Technology, Church, and the Arts from a Bi-Vocational Pastor
It’s almost incomprehensible that the cosmic God of all things could allow evil to be inflicted upon others. As bombs explode, buildings crumble, seas rush in, or bullets tear through streets we ask questions of a God who seems disinterested and distant. We’ve been told that we’re exceptional in Gods eyes and have taken this to mean that evil will pass us over, but we know it does not.
Darkness marches forward violently confronting light everywhere. Continue reading “In Solidarity with Us” »
Hope is contingent on discontentment. Though every aspect of life attempts to content me. Telling me that if I just do X, achieve Y or buy Z then some/all of that discontent will be taken away. But what if we were called to live into our discontentment so that we might long for an audacious hope beyond reason, means, or reality.
To look back upon the gospels and realize that Jesus had the ability and means to render any outcome possible in any situation yet almost never did so. He preferred to allow people a glimpse of heaven breaking in and gave them a choice. To ruin your life with the hope that heaven will break into our midst but once more, or to seek contentment in the XYZ’s of life. To be ruined is irreversible, and places hope along side discontentment in the core of my spirit.
Have you been ruined for the next glimpse of heaven and the kingdom being made real before your eyes?
Photo Credit: steveberardi
Whenever SNL does a short it is going to be over the top satire. That is their style, and they have done a really good job with it over the last couple years. Last weekend they unveiled a new short (embedded below) called Djesus Unchained. It showed a vengeful Jesus who has raised from the dead, killing as many romans as possible.
The humor here comes from how opposite this stands from the peaceful and non-violent image the gospels give us, right up to his death. The most powerful image for be took place in the garden when Peter cut the ear off the solider, and Jesus healed the main to, in my understanding, get peter off the hook for his brash action.
Yet in this short, I see so much of what many of my Christian peers believe Jesus will be like when he returns. A man who is vengeful and full of blood lust. In this short it is easy to see how out of character it would be for God to act this way, and how it goes against so much of his own teaching.
Take 2 minutes to watch the short, and let me know what your thinking in the comments.
A hope abounds for those bound in fear, born from a love that chooses to dwell in the midst of fear and uncertainty. It is unknown to those who insist in the face of the mountain of life that they are capable and able to climb. It is unknown to those who suppress their knowledge of themselves. It is unknown to those who seek escape from the feeling that something is not right with the world, with their world.
There is a hope that exists for those who choose to rest in the chaos of their own soul. Discovering the peace that exists right beneath the waves, we find ourselves in the company of Jesus who likewise chose to be crushed and broken. To know him, and those like him who have willfully accepted the broken heart of God and find themselves with a heart breaking for more than before.
Our world tells us that a life without brokenness or pain is the goal. My experience with God tells me that the goal is to be true to every broken piece of glass that has pierced my being, allowing some to be tenderly removed while others stay painfully present. Those points of pain that remain become cherished intimate points where our heart knows God’s.
The world may never understand, and the beautiful thing is your soul and heart won’t care. What once felt like living beneath the waves is inexplicably transformed into resting tranquilly upon a mountainside. The secret is to dive in, and give yourself over to what God is doing in you.
Photo Credit: SergioTudela
Before we divulge or reveal something which pulses anxiety through our system we often prefixed by saying “Don’t judge me…” It’s interesting how quickly we devalue the other. Almost as if we assume they wouldn’t care to know us, so we do not even give them the opportunity to ask why we are quirky and believe something culturally unacceptable.
Instead we might say “Don’t hold it against me.” It implies that we expect the relationship to continue, to go deeper, and further. It acts almost as an invitation into my life to understand why I believe something you might have objection to. Often I think we really don’t want the discourse, and passively push others away because being well known is too hard – and far too risky.
Photo Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography
In light of the recent attack on an elementary school out east it struck me just how disruptive those events are for a community. It got me thinking of the staff of the school trying to communicate with the families and share important dates, times, and information with the broader community. One of the hardest pieces would be the hindered communication and access to data for the administrators. After events like that of last week, and natural disasters like hurricane sandy there is no access to the office, or any of the files/records stored there.
