Transforming Culture

I grew up attending different garden-variety Protestant churches, including the denominations of Baptist, Assemblies of God, United Methodist, and even a couple variations on the theme of "non-denominational." The Baptist churches had the best VBS (uh, that's Vacation Bible School, for those of you who might have missed out on this week-long exercise in warm Kool-Aid and peppy songs about Jesus), and I excelled at memorizing the books of the Bible in this setting because I was rewarded with Dots candy. The particular Assemblies of God church I attended throughout middle school was, in retrospect, the most corrupt and theologically damaging of all the places my family went. The congregation went through three pastors in four years there. The first one was a liar, who grew marijuana on the church property. The second one turned out to be an adulterer. The third one caused the church to split because of his salacious remarks about one of the most respected members of the congregation, whom he viewed as a threat. This church split led us to attend the United Methodist church. The UMC was a positive and stabilizing experience in many regards, although when I first arrived there I was appalled to find how little my peers knew about the Bible, and I was shocked when my Sunday School teacher said a cuss word in class. But still, it was a friendly place, with Wednesday night fellowship dinners of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fried okra, and sweet tea, and Sunday night youth group with truly caring leaders. The UMC was also my first introduction to liturgy in any form. We said the Apostles' Creed each week (carefully noting the asterisk beside "catholic" that assured us that "catholic" meant "universal" when we professed "one holy catholic church"). We lit candles on the Advent wreath, and had a "Christ-mon" tree in the sanctuary at Christmas time, the ornaments of which were glittery white styrofoam symbols of the Christian faith (envision sparkling cutouts of Greek letters, stars, fish, and crosses).

Amongst the 936 Sunday morning church services I attended (really, 936 -- I just did the math) from ages 0 - 18, not including youth group, Wednesday night stuff, VBS, choir practices, youth group musicals, and mission trips, I cannot remember ever hearing a single message or conversation about the Arts, or creativity, in relation to the Christian life. To be fair, I suppose I saw by example that colors matter (since they changed with each liturgical season). I witnessed the beauty of the stained glass and brass Communion chalices. I gleaned that music matters (since there was so much of it in the church). I learned that we're supposed to actively do something to help others (thus the mission trips). But I never heard about the connection between God being a Creator, and we as humans possessing creativity, and how we can know about who God is through creativity and artistic pursuits. Nor did I think about the implications this has for broader culture, and the Church's possible relationship to it through the Art its people produces.

So, I am excited to attend the Transforming Culture Symposium in Austin, Texas next week. I like how the event is centered around questions about Art, the Church, and our culture, rather than proclamations. I am hopeful I can be a part of a Church that does not isolate itself from the world, cloaking itself in inpenetrable jargon and bland aesthetics, but one that is involved in the risky and difficult work of -- to borrow Mahatma Gandhi's phrase -- being the change we want to see.