Sunday, September 18, 2005

Art

There are times when I'm seized by a beauty I wish God would teach me to express. I want to take hold of the alchemy that happens when I look at a painting or watch a film. I wish I could bottle it up and use it to make what's in me tangible to others. I want to be a storyteller. I want to be a poet. I want to be an artist. I want to show others the mystery of God that sometimes fills my heart to bursting with love, sometimes convicts when I'm not what I should be, but always reconciles with a will that doesn't quit.

Just read The Last Word and the Word After That. I really need to stop reading Brian McLaren books in one sitting. I am filled with the startling idea that perhaps no one can outwill God. He will win the staring contest. The intensity with which Paul writes about how nothing can separate us from the love of God fills me at this moment. I only wish I could express what he does. I want to make a movie. I want to sculpt. All I can do is write, and even this is hopelessly me-centered.

I want to tell a story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have read that book. I dont agree with it one hundred percent, but think he does a good job of wrestling with the questions.

Anonymous said...

I haven't really finished processing it to decide whether I agree or not. I do think the version of Christianity we've inherited is unhealthily focused on the afterlife. I think it's very important, mind, and I trust Jesus when he says he's got our lodging covered. But I think boiling the Gospel down to "Check this box if you agree to the above statement, and you won't go to hell" is not what Jesus intended.