Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary | Tags: art, church, creativity, faith
Came across this great article today from Collide Magazine from an interview with Donald Miller. I agree with it, do you?
Donald Miller on Artists, Metaphor, and the Church
Scott McClellan – Originally posted Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Photo Credit: Jeremy Cowart Photography
I wrote a feature for our September/October 2009 issue called, “Donald Miller: Storyteller,” in which I discuss an interview I did with Miller and his new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In preparing for that interview (conducted at the end of March) I came across a talk Miller gave at Willow Creek’s arts conference, “Creativity and Art, Why You Matter as an Artist.” I was immediately intrigued by what Miller might have to say on the subject, so I asked him about the role of artists in the Church. That section of our conversation didn’t make it into the print article, but I felt compelled to share it with you. Though short, I hope you find it validating and thought-provoking.
COLLIDE: What is your view on the importance of the artist’s role in the Church?
Donald Miller: It’s complicated. I think I’m not convinced the gospel can be arrived at through rational thought. I don’t think much of anything can be arrived at through rational thought that’s of great import. And all of life is performance art. It’s God’s performance art to sort of make poetic grunts back at him and say, “I’m like light, I’m like love, I’m like sheep to shepherd, I’m like king to subject.” Those are dynamics that are created by Him in order to educate us about who He is.
And so God uses art to do that, and so I feel like the Christian artist, like the secular artist, has this opportunity to point to greater truths. And the gospel exists in a realm of greater truth than what we can arrive at with a calculator. Does that make sense?
COLLIDE: Yeah, absolutely. You rattled off a few metaphors there – sheep to shepherd – and it occurs to me that we reduced that to sermon illustrations like, We’re like a precocious kid in Sunday School who said this, and that’s metaphor in large pockets of the Church. But the artist really explores metaphor and narrative far beyond the spoken word.
Miller: Yeah, and if you look at the writings of Moses you have narrative, narrative, and then he breaks into parallelism. He breaks into ancient Hebrew poetry. Job is almost fully a poem. Song of Songs is an opera heavily influenced by Solomon who’s interested in the Orient. You have artwork through the whole thing. I think Revelation is pretty trippy. I don’t know that there are any bullet points in the whole book, are there? There may be a few in building the temple.
COLLIDE: Maybe “Six things the Lord detests,” something like that.
Miller: The Ten Commandments.
COLLIDE: The fruit of the Spirit, maybe. More the exception than the norm, certainly.
Miller: Yeah, exactly, and even the fruit of the Spirit is an artistic metaphor.
So there you have it. To dig deeper into the idea of metaphor in the Bible, I believe Eugene Peterson had some things to say along those lines in his book Eat This Book: The Art of Spiritual Reading. Also, be sure to check out Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. He doesn’t necessarily teach on metaphor, but the book is a brilliant example of its proper use. Finally, check out “Donald Miller: Storyteller” in the September/October 2009 issue of COLLIDE.
Scott McClellan is the editor of COLLIDE. Original Article is here
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary | Tags: basketball, biola, Calvary, church, faith, Family, friends, Leslie, life, politics, prayer, work
Life is happening so fast. I’m struggling to keep up. This should really be seven different posts, but I want to catalog all my thoughts from this week in one place.
Sunday – Struggled as two of my main tech guys were late for sound check. Struggled as a couple of important media elements had to be adjusted at the last second before the first service started. Jumped in to help serve communion after an amazing message by Brent Dedmon during second service. Got to celebrate my brother’s birthday over a great lunch that afternoon.
Monday – Did devotionals for a group at Calvary called God’s Housecare. They are a group of retired guys who get together each week and help clean the Worship Center. After cleaning they gather around coffee and donuts and hear from one of the pastors on staff. I talked about the sovereignty of God in light of the then upcoming elections. It was fun getting into of God and politics with guys older than my dad. They were surprisingly balanced and wise.
Tuesday – Heard from Dr. JP Moreland and Dr Klaus Issler from Talbot School of Theology. They met with Calvary’s pastors and directors to talk about things like modern-day miracles, gifts of the Spirit, prophetic words, the voice of God, demonic activity, spiritual warfare and the power of prayer. How do we avoid the trap of having a rational, limited and contained view of God that fits so neatly within our modern, Western, linear worldview, and instead carry out a faith as “empowered evangelicals” willing to take risks and be open to how God is moving in miraculous ways not just around the world – but also within our own church? Followed that faith-stirring time on a completely different note with an amazing time of Pizza, Wii and Rock Band with the whole staff. Made it home in time for my friend Marty the plumber to fix my leaking toilet. He’s a really good guy. Then, watched history unfold that evening as the results of the election were announced.
