Art to Change the World

Well I missed Earth Day, but it is never too late to enter into the spirit of going green. Here are some powerful images by Chris Jordan that relate to the statistics of consumption & help us to recognize the extent of the problem.

This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410,000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

The series begins with an image of 1 million plastic cups – the number used on US airlines every 6 hours.

View the rest of the series here, and thanks to Anneke Geel for making me aware of this

Advertisement

Pentecost

A number of people have asked me about the pentecost icon I used in a previous post. It is a contemporary Coptic icon. The best collection of pentecost art I have found is at Biblical-Art.com Here are some of my favourites.

Pentecost – soichi

Pentecost – Giotti

Mexican icon

Mildorfer – pentecost

Back From Down Under

Tom & I arrived back from Australia on Saturday. At least my body is back but for some reason I still feel as though my mind is only halfway across the Pacific. It is great to return to spring time in the Pacific Northwest. The daffodils are still out and the tulips and flowering trees are bursting into bloom. I must confess however that I am a little overwhelmed by the 80 tomato plants that are rapidly taking over my front porch. Wish i could send some to my friends scattered around the world.

We had a great trip (more of that later when the cotton wool gets out of my brain) and much has happened while we were away. The Other Journal published my article on Why We Live In Community. Here is a brief exerpt.

At the core of our small Mustard Seed House community and of its parent organization Mustard Seed Associates, is our belief in this wild hope of the resurrection and our vision of God’s eternal world as a place in which all of creation is restored and made whole. Through the redemptive work of Christ, one day together with sisters and brothers of every culture, from every age we believe we will be made whole and live together in the love, joy, and mutual concern for God’s original creation. Read the entire article

I also have an article published in the British magazine The Bible in Transmission. This one is entitled Living Into God’s Shalom World

The spiritual rhythms we need for healthy living have been severely disrupted and we haven’t even noticed: ‘Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.’ Read the entire article

It looks as though someone was busy while I was gone.

Last Day In Australia

Today is our last day in Australia. Tom is finishing off a visit to Perth and I am in Sydney with my family. Tom was interviewed on Perth radio a couple of days ago. You can listen to the interview here

I am sitting with my family watching the Anzac Day Parade – the Australian equivalent of Memorial Day. The day particularly commemorates the landing at Gallipoli on April 26th 1915. The highlight will be the dawn ceremony later today (at least here in Australia) at Gallipoli Bay in Turkey where 250,000 Australian and New Zealand troops were killed or wounded during the First World War. Turkey lost 87,00 men. The emphasis is on reconciliation and understanding – very moving. This has become a place of pilgrimage for many young Australians – a recognition of the need for peace not war. Here are some photos from the 2005 ceremony commemorating 90 years since the troops landed

New Zealand and Australian Flags

After the drought

I am sitting in Sydney at my brother’s place with the rain falling outside.  Tom & I have just returned from a wonderful week in Melbourne where we  were able to catch up on old friends and make some new ones as well.

I loved the Forge festival with Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi), Sally Morgenthaler, Mike Frost, Ray Simpson and others where 400 plus people gathered with lots of creative energy & discussion.  We had a particularly good discussion on co-housing.  There are many here in Australia that are looking for alternatives to the single family detached home.  (more on this later).

We have beed kept moving from meetings with the Evangelical Alliance to World Vision as well as catching up on friends Ev & gary Heard & Rob & Lois Kilpatrick.  We also visited one of the only 2 Baptist monasteries in the world – yes Baptist – complete with robes, incense and icons.  It was a very rich experience – wonderful hospitality and conversation that nourished our souls.

Wednesday we drove back to Sydney through a dry but beautiful Australia.  Scary to see the continuing results of 10 years of drought and wonder about the future of our plant in light of such problems.  Tom flies to Perth next Tuesday but I will be staying in Sydney to spend time with my family.   Wonderful to be back with them after 2 years away.  One of the struggles for all of us in this highly mobile society is how to stay connected to those we love.  Home is where the heart is they say but my heart is spread around the world

Reconnecting

Yesterday we drove from Sydney to Melbourne, a drive I have not done for 30 years.  There is something very special about reconnecting to one’s roots and I am feeling quite energized as a result.  The beauty of sunset skies behind a hill studded with snow gums is breathtaking.  More than anything I am enjoying the birds – galahs, cockatoos and lorikeets are everywhere.

