The Provocative 'Art of life'?

In Simon Schama's wonderful book 'The Power of Art' the abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko is quoted, critiquing the developing art world of his day and the lot of artists within it...

'When I was a younger man, art was a lonely thing. No galleries, no collectors... no critics. No money.

Yet it was a golden age. For we all had nothing to lose - and a vision to gain.

Today it is not quite the same. It is a time of verbage. Activity, and consumption.

Which condition is better for the world at large? I will not venture to discuss. But I do know that many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow.

We must all hope we find them.'

Not everyone connects with his art but his critique of the artistic millieu of his day would surely extend to society at large, including our own.

Like Rothko I reckon there are many people in our community yearning for opportunities, space to 'root and grow'.
As Rothko does, I can't help doubting that incessant activity and noise do not readily encourage 'pockets of silence'.
Yet I share Rothko's hope that we will encounter moments where we can 'be still and know'.

The challenge remains for us all individually and corporately for those who gather as church.

The challenge, as it was for the artistically provocative Rothko before us, is to discover how, amongst the hustle and bustle of 21st century living, to express distinct, yet viable alternative ways of living.

Love it or hate Rothko's work always produced a reaction, a response. Surely our lives must do likewise. After all, 'unless there is something about church, or Christians, or Christian faith that intrigues, provokes or entices, then all the evangelism in the world will fall on deaf ears. If churches cannot conyey a sense of ‘reality’ then all our ‘truth’ will count for nothing. Unless someone wants to hear, there’s no point in shouting louder. Churches need to become provocative, arresting places which make the searcher, the casual visitor, want to come back for more.' [Graham Tomlin, The Provocative Church]

Freedom for the captives?

At the moment, thanks to my friends at charliechikankata, I'm reading 'The Shackled Continent' - an enlightening if uncomfortable read. Recognising that Africa is the only continent to have grown poorer over the last three decades Robert Guest seeks to diagnose the sickness that conitnues to hobble Africa's development.

Geography, colonialism, poverty, AIDS and the prevelance of disease, power-thirsty tyrants, bad governance, poor aid, unfair, and iniquitous trade restrictions amongst other things are all examined and critiqued:

'[The] problem with blaming the legacy of colonialism for Africa's current woes is that it gives little clue as to how these woes could be ended. history, like geography, cannot be changed. Grieving for past wrongs is natural and human, but it can also provide an excuse for despair. If today's problems are the fault of the West, the obvious thing to do is demand that the West should solve them. The trouble with this approach is twofold. Firstly, today Westerners do not feel particularly guilty about the sins of dead people who happened to come from the same country. Secondly, efforts by rich countries to solve Africa's problems have, over the last few decades, been spectacularly unsuccessful. Put differently, countries that prosper tend to do so by their own efforts.'

Grieving for past wrongs is natural and human, but it can also provide an excuse for despair.

Having spent time in this wonderful continent and with many African friends I'm finding Guest's book a shockingly stark and painful book to read, but there are stories of hope as well. Uganda's success in curbing the spread of AIDS, Botswana's peaceful prosperity and the continent's economic engine, South Africa, avoiding a full-blown civil war.

Guest's own question is 'how can Africa keep pace with a world that won't slow down?'

[Funnily enough, as parents of two small boys who show no signs of 'slowing down' (or sleeping!) Lisa and I have been asking a similar question?!]

One to read

The Book Thief

Quality, quality book! For me, what some have labelled 'Harry Potter and the Holocaust' (don't be put off!), would happily sit alongside 'The Kite Runner' or Philip Roth's 'The Human Stain'. Beautifully crafted, it's a novel that constantly provokes the thoughts and stimulates the emotions.

Narrated by 'Death' it's a rather unique book that takes some getting into, but it's well worth the effort. As one reviwer put it 'it's a book that bestows a self-congratulatory glow upon anyone willing to grapple with it.' With an element of the fanciful it celebrates the power of language as it deplores human misery.

Unusual as the concept is, the book's narrator (death) seems sorry for what he has to do. "To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible," he confides, on one of many occasions when he campaigns to win the readers' approval. While on another occasion he says "You see?" when referring to the demise of one of the book's best-liked characters. "Even death has a heart."

Buy it, borrow it, or do what I did and get it out of the library - whatever you do, if you get the chance - read it!

Books from 2006

The American Presidents. McPherson, James M. (2004)
The Oxford History of Britain. Morgan, K. (2001)
Status Anxiety. De Botton, A (2005)
Long Way Round. McGregor, E (2005)
The First Casualty. Elton, B (2005)
Simply Christian. Wright, T (2006)
The Plot Against America . Roth, P (2004)
The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer, D (2001)
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God . Willard, D (1998)
The Architecture Of Happiness. De Botton, A (2006)
FriendshipFirst. Bell, S (2003)
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Bell, R. (2005)
The Constant Gardener. Le Carre, J. (2001)
Purpose-driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Warren, R. (2003)
Labyrinth. Mosse, K. (2005)
Making Sense of Church: Eavesdropping on Emerging Conversations About God, Community, and Culture Spencer Burke, Colleen Pepper (2003)
Servants Together: Salvationist Perspectives on Ministry. (2002)
Arthur & George. Barnes, J (2005)

Thought food

I recently came across a quote I'd scribbled down when reading up on Liberation Theology - it comes from the pen of Gustavo Gutierrez...