This is not a post trying to sell you on some software, but to encourage you to ensure that your data is accessible whenever/wherever you may need to access it. There are many solutions that are web-based like Fresh Vine that manage membership and communications, as well as other backup services that you can use to ensure that you always have access to your latest contact information for your congregation (dropbox, crashplan, google drive, and others). If you do not already have a system in place to ensure that all of your mission critical data is backed up off site please take some time this week to do so.
One of the most important things any community can do in times of distress is communicate clearly and directly with their members.
Please take sometime to ensure your community is prepared. It shouldn’t take more then 30 minutes to setup.
Photo Credit: Ty Nigh
One of the hardest truths to accept is that a monster exists within me. It’s difficult because this monster hibernates most of my life. Nearly every step I take is done in my right mind during sane moments. There are moments when the monster feels as though it doesn’t even exist. As my heart is wrenched with compassion or overflowing with love it becomes incomprehensible this beast is there, slumbering.
Yet there – dormant and waiting – is darkness and violence with me, within all of us. Its my ancestral baggage hidden and pressed down into the deepest and most obtuse corners of my being. The further down it is pressed the more refined I see myself, and the more I believe I have overcome the monster within me. At any moment the tables could turn, and a situation I find myself thrust into, awakens this monster I believed never existed.
When I see this monster let loose in others upon the world I must remind myself to be careful about that which slumbers within me, and all of us. Taking a moment to know that there is good in the face of evil and that there is space to forgive those overtaken by that which slumbers. I must remember that if my monster ever awakens there are people who excel at coaxing monsters back into hibernation, and in seeking help there is no shame.
The only shame is to lose ones self to hate, and that shame all too often turns to tragedy.
Photo Credit: FailedImitator
With the first sizable snowfall of the year we everything becomes muffled and silenced. The noise that normally ricochets off building and streets is brought to a stand still creating an eerie/foreign environment.
Theses serene moments remind me that life must be more about creating places and moments of solitude and rest. As I walked the streets in the midst of over a foot of snow falling from the sky I felt at peace. The regular distractions seemed distant in the quite of the falling snow. It made me wonder how we could use technology to quite our lives, instead of intruding into them.
Shouldn’t the best technologies dampen noise and fade into the background. With all the advancements in the last several decades I feel the opposite, and it worries my ascetic heart.
What does fresh snow fall make you think of?
My 300 words for why you need to engage on twitter + even the pope is doing it.
An interesting shift took place in the western church this past century. It is the same shift that pushed churches to the sidelines of culture and conversation in the west. We, as the leaders of the church, began to see our role more as protecting the flock than engaging the broader community (which is what I saw Jesus do in the scriptures).
With a few decades our institutions began to reflect this belief. Churches became elaborate campuses to serve ourselves from cradle to grave. This removed and disconnected us from the pulse of culture, and from the life of our neighborhoods and cities. Increasingly the church is seen as a relic of a bygone era – I believe because of this very shift.
I get it, the secularization of our communities is terrifying because of the spiritual implications for those around us. But our withdrawal says that we passively accept that God has nothing to offer modern society and culture. Jesus has a lot to offer, and longs to see the whole world transformed and reborn.
Now the Pope has joined twitter (Pontifex though at writing has not yet tweeted). This is important because it is a visible and symbolic step back into the stream that defines and makes our culture. Social media is the new town square – both global and local. You might not be participating, but they are choosing the YouTube videos you watch, the next big musician, and are even defining how the news you hear is told.
You may have your reasons for abstaining from social media, but it is the conversation of our day. Think twice before you write it off.
Oh, and incase the pope is reading this – “Hi there Benny 16!! Pray you’re doing well today”
The most influential conversations happen socially online. To abstain is to forgo any opportunity to inspire the transformation of creation.
Photo Credit: Charly Morlock
Any recommendations on how we should read the bible?
“A thousand things: Frequently and Throughly is the best answer. The bible was not written to be read in 10 verse chunks.” – N.T. Wright
Love how NT Wright articulates reading/thinking about scripture. It seems like we only know the bits of passages, and there is really power in reading whole books, and understanding the whole story of God in scripture.
The video is just over 7 minutes, and worth your time.
Paul Prins (M.Div) loves the Church and God's restoring work in the world. He is passionate about Gods Kingdom, the Church, technology and art. That passion leads him to write about those things here. He balances a life being a missionary, church planter, pastor, designer, engineer, and as president of Fresh Vine.
