Reckoning

If we've learned nothing else in the wake of the death of George Floyd last year, let us have learned to be more aware of discrepancies we used to turn a blind eye to.

For the sake of my own awareness, I've begun doing what I call audits, where I take a quick diversity check of the media I consume as well as the things I share.  Are minority voices represented?  Am I in an echo chamber that looks and sounds like me?  Of the voices I've chosen to amplify, is there relative balance in the number of cultures and demographics of people?

As I do an audit of this blog, it's painfully clear I've fallen short of my own standard.  Over the course of 10 Sundays I've written about exclusively white artists with the exception of one Asian-American dancer.  Those artists have spanned multiple cultures, as three were from Spain and one was from Russia, but is God's voice in the secular arts only found in white influences?  Of course not.  I just haven't been intentional in providing a wider cross section of artistic voices, and that's something I can change.

That's why I like doing this type of audit in my life - the solutions aren't unattainable, so long as we choose to be aware.  It takes intentionality, but all of us can do that.  Whether you are a teacher who chooses to do an audit of the readings and books and resources you use in your curriculum, or a retailer who audits the imagery in your store to see what faces are represented in your ads, this is work we can all take part in.

And this is Christ.  Do we doubt that he looked around a table of high-powered religious men and made a point to ask them where their servants were dining that evening?  Or why their wives weren't present?  Or did they invite that Samaritan they passed on the street to join them?  What about the eunuch, or the neighbor children?  Christ's message was clear: God's love can be found in the lives of all, and everyone should have a welcomed seat at the table.

"I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation He accepts those who show reverence to Him and do what is right." -Acts 10:34-35

So as I hold myself accountable to the standard of Christ, I ask you to hold me accountable as well.

Now to the art.  Last year in my community, a project initiated by our arts council and local theatre evolved into an artistic masterpiece which spanned the city.  Titled #ArtUnitesCBus (a local affectionate term for Columbus), this project invited visual artists to paint murals in support of Black lives, justice, unity, equality, resistance, and hope.  The result was stunning, and undeniably of God.

One piece which stood out to me was this one, by artist Francesca Miller:

This painting stopped me in my tracks.  The emotion seemed to radiate off of it and into the space around me.  To be honest I felt a bit voyeuristic looking at it, as though I was an interloper in a private moment of connection between God and this man.  A moment of pain.  A moment of freedom.  A moment of longing.  A moment of triumph.  Something so personal, yet simultaneously the connection I was witnessing was meant to be public, like a performance dance, drawing us onlookers into our own connection with God vicariously through the figure's own reach.  Sometimes when I look at this piece I notice the pain and struggle.  Sometimes I notice the triumph and exaltation.  Every time I notice God.

"... I stretch out, reaching for you, and daily add praise to praise." -Psalm 71:14 (The Message)

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God ... who will not grow tired or weary. ... those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." -Isaiah 40:28, 31

It's a powerful piece, given to the city during a powerful time of reckoning, which continues today.  I encourage whoever reads this blog now or in the future to take a look through more of the artwork from the #ArtUnitesCBus project, most of which has been archived.  Art has been a force for change throughout history, and this moment in time is no different.  The reckoning is needed.  The God I know is always in favor of a perspective revolution, especially when it brings us to self-awareness, honest humility, and unified love for those who are different from us:

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing ... I give each of you this warning: don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given you. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other." -Romans 12:2-5 (NLT)

Coming Together ...

If you're anything like me, your social media has been filled the past few days with people recalling where they were and what they were doing a year ago when their world suddenly ground to a halt due to COVID-19.

I remember in the first month of the pandemic's impact on U.S. shores, amidst the heartbreak and worry I continued to see news articles and images of people coming together in creative ways to let each other know they weren't alone, in spite of isolation, quarantine, and uncertainty.  These images stuck with me in a profound way in those early days.