Wednesday – Packed up our stuff so our home could be tented for termites. It was strange to wrap up our food in plastic, hand over our keys to strangers, and trust that everything would be okay while they killed the bugs lurking in our walls. Had a really long day at work, full of meetings. But, it was fun to celebrate my good friend Tammy’s birthday with my communications staff during our regular Wednesday meeting. Leslie and I were able to check in to a brand new hotel that night, Worldmark by Wyndham in Anaheim. It’s a timeshare resort that my dad has points for. It’s only been open for a week. Strange to feel like a tourist in your own backyard.
Thursday – Took advantage of hotel living and used the fitness room in the morning. Had the place all to myself for the most part. Had a great time later that night with my sister and parents at Cheesecake Factory, which was right across the street from the hotel. They have a new pumpkin cheesecake – good thing I had worked out that morning.
Friday – Checked out of the hotel and went with Leslie for a surgery she needed to have done. The surgery went well, but as she woke up from the anesthesia she was hit with a massive migraine. Was able to get her home just in time for the gas guy to come by and reconnect our gas. He was able to fix a leak in our furnace and discovered a problem with the ventilation of our dryer that I was able to fix on my own. Two hugely dangerous problems solved. Got to head out that night with my friend Michael to Westwood to watch some hoops with our alma mater, the BIOLA Eagles, take on the Bruins of UCLA. We lost by about 30, but it was still fun to see Biola represent at Pauley Pavillion.
Saturday - Was woken up by a ringing telephone – that’s almost never a good thing. Leslie’s mom was in the emergency room. Turns out she had three heart attacks this week because of a clogged artery, but didn’t realize they were heart attacks. On our way to the hospital in Whittier I was pulled over for speeding and despite the plea of a medical emergency – the officer still took about five minutes and still gave me a ticket. I’m still not over that. Leslie’s mom seems to be doing better now with a couple stints inserted. They’re keeping her there for a couple nights to monitor everything.
That’s the week that was. It feels like with every blessing, comes a trial. It feels like the closer I am to God, the harder life gets. Or, is it the other way around? I can’t tell. I know that He is at work in both the seemingly ordinary and in the obviously extraordinary moments of life. I’ll keep believing and trusting and praising Him through it all. And even as I feel like I’m constantly falling short, I know that God is constantly lifting me up. Life is happening so fast. I hope I can keep up.
Our talented graphic designer at Calvary, Anna Gold, put this little invite together for an upcoming Office Party. I like that we’re able to have fun together as a staff. I think it’s so important for unity and morale and creativity and energy and so many other intangibles. We’ve been doing some sort of all-staff activity, both on and off campus, every other month or so for about the last year. I’ve seen how much it really does bring everyone together, across age and gender and even department lines.
Do you do anything similar at your work or in your church? Or, are we just crazy? Or, are you jealous because our work is funner than your work? Or, do you think it’s just a big waste of time?
I went to the wedding of one of Leslie’s cousins today at Ocean View Baptist Church in San Pedro. It was the smallest sanctuary I’ve seen that had eight moving head lights installed. Very interesting. They also had all three of the church’s pastors help officiate the ceremony. It was weird to find out that Leslie’s cousin Julie’s roommate, who was the maid of honor, was a girl I knew in high school. I hardly knew any of Leslie’s family, but I knew the maid of honor… small world. Oh yeah, and my mother-in-law played piano for the ceremony. She’s a talented woman.
The reception was in a backyard garden way up in the hills of San Pedro. They had a full stage, dance floor, great food, and lots of family and friends. The moment that made it all worth it for me was when the father of the groom gave a toast. He was using a metaphor of how he had seen a seed of faith planted in his son David’s life that had now grown to be a healthy, 30-foot tree. He was really looking forward to someday when he could look at his son as a giant sequoia. And of course… to complete the metaphor that meant his new wife Julie was like the perfect fertilizer who would help him grow. Really, that’s exactly what he said. It was an awesomely awkward moment.
Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: Calvary, church, communications, creativity, friends, work, worship
Once a month, a bunch of us from Calvary get together off campus to brainstorm what we’re going to do each Sunday for our alternative worship service called Elevation. We’ve been doing this for almost 3 years now.
