You seem to be getting at the need to honour the content rather than let it slip so long as we hang on to our cultural forms of the gospel. Let us not hold to a form of religion whilst denying its power!
Christine McSpadden (2003)tells an interesting story about the "shrinking biblical literacy" (p.127)of churchgoers. She makes the point that the very fact people enter a church, not having been churched shows they are seeking.
When they come let them be helped to find God! This relates to what you said about environments speaking. Environments are more than the walls etc. What we are being challenged to do is to create safe spaces (ie environments)for people meet with God.
Damian brought up the conversational preaching that Rose (1997) talked about, seeing the value and acknowledging the challenge, yet what a great way to engage the sort of people Jonny Baker identifies as "drifting out of churches" because they had heard all the sermons before. They can, if they are genuine, take up the challenge of being lead contributors to the "conversation" sermon, helping the "preacher" to create the safe space that the seekers are seeking to find God.
The way Steve Taylor led us to talk to each other and share what we heard about the Luke 1:39-45text forms a good model. In his book (2005), chapter 7, he talks about ethical communities where "tourists" can "peg". The inhabitants of the ethical community could do the exegetical work before the conversational sermon and so provide the "peggers" with a scaffolded way to explore biblical spirituality.
What do you think?
References:
Jonny Baker, "preaching- Throwing a Hand Grenade in the Fruit Bowl. Something has to change" http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/text/Preaching.pdf
Steve Taylor, 2005, The Out of Bounds Church, Zondervan, Grand Rapids
Christine McSpadden, "Preaching Scripture Faithfully in a Postmodern Age" In The Art of Reading Scripture, edited by Ellen Davis and Richard Hays, 125-142. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans
Damien's comment on your blog
Hi Maria,
Thanks again for driving me to the airport. I really appreciated your willingness to go out of your way to serve me in that way. Sorry I have not responded to you reflections up until now, but I was not surprised to see that you are pushing yourself beyond your boundaries with good questions and thoughtful responses. I especially want to commend you on your insights regarding culture. As a person who has an identity in two cultures you are in a good position to examine both from an insider and outsider perspective; asking meaningful questions and making meaningful observations.
Baker referred to remixing cultural metaphors to unlock the biblical text, which is something that Jesus did frequently. Similarly, missionaries have searched for cultural keys to connect the message of the gospel with indigenous cultures (Richardson 1984). Bandy (2001) not only refers to the era in which we live as postmodern, but “post secular” with a rise in spiritual interest, it is within this context that we as pastors and the church, need to take up our missional heritage to engage with emergent culture(Roxburgh & Romanuk 2006).
In addition to these thoughts, I found your comments about the physicality of your worship space both challenging and encouraging; challenging because my main worship space is a barn of a building, lacking colour and vitality, but encouraging because your comments have motivated me to do something about it. Chevalier (1999) writes that “a painting in a church is like a candle in a dark room – we use it to see better. It is a bridge between us and God” (Buxton 2007:68) In the same way the colours, banners, images and aesthetics of our worship spaces help people see God in a different way and therefore need to be given attention.
Like you, I am challenged by what I want people to take away from their encounter with God, and sadly a lot of what is taken away is negative impressions, which colour people’s perceptions of God because of our inadequacies. Takeaways as Steve showed us can be as simple as positive experiences that engage people in meaningful dialogue with the living text or they can be symbolic like post cards, trading cards or even sheep! However, whatever methods we choose, it requires both intentionality and planning for it to have significance.
I am challenged by the statements regarding planning espoused by Rognlien (2005), because I know that it essential to not only prepare appropriately, but to invite the creativity of others into the equation at the risk of losing control of where things are heading. But then, if our church is to be truly the body of Christ then we must allow our people to discover their gifts, and that process of discover is always a risky business.
Thanks again for your reflections,
Bless you,
Tim Winslade
References
Baker, J “Preaching – Throwing a hand grenade in the Fruit Bowl. Something has to change”, http://jonnybakerblogs.com/jonnybaker/text/Preaching.pdf
Bandy, T.G., “Kicking Habits – Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches”, Abingdon press, Nashville. 2001
Buxton, G “Celebrating Life – Beyond the Sacred-Secular Divide”, Paternoster, London, 2007.
Chevalier, T., “Girl with a pearl earring” (1999) in Buxton, G “Celebrating Life – Beyond the Sacred-Secular Divide”, Paternoster, London, 2007.
Richardson, D. “Eternity in Their Hearts” (Revised) Regal Books, Ventura, Cal. 1984.
Rognlien, B, “Experiential Worship”, Colorado Springs, Navpress, 2005.
Roxburgh, A.J., & Romanuk, F., “The Missional Leader – Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World”, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, 2006.