'...our quest (as followers of Jesus) should be driven by the human being who is not considered human by the present social order - the exploited classes, marginalized ethnic groups and despised cultures. The challenge is how to tell the the non-person that God is love'.

Characteristically challenging, Gutierrez rightly highlights the need for Christians and the alternative communities that we form to model the spiritually and socially inclusive message of Jesus. The question we surely have to ask ourselves is whether or not we are liberators of excluded people or simply another dimension of their oppression? We may not exclude tax-collectors or haemorrhaging women, but what about schizophrenics, divorcees, homosexuals, single people, one-parent families, drug users, transsexuals, or those struggling with their faith?'

We often make claims about possessing the 'truth' while ignoring Jesus' own words that the 'truth will set you free' (John 8:32).

Food for thought?

Perhaps he was right?!

A while back, when I was studying, I was chastised for ‘reading too much’. Now it’s fair to say that at the time, given the collegiate context, that I thought this a rather queer (in the old sense of the word!) charge to bring, a strange admonishment to make – I mean, when it comes to studying and learning, can you read too much? (another Tuesday night discussion point?!). But the other day at church, whisper it quietly(!), I began to wonder if he didn’t have a point - let me explain.

My ‘wonderment’ stemmed from when a friend of ours was about to embark on two years training for Salvation Army Officership and her husband was invited to share some words of ‘encouragement’. This he duly did by encouraging her ‘not to get bogged down in study, but to get bogged down in the One she studies’. In his own unique way he used Ecclesiastes 12:12 to emphasis his point:

‘Be warned… of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body’!

Too much reading? Perhaps he was right?!

Worth a read?

I recently received this promotional blurb from 614network.com:

'Every city has a group of troll-like rejected misfits. They are the
homeless, the prostitutes, the greedy, and the addicts. These are the
people on the fringe to whom churches close their doors, the ones you
move away from on the pew. They are the marginalized, rejected, and
forgotten cultural lepers who lurk outside your church. They are the
most unlikely prophets of all.

Trolls & Truth is the story of a local church of homeless people;
college students; middle-class Christians; some poor and some rich;
black, white, and brown; drunks; materialists; mentally ill; and
former inmates who meet beneath the noise of 18-wheelers and rushing
traffic under an interstate bridge in Waco, Texas. As they live out
biblical mandates across cultural barriers and institutional baggage,
they remind us that the gospel cannot be shaped by socially accepted
values and remain "good news." Through their testimonies they reveal
the mystery that such a diverse group without buildings and
traditional expectations are finding the power of the gospel in ways
that brings cultural validity to the skeptics and unbelieving world.
They have a wake-up call for the American church.

Transformation in the church must come. In new wineskins and perhaps
through the life of an old wino, our ecclesiology must be upended by
the "least of these," the hungry, imprisoned, sick, and stranger.
Intentional efforts in local congregations must be made to reconnect
the rich and the poor; the black, white, and brown; those educated in
the university; and those educated on the streets. Only then can we
wrestle with the values of the kingdom and learn the lessons that this
God of the little people wants us to know.'

I know only too well that you should rarely judge a book by its cover (or e-blurb?!) but 'Trolls and Truth: 14 Realities About the Church We
Don't Want to See' by Jimmy Dorrell might be worth a read.

'A set of lies agreed upon'

That's how Napoleon defined 'history' - and I guess he should've known!

But for whatever reason I'm into history at the moment. I've got two historical books on the go at the moment. One is taking me through the centuries of British history while the other, undoubtedly influenced by my prediliction for The West Wing, examines the 43 presidents 'who have shaped and led the most powerful nation on Earth.'

While the authors confess to a tendency towards the positive it does seem that the US has had it's fair share of good men, and men who say good things. I'm not sure which category Dwight D. Eisenhower (the 34th President) would find himslef, but here's something he said back in 1953:

'Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies... a theft from those who hunger and are not fed.'

I would've voted for him! I still would.

As Eisenhower predecessor (Mr Truman) once pointed out 'men and women make history and not the other way around'. I don't just want to read about it, I want to be a 'history-maker'.

Dangerous reading...

I've just started reading Ewan McGregor's account of his 20,000 mile motorcycled journey around the world 'Long Way Round'. It's dangerous because Lisa is convinced that it is not the kind of book I should be reading. Apparently I don't need any encouragement to 'fly-off and travel the world'!

Admittedly I have already chatted with friends about similar 'epic' journeys that could be journeyed, while my brother and I have started talking about a US road trip. But then, what's so good about the prospect of the open-road, unknown adventures and the realisation of dreams?!

I guess it depeneds how you're wired.