We just had our most recent meeting on Thursday, where we covered the rest of our current series on Nehemiah, and our Christmas series on Luke 2:21-38 called “Heaven Came Down.” I’m really excited about how our Nehemiah series is coming together and I’m equally looking forward to the unique take on Christmas, focusing on the characters of Simeon and Anna.
These meetings are always a good mixture of spiritual insight, creative juices and just plain fun. I felt extra sarcastic for some reason on Thursday, but I really do love these times and especially all these people pictured below.
After lunch, we began looking way ahead to 2009 and a series we’re going to do on the parables of Jesus. As a creative and fun experience, my communication team and I led everyone on a sheep hunt where we reenacted the parable of the lost sheep. It was over way too quick and it was mostly just a silly excuse to get everyone outside for a group photo.
The only downside of the meeting is I think someone was there who made me sick. I started feeling bad that afternoon and it’s only gotten worse. Here’s hoping I can make it through the weekend. I can’t afford to be out of commission.
Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: Calvary, cars, church, communications, concerts, faith, life, marketing, money, travel, vacation, work
I’ve been dealing with money issues lately. Hasn’t everybody?
For me, it’s been this insatiable desire for stuff. We stayed at this old hotel in Reedley, CA that had all this cool, antique furniture. What got me though was the high-def TV in our room. On the drive back from the Sequoias, we stopped in at Circuit City in Bakersfield and I was seriously tempted to just buy a huge TV on the spur of the moment. Even after experiencing all of the beauty of God’s creation and spending a week getting to know some amazing people on a deeper level – all I really wanted in that moment was a great, big TV.
Then on Saturday, we met up with Leslie’s family at a classic car show in San Pedro with these amazing old cars and bikes. I left wanting to get a 1932 Model A hot rod truck, dropped and chopped with a big, exposed engine and white-wall tires. We then met up with my brother and his family at the OC Auto Show, where we also got to see a free Sugar Ray show. I left wanting about a dozen cars, but if forced to choose – I would settle for a 2009 Challenger.
On Sunday, I spent time in the afternoon looking online at new digital cameras after all the glitches we’ve been having with our old one. I could feel my lust for stuff spiraling out of control.
My money issues escalated today as I spent most of the afternoon working through budget numbers at work. The budget I’m in charge of for communications and creative arts is $100,000.00. That’s a small percentage of the church’s total budget, but it still represents the donations of thousands of people. It’s an awesome responsibility that I don’t take lightly.
The irony of it all hit me when I came home tonight to get a letter in the mail regarding our property tax that states that our home is now worth nearly $100,000.00 less than what we agreed to pay for it a mere 2 1/2 years ago.
In the midst of the current financial crisis the nation is experiencing, I can’t help but think that the root of it all is a priority crisis. I fee like I need to go on a spending fast and make sure my priorities are in the right place. I need to figure out if I really do believe that it all belongs to God. Not just the budget at work, but my own budget at home. My prayer is that I would be a good steward of whatever God decides to entrust to me and not get caught up in the constant striving for stuff.
Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: blog, Calvary, church, leadership, production, travel, work
This week has been really full. I’ve been at work until way past usual almost every day. There has been a lot to get done and there never seems to be enough time to do it all.
Looking back over the last few days, I can see some big things checked off a still growing to-do list. I finished most of the design work for our big fall outreach at Calvary called Light the Night. Went to the LifeGroup leader training – still not sure if I want to be a leader, but I’m at least still interested in it. Had a 6 hour long, off-campus planning day for our new series on Nehemiah. I think this could be one of the best series we’ve ever gone through as a church. I hope all the good ideas translate into real moments of inspiration and life change for the people who attend each week.
I was also invited to my first ever church elder meeting to participate in the presentation of our campus development plan. It went amazingly well. I was personally so encouraged that night by both our elder chairman and our architect, who at different times gave me compliments and affirmation that meant more to me than they could imagine. I think I really needed that sort of encouragement in the middle of this insanely full week.
To top it off, I leave before the sun comes up tomorrow for a conference called GodBlogCon in Vegas, which is dubbed as “a gathering of Christians to advance the kingdom through blogging and internet technologies.” I’m hoping to get some new ideas and insights into how I can use the web for more than I am now. I’m also really looking forward to just hanging out with the other guys I’m going with – Jason Loftis, Tim McMahan and Michael Welles (who needs to start a blog about all of his world travels).
The only big downside is that I’ll be out of town Sunday, so I’ll miss this Sunday’s services (which I think should be extraordinary) as well as the LifeGroup leader vision rally that afternoon (which could be amazing as well).