At one point I had a vision of compiling them overtop of a particular song that ran through my head every time I saw them, into a video showing the hope and love that was sustaining people in communities across the country and world.  As with many plans during COVID times, finishing that creative project never happened for me.

Tonight, as I was considering the year anniversary of things in my world shutting down into isolation, and what I wanted to write here about God, those images came flooding back to mind.  So it seemed as good a time as any to finish compiling them into one place.

The video isn't anything special - it's the sort of thing that's been quickly thrown together at 11pm from fragments stuck in a folder since last spring.  But God doesn't need polish and perfection to be seen.

This is where God's been revealed to me throughout the past year.  In the people, the connections, the efforts made to show love and compassion and assistance and support during one of the most trying times of our collective lives.  These images may be a year old in some instances, but these moments are what carried us through, and are glimpses of something special ... something spiritual ... something Holy, here on Earth.

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." -Proverbs 17:17

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. [...] Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." -Galatians 6:2, 9 

Admitting Impediments

Throughout the first 7 months of COVID, Sir Patrick Stewart, the famed actor, shared personal readings of Shakespearean sonnets each day.  He started casually - sharing a single video in mid-March of 2020 reciting Sonnet 116, my personal favorite and apparently one he loves as well.  The response of those uplifted by watching it during the early days of quarantine and isolation prompted him to record another the following day, and continue with a sonnet a day until he'd read all 154 of them by October 2020.

Why does Sonnet 116 resonate with so many people?  Love is a universal topic, and we recognize in Shakespeare's words an ideal we both long for and aspire to.  It is, in truth, a description of what biblical love should be.  The type of love God gives freely but also demands we give others is exactly what this sonnet describes:

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove."

It doesn't change based on the actions of the other, or put conditions on itself based on the love of the other.

"O no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken."

It doesn't waver, even in the midst of difficulty or conflict. 

"It is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown although his height be taken."

It is steady, stable, so much so that it can be depended on as a guidepost for the lost, an invaluable beacon to return to.

"Love's not Time's fool; though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come."

It isn't based on temporary or superficial qualities in the one being loved.

"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom."

It is committed to the long haul; it's not going anywhere, come what may.

Each of these statements about love from Sonnet 116 are reiterated time and again in the Bible.  There is no greater call on humanity from God than to love:

"If I speak in the languages of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

It bears repeating - There is no greater call on humanity from God than to love.  For all the religious folks out in the world arguing theology, debating semantics, throwing scholarly articles at those they disagree with ... God says all that will cease, will be stilled, will pass away, and what will remain is the one thing that never fails - love.  Our every discussion, movement, and action must start and end with love or it is nothing.

I can't help but see how far off track Christians have gotten.  There are so many clanging cymbals and resounding gongs in the world right now.  So many trying to speak insight and wisdom but failing spectacularly because they haven't based any of it in love.  Sacrificing for ministries, giving time and energy, but not genuine biblical love.  How often have I heard a Christian claim harmful words as merely "tough love" ... yet that's not what we're called to.  Our love should be protecting, trusting, hoping - and that includes protecting our LGBTQ+ siblings, trusting our fellow humans of other races and backgrounds and cultures, hoping in the futures of those struggling with addiction, and so much more.

When I look at what we people of faith put out into the world as our example of love, I know we're falling short.  Luckily, God's love for us isn't the conditional kind ours so often is.  God's perfect love rises above our failings.  But how long will we receive this love while refusing it to those around us?  How long will we collectively continue to invest in prophecy and knowledge and ministry and work and even faith, without investing whole-heartedly in the only thing that matters?

Love may be the highest ideal people seek.  Our poets write of it, our musicians sing of it, our lives often revolve around the pursuit of it.  Let faith and sonnet-style love become so inextricably linked in our spiritual lives that they can't be separated.  Because of the two, God is clear: "The greatest of these is love". (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Can I Get An Amen

In my part of the world spring has temporarily sprung.  Now, I live in the midwest, where we notoriously experience false springs and second and third and fourth winters, and then head straight into horribly hot summer.  It's weird weather in these parts to be sure, but you'll notice a common theme with this post from 2014 - around the end of February, we often experience a much needed moment or two of beautiful spring!