Maria, you sounded very excited about many things in this blog….trust this continues to be your experience. I enjoyed your discussion of community, suspecting that this is not a new passion for you, but an old one awoken to invigorated applications.
I had been reading Taylor’s (2005) book for about one day when it dawned to me that it too, is a discussion occurring in community, rather than a monologue/sermon, as most books, even the generous ones, tend to be. I noticed one contributor, Kelli Robson (p13) whose only claim to fame is being a ‘surprised Christian’, which surely in the world of theological publications, qualifies as a voice from the edges. And how much richer the book is for the multitude of voices who add new dimensions, stories, meditations, qualifiers, and even disagreements (p53) to Taylor’s thesis. There is an integrity, an ethic, a generosity, to this kind of writing that adds to the case he has made in this book for engaging with the Biblical text in ethical communities, by modelling such living in his own academic work. Now that is different!
I hope that you enjoy exercising “the withered muscle of your imagination”, experimenting with engaging all of the senses in the sharing with your congregation…and that your colors will in time become richer and vivid.
Grace and peace
Kerry
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(1) Steve Taylor, The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to create a community of faith in a culture of change. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005
Maria, thank you for your reflection. I appreciated your admittance of vulnerability and challenge brought to you by the course. A couple of things came to me when reading your reflection and so your getting a double dose – 400 words; and also I’m running late!
The first thought has to do with your hope of ‘listening to the experience of others’. Modernity, as I understand it, was about having to make our case amongst the competing voices so ours, and those who thought like us, was the only one to be heard. Knowledge was the ‘power tool’ by which we ‘ drilled’ others to our point of view. Postmodernism, on the other hand, encourages an openness towards others.
I am in congruence with William Stacy Johnson’s thought that the faithful reading of Scripture needs ‘to employ the rule of love’. 1) Building on the work of Jewish philospher Emmanual Levinas, Johnson argues for the ‘primacy of otherness’ that has three contexts: 1) anything out side ourselves, 2) the poor and marginalised, 3) the eschaton ‘what is to come’. The point being that we are constantly challenged to move towards others and in so doing are confronted by the one who, in Karl Barth’s terminology, is ‘totally other’ – God.
My second thought is not unrelated to the first and it has to do with incarnation. You mentioned the’ humanness of the text’ and the ‘flesh and blood stories’ which came alive for you through the course. You also question how far do you know your own cultural context. These speak to me of incarnation. Steve highlights this point when he regards communities as the ‘enfleshed word’. It also important to recognise that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the world 2). This moves us away from a rugged self-absorbed invidualism that is often fearful of others and the world. We are consequently drawn further into engagement with God’s world where we D’j and sample, juxtapose, subvert and amplify because we know not everything in the world is good; but nonetheless cultural expressions, creatively handled, can be ‘portals’ into the sacred. As Steve writes ‘we cannot live out the gospel of Jesus in the neighbourhood if we are unwilling to move in with it’ 3).
It has been great to engage with you Maria.
Chris Mcleod
1) Stacy Johnson W 2003, ‘Reading the Scriptures faithfully in the Postmodern age’ The Art of reading Scripture, Davis, E.F & Hays R.B eds, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, Pp. 122- 24.
2) Taylor, S 2005, The Out of bounds Church, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Pp 106-109
3) Taylor, S 2005, The Out of bounds Church, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, P.144
LesleyH here, thank you for your responses to my blog, Maria. It is encouraging to know that you connect with it at a deep level reinforcing the frequent comments this week about the human need to connect expressed in post-modernity – and by modernity’s misfits - it gives me hope…thank you!
I really liked your reflection about the humanness of the text and the way in which the people we read about in the bible are ‘en-fleshed’, especially Jesus. For me, the way in which this was most evident was in Si Smith’s Interview on “40”. I’m not much of a comic strip fan. As an English language teacher, I’ve viewed comics as full of ungrammatical slang and minimal linguistic depth therefore an unsuitable avenue of communication. However, I’ve changed my mind! Si Smith’s “40” lead me into the humanity of Jesus in a way I’ve rarely experienced. In the interview, Smith talks about the way much of Church imagery is ‘very safe and bland’ portraying a ‘Westernised Christ’. Amen to that! I’ve just finished responding to Daniel Lee’s blog where he shares the challenges of connecting the text to his Korean congregation and I wondered if the “Westernisation” of the Church has something to do with that. You’ve raised a similar issue in your reflection when you say ‘… I am aware that this generation of youth see the world and communicate differently to me … if we don’t take notice and realise the significance of this we will miss the opportunity to engage with an entire generation.” Again I say Amen.
S Smith, Interview on “40” Emergingchurch.info Stories, February 2006,
http://emergingchurch.info/stories/40/index.htm
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