Sometimes, there just seems to be too much good stuff to fit into a very limited amount of time. Time really is one of our most precious resources. I pray that I can be a good steward of what time I do have.
While the weekend started pretty well with the Counting Crows concert, it ended up being a bit of a bummer. UCLA lost huge. Last week against Tennessee they showed some sign of being legit. This week against BYU they showed signs of being a joke. One of my fellow Calvary pastors, Matt Doan, wrote a great post about UCLA football here. Then, I watched the Chargers melt down and lose in the closing seconds (due in large part to 2 terrible calls by the refs).
Sandwiched in between those two horrible games was a pretty good Sunday morning. We heard from a special guest speaker, Bob Vernon. He was the assistant chief of police for the LAPD and now runs the Pointman Leadership Institute. Overall, he just had great stories and mixed into them some good insights on leadership. Also, lunch with friends after church and dinner with the fam later that night were both really good.
Later that night, Calvary hosted it’s first (and I’m predicting last) Comedy Show. The format is best described as a live skit show with video roll-ins and a live band. I went home that night and watched the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on TiVo. I guess the two shows really do have a lot in common – both are almost 2 hours long and only manage to produce about 20 minutes of decent material. I’ve always thought I have a good sense of humor, but maybe I’m turning into a grumpy old man. Apparently Eric thought it was alright. I’m looking forward to what others on staff have to say about it. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for good, clean humor after two of my favorite teams lost…
Filed under: Extraordinary Life | Tags: Calvary, church, concerts, friends, life, work
This week I had three distinct moments that blew me away.
On Wednesday, I went over to Saddleback Church with Michael Welles to check out their new student center, dubbed The Refinery. This thing had a big Wow Factor. It’s 40,000 sq feet with 2 state-of-the-art auditoriums, indoor basketball courts, outdoor skate park, baptism area with waterfall, and 2 restaurant areas. It’s completely themed out. Every square inch is thoughtfully and creatively designed to communicate part of their larger vision.
The kicker – it cost around $20 million dollars. I think that as long as real life transformation is occuring and this place acts as a catalyst for growth in student’s lives, then it’s a good thing right? Is it excess spent at entertaining ourselves and blessing the already blessed? Or, is it creativity, excellence and relevance that speaks the truth and love of God above the rest of the competing noise in our OC culture? Is this an essential way to reach these students, who almost in spite of their prosperity, so desperately need the simple message that Jesus came to offer?
Then on Thursday, we got to go as a Calvary staff for a day away to a little demo park they’ve set up on the old El Toro Marine Base. Someday, this will be the site of the Great Park. For now, it’s a little patch of grass and trees next to a stinky mulch pile with a stage set up for weekend concerts. We loaded up onto two sweet, Woodie-style tour buses that a couple from Calvary operate (Brooke and her husband Tom).
The Wow Factor came from the giant orange balloon that takes you 400 feet up in the air. We used this as an opportunity to think about how we’re reaching Orange County as a church and to pray for our community and our nation on 9/11. On a side note – I had two revelations that day – we have an amazing staff and I’m pretty good at boccie ball.
Finally, Leslie and I got to go out last night with my brother and his wife to see Augustana, The Counting Crows and Maroon 5 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (aka Irvine Meadows).
The real Wow Factor moment came when The Counting Crows asked Augustana back ot the stage to join them for a mid-concert encore before Maroon 5 came out. It was a giant jam band that sounded so good together. At one point, during Rain King, I had chills running up my arms. It was such a cool moment of the night. After that, Maroon 5 had a really hard time keeping the crowd engaged as they kept referring to being “back in Los Angeles,” which is an obvious gaff when you’re in the middle of Orange County. They just seemed a little lame compared to the genuinely amazing moments that Adam Duritz created on stage. From now on, when someone asks me “who is your favorite band?” – I’m including the Counting Crows.
What people, places or events in your life have wowed you lately? What things have made the ordinary into something extraordinary?
So, Victor over at his blog thewonderfulnoise.com wrote about what distracts him in worship and referenced the video below. What’s amazing is that it was produced in 2007 and the production value is really pretty good. It’s also apparently from some sort of cult, so that explains a lot.
That lead me to this video, which is one of the coolest/funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. The moves, the lyrics, the tune – all awesome.
I’m thinking we should start incorporating some of these moves into our worship time at Calvary. What do you think?
