Tag Archives: Creativity

In the Peripherals

“Beauty often resides in the peripherals of our lives. We walk past such humble miracles, such as the babe in the manger, in a little village of Bethlehem, all the time. In the frantic pace of life, we need to slow down & simply observe natural forces around us & create out of that experience. What makes us truly human may not be how fast we are able to accomplish a task but what we experience fully, carefully, and quietly in the process. 

Artists are often found at the margins of society, but they are, like the shepherds, often the first to notice the miracles taking place right in front of us. Since sensationalism, power, & wealth dominate our cultural imaginations, we may not be willing to journey to the ephemeral, as the Japanese poets of old have, to see beauty in the disappearing lines or to see poetry in the drying puddle of water. The world seems to demand of us artist-types that we be able to explain & justify our actions, but often the power & mystery of art & life cannot be explained by normative words. 

My art reaches for the heavenly reality via earthly materials. The intuitive core of my creativity, like the shepherds’ hearts drawn to the birth of a Savior, simply desires to pay homage to the mystery of the moment. Lest we miss the birth of a Savior. Lest we fail to glimpse the glory of heaven hidden beneath the earth.”

Mako Fujimura “Refractions” pg. 27-28

Beauty in the peripherals.

That is what it seems Christmas is all about in the end. The beauty of paradox. Of mystery. The beauty of a heavenly King submitting, as a Son, to the authority of His Father & being born a baby…a baby who was The Word, the Light. A baby through whom the world…the universe…was created. A baby with that much power & glory born a human birth in a messy stable. From the beginning it seems He was demonstrating that His presence won’t erase the mess, but it will help to illuminate the beauty to be found in the middle of the mess. 

I don’t know about you, but for me it never seems to fail. I stop for a day or two to celebrate Christmas but as soon as December 26th hits it’s back to the races. Soon I find myself caught up in the “frantic pace of life” & walking past the humble miracles. The artist in me longs to slow & ponder the miracles. Longs to really truly see. To find, everyday, the beauty of heaven in the mess of life. 

This Christmas season, I’m resolving to slow a little bit longer…to look a little bit harder…to ponder the miracles…to find the beauty in the peripheral messes of life.

Will you join me? 

Comment Creativity, Deep Thinking, Just Life

A Book for the Soul of an Artist

I first heard of Gary Molander when I read “The Idiot’s Guide to Church Burnout” on CollideMagazine.com. That was January 16th, 2010. I know because that’s the day I clipped the article into Evernote. It was also a day that was a dot in a picture that a couple of months later God would connect.

The last line of the article I read that day haunted me “I want to be clear. Burnout is a very real thing. I’m not questioning its existence. I’m questioning its root cause. And I really don’t think the root cause is being overworked and underpaid. I think the primary cause is our inability to marry our deepest God-given passions and desires to a structure or organization where we honestly believe that God can change the world through us.” It haunted me because that’s exactly where I was. But I was no where near being ready to admit it.

Fast forward a year…almost exactly…it was January 20th, 2011. I know because the magic of technology tracks things like that on emails. Gary emailed to say he was working on a book “Pursuing Christ. Creating Art.” and he wanted me to write an introduction to a chapter on the Church. At this point, and even up to the point that I sent that piece to Gary, we had never had a face to face conversation. To say I was humbled is an understatement.

Gary may not have the title “pastor” at any church. In fact he writes in his book “I think it’s a really good thing I’m not a pastor anymore…” But, Gary is a pastor at heart. And he is a pastor especially to artists because as an artist himself he understands that wiring & what it means to experience life from that corner of the world.

In “Pursuing Christ. Creating Art.” Gary time & again reminds us that it’s not about us. He speaks from a knowing & broken place as an artist himself but one he refuses to wallow in. He validates the emotions of artists but challenges all of us not to use them as an excuse. An excuse for anger, bitterness, divisiveness, inaction, & more.

In sharing his own stories, experiences, & struggles as an artist Gary encourages each of us to take heart, & to remember that we are first & foremost children of God. At the end of the way, that is what matters. And at the end of the day misplacing our identity in anything or anyone else will leave us producing false art.

There are so many incredible “one-liners” from the book I could fill this post up with, but I’d rather encourage you to read them for yourself in the context of the book. You can pick up a copy here.

I think we all need to be reminded, from time to time, to wholeheartedly pursue Christ while creating art rather than getting lost in a pursuit of art that leaves us unintentionally creating Christ. 

*Image taken from the e-confessional companion guide for the book. It’s beautiful. And helpful. Check it out here. 

4 Comments Book Reviews, Creativity

A STORY You Don’t Want to Miss

I am a huge proponent of taking online community offline. I believe it’s vital to fostering dialogue and relationships among tribes in the church. And if you are part of the creative tribe in the church, then STORY is an opportunity to take the online offline that you’re going to want to check out.

What is STORY?

I’m glad you asked. It’s a conference for the creative class in ministry. For those of you who hear the word “conference” and immediately stop reading, please don’t! STORY will be different. If you are an artist, writer, or producer in the church STORY is designed to fuel your creativity and inspire you as you strive to communicate the greatest story ever told. Check out some of the great creative voices both in ministry and the marketplace that you will have a chance to hear from at STORY:

Dan Allender – best-selling author, professor at Mars Hill Graduate School

Charlie Todd – creator of Improv Everywhere in New York City

Princess Zulu – AIDS victim from infancy, advocate for the oppressed

Jason Fried – founder of 37Signals, creator of Basecamp, author of Rework

John Sowers – president of Donald Miller’s The Mentoring Project

Shauna Niequist – former creative director at Mars Hill, author of Bittersweet

David Hodges – formerly of the band Evanescence, award-winning songwriter

Leonard Sweet – futurist, author of 40 books, professor at Drew University

David McFadzean – creator of Home Improvement, producer of Roseanne

Richard Walter – accomplished screenwriter and professor of film at UCLA

Sean Gladding – member of Communality, a new monastic community

Andrew Klavan – author of True Crime (Clint Eastwood) and numerous novels

Gary Dorsey – founder of Pixel Peach Studio in Austin, TX

Music by Vicky Beeching, Kari Jobe and Carlos Whittaker

When & Where is STORY?

STORY will be held September 23-24, 2010 at Park Community Church in downtown Chicago. Come for STORY and stay to experience life in the city for the weekend.

What is the Format?

STORY will be a two-day, main-stage event. While there won’t be any breakouts or workshops, there will be time for questions and dialogue both during and after the event.

Interested? Click here to register. Seating is limited to just 500 attendees and half of the seats have already been sold, so don’t wait!

Comment Creativity, Visual Worship

Creating in Isolation

In the discussion at the Visual Worship Roundtable someone mentioned the fact that the foundation of Jesus’ ministry was relationships and his interactions with people. In the creative aspect of ministry, it’s very easy for our ministry to seldom involve relationships and interactions with people. We can spend hours sitting at a desk creating a website, a brochure, a video, a motion background, etc.

I wonder if sometimes we spend so much time creating that we forget about just being, about being in relationships and community with others. If we don’t foster and seek out those relationships and interactions with people soon our creations become irrelevant because we are out of touch with reality, with people. It becomes difficult for our creations to speak to life when we’re not living it away from our computer screens.

How much time do you spend each day in front of your computer screen? How much do you spend with people? Does that need to change?


Comment Creativity, Visual Worship