This year more than ever, we've been cooped up over the winter months, staying safely at home to prevent the spread of COVID, but becoming increasingly bored and antsy as the days drag on.  So whether this spring-like weather is here to stay or only teasing us, it's a welcome reprieve to be able to head outdoors without a coat on and feel the tiniest bit of warmth on our faces.

Is it odd to say this time of year feels like church to me?  To be able to see the world coming back to life, people emerging from their home-cocoons, plants showing their heads again through patches of melted snow, fresh air coming in through an open window - my spirit changes, my soul starts to refill.

Church can be anywhere.  As Paul says in the midst of the passage of Acts which the God Remix blog in its entirety is inspired by:

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands [...] he is actually not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:24, 27

Find those moments and places that feel like church to you.  Whether you attend a physical church or not, those church-like moments in your spirit and soul are important.  We need to be filled, to be lifted, to sense that breath of peace and freedom that certain environments seem to imbue in the air around us.  This is finding God.  He is actually not far from each one of us.

When Music is More

The pandemic has given artistic creators an unexpected freedom to experiment and collaborate in unique ways.  The popularity of the song I'm sharing today has its roots in social media platform TikTok, which I am neither young enough nor cool enough to use proficiently if I'm honest, but luckily a friend shared it with me.  TikTok has become a creative gold mine lately, as people have shared and written music together in formats which never existed before.  For this particular song, debut songwriter Jonah Kagen shared pieces of his music and lyrics on TikTok and asked other users to fill in gaps he left with their lyrics, creating beautiful mini duets and building connections with an audience, before eventually sharing his own completed version of it.  Although the collaborative community and creativity of the duets is inspiring to see unfold, the version Jonah Kagen wrote himself is unmatched, and what I feel compelled to share here.

Any more of my words added to the power of this song will only serve to dilute it.  You may hear your own prayer in the lyrics, or the desperate heart of someone God's called you to love, or something else altogether.  I hear a memory of several intertwined times God asked me to be a voice of faith and love to those doubting their worth and value, at the end of what they could bear alone.

I hope only that you hear more than mere music.  God is found so many places beyond church.

If you or someone you know is struggling past what you or they can handle, reach out for help.  You are not alone.

Heart Full of Love

Once upon a time during a car ride with my Dad, a younger me complained about the prevalence of love in almost every song I heard on the radio.  It probably didn't help that at the time I listened almost exclusively to Oldies, Natalie Cole, and Elvis, all of which lean pretty heavily on love songs.  But it seemed to me that every song I heard was about love in some way, and as a child, it was annoying.

My Dad's wonderful response was to make me a mixed tape (yes, those were the days!) entirely of songs he found NOT about love.  It was fantastic, and it's where I first discovered the song The Streak, which became a childhood staple that still makes me laugh.  There are, to my childhood surprise, songs out there that do not talk about love!

But the reality is, love is a huge part of the human emotional experience, and so it is a common theme in music.  As I've grown, though, it's easy to see that love song lyrics are impossible for anyone to live up to.  The object of someone's love is often described with sweeping, all-encompassing phrases - they are described as absolute perfection.  And that's how we do see the ones we love at times, however unrealistic these idolized perceptions may be.  It's our emotion at the time of love, and music is our avenue for expressing it.

On the other hand, I know in my heart that the one thing all people have in common is that none of us actually are perfect.  It's the unifying trait of humanity.  In light of that, sometimes when I listen to the lyrics of certain love songs, my mind instinctively turns to the one experience I do have being loved by someone perfect - God.  Although likely not the intention of most of the songwriters, Bono aside, many popular artists write lyrics that describe God with incredible insight - because of those sweeping, all-encompassing descriptions of perfect love.