Today we start our busy time in Melbourne – a meeting with the Evangelical Alliance this morning and then on to Forge this evening.  We are looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.

Don’t Trade Lives

Tom and I have just returned from a very challenging breakfast talk by David Batsone who is in Australia to promote his book Not For Sale. Seems strange that we travel half way around the world to be challenged by someone who lives in San Francisco. His book is about modern day slavery and the need for us to as Christians to redeem the lives of people who have been sold in this way. I think what shook me the most was his stories of church pastors in the US and elsewhere who buy slaves to work for them.

Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia began the morning by showing a very compelling video shot on a recent trip to Africa called the Gate of No Return. World Vision Australia is very active in advocacy against slavery. Their current focus is the production of cocoa which is mainly produced by kids in slavery.

I was particularly challenged by the call for us to be redemption people – not just bringing the message of Christ to a small spiritual compartment of life but truly reaching out to bring redemption to those that are bound physically or spiritually.

Prayer For the Journey

Well, lift off time is only a couple of hours away and this seemed an appropriate time to share a Celtic journey prayer. Celtic Christians often set off on journeys or perigrinatio sometimes with no specific destination in mind. they believed that every journey was an opportunity to walk with God and for God to walk with them. The destination did not matter because the journey was an inner journey of discovery to discover Christ in new aspects of life. They viewed themselves as guests of the world. Every experience encountered or activity undertaken was an opportunity to meet or to represent Christ. Here is one of my favourite journey prayers. Of course the most famous journeyer of all was Brendan who many believe discovered America.

God be with thee in every pass

Jesus be with thee on every hill,

Sprit be with thee on every stream,

Headland and ridge and lawn

Each sea and land, each moor and meadow,

Each lying down, each rising up,

In the trough of the waves, on the crest of the billows,

Each step of the journey thou goest

Miles to Go Before We Sleep

Tomorrow we head off for Australia where Tom will be busy promoting his new book The New Conspirators and I will have a chance to spend time with my family.  April is not a good time for me to be away – not because of the work that will pile up while I am gone but rather because this is prime planting time in the garde and spring will wait for no one.  Even though the days are rather chilly I have been madly planting – cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbages, greens & onions in the garden (with much able help from the Mustard Seed House community) and transplanting tomatoes inside – at least 80 little plants are gracing our indoor front porch at the moment.  By the time we get it will look like a tropical jungle.  Thank God we live in community or they would all be dead by the end of April.

Pentecost is Coming

The day of Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. I wanted to get in early with this because I have some suggestions on things to do at the end that you might like to think about as some of them need some preparation.

As the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples the barriers of language and culture were broken down. This festival draws us beyond the resurrection to remind us that through the coming of the Holy Spirit we become part of a transnational community from every nation, culture and social strata. At Pentecost we are reminded that this kingdom of God community is one in which, in spite of our cultural differences through the power of the Spirit, ours eyes are opened so that we can appreciate and understand each other. This community embraces rich and poor, male and female, slave and free. This kingdom of God community is a place in which we treat each other as equals, with mutual love, care and respect.

Pentecost also reminds us that the coming of the Spirit of God unites us as a single family with the poor, the homeless, the disabled, the oppressed & the abandoned. This is a time when traditionally churches prayed for peace between nations. It is also a time when we encourage each other to be reconciled with those we have been separated from because of lack of cultural understanding.

Take Action

1. During the season of Pentecost find out about how different people experience God. Visit some churches of different traditions and of different ethnic backgrounds. Afterwards have lunch at ethnic restaurants that you don’t normally frequent.

2. Ride the bus to work and try to talk with fellow passengers from other ethnic backgrounds and religions.

3. Get together for an international feast. Ask each person to bring a dish from another culture as well as a prayer or a hymn from that culture. Start the evening with a time of storytelling about your experiences either in another culture or as a result of working with people in other cultures then

Whichever of these activities you engage in take some time afterwards to reflect on the following questions:

· In what ways do you help to break down barriers & foster understanding between people of different cultures?

· In what ways do you discriminate against others who are part of God’s international community

· Because of race, class, gender or colour?

· Because of culture, disabilities or body type?

· Because of intellect or educational differences?

· This season calls us to identify with those who are less fortunate than we are & to be willing to sacrifice our own comfort in order to attend to their needs. Ask yourselves: What does it mean for us to be drawn into community with the poor & the abandoned in our society?