God spoke again to me tonight, it was a wonderful experience. I heard God vivdly again. Interestingly, I always hear Him in the most unexpected way, oh yes, almost always like this. I hear Him in a radio while a song is being sung, I see Him in the newspaper through an everyday article, but moslty I see and hear Him while watching a movie or a DVD. I saw and heard Him while watching Batman, or any weird movies you can think of. I heard Him while listening to a Rap Music or a movie soundtrack, and I found peace and comfort while wathching movies that made me cry like a baby, yeah yeah, I cried not just because what I saw was good and heartwarming but because I saw God in the colorful or dark stories everyday people, yes, everyday ordinary people who experienced pain and confusion that resulted in a miracle through their music, poetry, paintings, movies and tonight God spoke to me in an art form and I love it. Embracing humanity and life is what's making me "spiritual again." The Spirit working in me and through me and talking to me in the form of an art.
God spoke to me again tonight, and this time while watching the movie "August Rush" as I said I cried not just because of the wonderful story but because I was enlightened, I heard Him speak through the musical score of the movie, the music that was being played through different instruments, I heard Him in different ways a normal person won't hear, in this world that's full of distraction and noise, we always forget how to be still and be quiet to hear what He has to say. Again, I just look but don't see, but this time, I saw. I felt the frustration, the pain and the hurt for some reason inexplicable reason because of my continuous searching and longing of my purpose here on this earth. Ive been praying to God to let me see and hear again, and thank God I felt it again. It was wonderful, inexplicable, unbelievable. I saw FAITH, HOPE and LOVE forming in my head as a wonderful painting, an enchanting music, a soothing poetry and the world I see, is my canvass. I'm now ready to change the world, I am refreshed, rejuvenated, energized and again, I saw it, I heard it. He made me see it thru the movie "August Rush." cant wait to see more of Him through the arts. It is where I hear Him deeply the most, but this time, tonight, through the movie "August Rush"
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Barbaric Christianity with a new song and a new culture
Creating the New Culture
We have to escape "civilized" Christianity and become original, powerful, untamed Christians-just as Jesus intended.
In an episode of "King of the Hill," Hank's son Bobby joins a Christian rock band, his dad weighs in with this critique. "Can't you see, you're not making Christianity better, you're just making rock ‘n' roll worse?"
The comment reminds me of Frankie Schaeffer's scathing critique of evangelicals & art delivered a few years ago in his book descriptively titled, "Addicted to Mediocrity."
One could argue that the evangelical entertainment sub-culture has improved since then, but one could not argue that it is qualitatively superior to the art
produced by the broader culture, and most would agree that it is generally derivative and imitative of American pop culture.
This is a problem, because for centuries Christians were known for their intellectual, artistic and spiritual contributions to society.
T.S. Eliot once said, "No culture has appeared or developed except together with a religion: according to the point of view of the observer, the culture will appear to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture."
If we agree that we ought to create the culture not be a creation of it, how can we rekindle a renaissance of Christian contributions to culture?
1. Aspire to produce artists who are deeply talented & Christian, not Christian artists. C. S. Lewis famously quipped that we don't need Christian writers, we need great writers who are Christian.
2. Produce good art, not just religious art. Christian artists are not limited to creating “religious art, our exploration of everyday human occurrences can be gilded by our faith walk.
3. Strive for the spiritual, intelligent, and inventive. Art flowing from a gifted artist of deep faith should minimally reflect the spiritual, intelligent, creative image of God. Artist Mako Fujimura observes, “I believe that true, Christ-filled expression results in more diversity than what Christ-suppressing expression would allow. The more we center ourselves in Christ, the freer we are to explore new arenas of expression.”
4. Lead, don't follow. If today's art is spiritually, intellectually, and creatively bankrupt, why would we aspire to meet its standard? To lead artistically takes courage and requires contributing to new directions in your artistic medium, to expand the parameters, to innovate in form and style.
5. Play “real good,” for free, if need be.
Find the line between responsibility and selling out, and don't cross it.
It takes courage to be an artist of integrity in a dumbed-down, superficial, commercially driven pop faith, pop culture age--but we've got to do it.
6. Make art, don't just appropriate art. In its quest for relevance, Christians often use movie and song clips to build bridges of communication to the broader culture. This is OK, but it is vastly inferior to making brilliant original art.
7. Demand better art. Too many people who profess to know the living God are lemming-like consumers of the impoverished offerings of today's bankrupt culture. If we eat a steady diet of drivel, the culture will keep making and serving it and so will the Christian sub-culture.
Michelangelo, when asked to be critical of the art of his day quipped, "My art is my critique!"
The best remedy for the spiritually, intellectually and creatively insipid art produced by today's culture is to produce superior work--
It's time to create a richer culture! Let's change the world. from D.S
http://www.facebook.com/jayjaylizarondo?v=app_2347471856&ref=profile#!/note.php?note_id=351294269698
We have to escape "civilized" Christianity and become original, powerful, untamed Christians-just as Jesus intended.
In an episode of "King of the Hill," Hank's son Bobby joins a Christian rock band, his dad weighs in with this critique. "Can't you see, you're not making Christianity better, you're just making rock ‘n' roll worse?"
The comment reminds me of Frankie Schaeffer's scathing critique of evangelicals & art delivered a few years ago in his book descriptively titled, "Addicted to Mediocrity."
One could argue that the evangelical entertainment sub-culture has improved since then, but one could not argue that it is qualitatively superior to the art
produced by the broader culture, and most would agree that it is generally derivative and imitative of American pop culture.
This is a problem, because for centuries Christians were known for their intellectual, artistic and spiritual contributions to society.
T.S. Eliot once said, "No culture has appeared or developed except together with a religion: according to the point of view of the observer, the culture will appear to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture."
If we agree that we ought to create the culture not be a creation of it, how can we rekindle a renaissance of Christian contributions to culture?
1. Aspire to produce artists who are deeply talented & Christian, not Christian artists. C. S. Lewis famously quipped that we don't need Christian writers, we need great writers who are Christian.
2. Produce good art, not just religious art. Christian artists are not limited to creating “religious art, our exploration of everyday human occurrences can be gilded by our faith walk.
3. Strive for the spiritual, intelligent, and inventive. Art flowing from a gifted artist of deep faith should minimally reflect the spiritual, intelligent, creative image of God. Artist Mako Fujimura observes, “I believe that true, Christ-filled expression results in more diversity than what Christ-suppressing expression would allow. The more we center ourselves in Christ, the freer we are to explore new arenas of expression.”
4. Lead, don't follow. If today's art is spiritually, intellectually, and creatively bankrupt, why would we aspire to meet its standard? To lead artistically takes courage and requires contributing to new directions in your artistic medium, to expand the parameters, to innovate in form and style.
5. Play “real good,” for free, if need be.
Find the line between responsibility and selling out, and don't cross it.
It takes courage to be an artist of integrity in a dumbed-down, superficial, commercially driven pop faith, pop culture age--but we've got to do it.
6. Make art, don't just appropriate art. In its quest for relevance, Christians often use movie and song clips to build bridges of communication to the broader culture. This is OK, but it is vastly inferior to making brilliant original art.
7. Demand better art. Too many people who profess to know the living God are lemming-like consumers of the impoverished offerings of today's bankrupt culture. If we eat a steady diet of drivel, the culture will keep making and serving it and so will the Christian sub-culture.
Michelangelo, when asked to be critical of the art of his day quipped, "My art is my critique!"
The best remedy for the spiritually, intellectually and creatively insipid art produced by today's culture is to produce superior work--
It's time to create a richer culture! Let's change the world. from D.S
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