"... love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ... God is love." -1 John 4:7-8

Now please don't hear any of this as the cheesy stereotypical Christian anti-dating sentiment to which I have never subscribed - that we "date" God, and that romantic love is fulfilled by our relationship with God.  I personally find that mindset creepy.  As my sister happily tells everyone she knows, I have historically been a big fan of dating, and it's always been dates with people, not God.  I'm talking strictly about the idea of love, not romance.

With that in mind, on this Valentine's Day I'll share two love songs I (perhaps unexpectedly) hear God's perfection in.  Does every lyric fit?  No, of course not.  What we hear in a song is individual, just as love is.  My interpretation focuses on parts which speak to my heart, the lines that jump out to me as formative to whatever journey I'm on at the moment.  That's music for you.  Maybe you'll hear a reminder of God's perfect nature, maybe not.  But regardless, I hope you end your day with a heart full of love of some kind, whether romantic or spiritual or something else entirely.

"No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." -1 John 4:12, 16

**Word of caution for those offended by language or listening in the presence of kids: both songs use mild profanity - in choruses of the first song and the first line of the second song.**

"Never thought I'd be alright, 'til you came and changed my life.  What was cloudy now is clear, you're the light that I needed.  [...] You are there when I'm a mess, talk me down from every ledge.  Give me strength; you're the best.  You're the only one who's ever passed every test."

"You see everything, you see every part.  You see all my light and you love my dark.  [...] What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go.  [...] There's not anything to which you can't relate.  And you're still here."

Musings of a Snowflake

I needed a reminder of God's presence in the world around me today, and my mind drifted to photographs I saw years ago by then amateur photographer Alexey Kljatov* - extreme closeup macro photography of individual snowflakes:

photos: Alexey Kljatov

Snowflakes.  Their name has been a bit maligned in recent years, but can anyone doubt the incredible wonder that is a snowflake?  The intricacy of its design, the fleeting nature of its existence - each one so distinct we could spend hours getting to know its features, yet so fragile it could melt in an instant.  A better metaphor for human life is hard to find.

These photographs remind me of my favorite section of the psalms:

 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4)

We don't need a Bible, a preacher, a theology degree, or a Westernized language to see the glory of God.  Nature takes care of showing it to us all freely.

photos: Alexey Kljatov

Interestingly, a snowflake's power comes not from its captivating uniqueness, individuality, or fragility.  Those traits are impressive.  Breathtaking even.  They are what draw us in to the creativity and artistry of the one who's created them.  However, a snowflake's power comes in the magnitude of community - each of these tiny flakes joining with billions more, to form a snowfall that covers the entirety of a city.  Their fragility turned to undeniable might as they topple in unison, forming an avalanche.  Individually designed flakes functioning in community together is a phenomenon to be feared for sure, awe-inspiring and imposing and beyond the scope of what can be imagined when looking at a single flake.  A better metaphor for humanity may also be hard to find.

photos: Alexey Kljatov

It's a compelling parallel to consider, between snowflake and human life; snowfall and humanity.  We must acknowledge the immense range of possibility and collective impact which opens up when snowflakes, or people, join together in community.  At the same time, seeing only the magnitude of a tower of snow is not sufficient - we must look closer, at the distinct traits and highly detailed differences of the individuals, in order to fully appreciate the nature of a snowflake, and humankind.  Without either aspect, our understanding is incomplete.  But we can see God in both.

I personally bend toward the individualistic approach to life.  It's easy for me to see and value the personal characteristics which make someone unlike anyone else, and to find the beauty and brilliance of God there.  Perhaps this week I'll take some time to reflect on avalanches, and challenge my perspective on community.  But for today, I'm content to marvel at the macro photography level - to see God's nature in the unexpected intricacy of a single speck of snow.

"You formed my inward parts, You knitted me together ... I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well." (Psalm 139:13-14)

*[Click here to read the artist's own words describing his fascinating photography process in depth, and to see more amazing photos of the snowflakes he shoots.]