On Independence Day this year, I celebrated the fact that our country has risen from a rag-tag bunch of subservient colonies, settled to provide wealth for European dictators, to the beacon of freedom and democracy for the entire world. We are so independent that we decided to stop learning, and instead have subjugated ourselves to Indian tech-support.
When your film is on the screen for the first time in front of a packed house, the audience becomes a living, breathing organism. You hear every cough, every breath, every snicker, every cry. Just like the boy pouring his heart out for the girl, the artist pouring his heart out for the audience is completely aware of every bat of an eye and every uncomfortable twitch.
Failure is a wonderful thing. I used to hate it so much. I used to hate being a failure. But recently I learned that there is a huge difference between failing and being a failure. Everybody fails, but that doesn’t make you a failure. The decision to identify yourself by your failures is yours alone. You can choose to be a person who fails, as every honest person is, or you can choose to be a failure. It’s up to you.
So, between early morning walkings, feedings, and just the non-stop demand for attention, I find it quite difficult to blog. It makes me wonder what I’ll be like when we have a human puppy, commonly referred to as a “baby”. I have no idea how a parent would ever get anything done. I mean, he’s just a little dog for goodness sake, and I feel like I have no time.
The problem with this practice is that the goal should not be to remove our neighbors sin, but to introduce them to Jesus. Jesus through his Spirit will take care of the sin. It is this desire to get rid of the sin and get people in the Bubble that drives many modern Christian’s evangelical efforts. We want Jesus to make them like us, with out political ideologies and fashion sense. Jesus wants to make them like Him.
And there’s the word. Evangelical. It is a useful term in that it seperates the “cultural Christians”, i.e. those Christians who are mainly Christian “by birth”, from the Christians who have an active, relational faith. I think the latest survey shows that many cultural Christians whose only connection to the church was through family are now becoming bold enough to check the “none” box. As the next generation grows up with even less of a sentimental connection to the faith of their parents, it can be expected that the “none” field is going to get even bigger.
Christians are people. They’re human beings with flaws, bad childhood experiences, broken hearts, empty dreams, and this nasty need to take care of themselves above all else. Everybody on the planet has this problem. If you got to know enough of your favorite hero’s friends and family, they may not be your hero anymore. In fact, the Bible says this about our race. We have all fallen short. We all continue to fall short.
I have a good friend — a songwriter — who hates everything American Idol stands for, and he is ashamed of me for watching. I don’t blame him. I am ashamed of me. But it is a guilty pleasure. Unfortunately, it is a guilty pleasure that steals hours of my life from me.
But I have another idea that makes this whole endeavor worth it. It has to do with the times I have spent before great art, and it has to do with us being made in His image. Even if someone is not an artist, they can appreciate it. They can let it bring beauty to their life, they can let it challenge them, and they can use it to help them understand their own condition. I really hope that something I say here helps someone, maybe a couple of people, have a conversation about art, because I feel that it is so often put on the backburner.
Simply put, “a work of art has a value in itself”. Art doesn’t have to be anything else but art. It doesn’t have to be social commentary, decoration, an evangelism tool, utilitarian, practical, or a part of some sort of marketing and communications campaign. That’s not to say that art can’t be used in these ways, but art does not have to have one of these “uses” to be good art. Art can exist simply for the sake of art.
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Matthew and Lizi The Meaning of It All "Soulful vocals and heartfelt songwriting"  |
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Andy Melvin The Human Engine Waits "Catchy and exquisite, energetic and mellow" |
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Peter Nevland Just My Mouth "Laugh, and then cry. Smile big" |
