Inscription: “The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”—John 1:14
Found at the-christian-connection.com.
Circle of Annibale Carracci, “The Supper at Emmaus,” late sixteenth/early seventeenth century. Pen, brown ink, brown wash, white, and pierre noire on brown paper. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
Found at PALCampaign.com.
“Tim Keller on Contextualization”: hmsarthistorian evaluates chapter 10 of Keller’s book Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, giving two examples of indigenous Christian artists who have successfully contextualized the gospel through their art. Contextualization is not about accommodating every idea in a culture; it’s about affirming what Keller calls a culture’s “‘A’ beliefs”—those beliefs that roughly accord with gospel teachings—but also challenging the “‘B’ beliefs”—beliefs of the culture that lead listeners to find some Christian doctrines implausible or offensive.
“They killed Jesus because of his preaching”: In the video below, excerpted from the sermon “Jesus Preached the Gospel,” Mark Driscoll reminds us that Jesus was a preacher—it was one of his primary ministries. And yet people today, even Christians, often see him as more of a therapist. Let’s not forget the reason he was crucified: for preaching things like “I’m God,” “you’re a sinner,” “you need saving,” “repent.”
“Family Supper: Reclaiming Community through Communion” by Russell Moore: A challenge to evangelical churches to make Communion more, well, communal. “Part of the problem is with the way we present the elements themselves. Most contemporary evangelical churches distribute chewing-gum size pellets of tasteless and oppressively-textured bread along with thimble-sized plastic shot glasses of grape juice. This practice hardly represents the unity maintained by a common loaf and a common cup. It also strips away at the reality of the Supper as a meal for a gathering, not just a prompt for individual reflection.”
“How to Help Bereaved Parents in Your Church” by Jill Sullivan: When it comes to dealing with people who are experiencing grief over the loss of a loved one, we tend to either ignore them or offer up some unhelpful, even hurtful, cliché, like “she’s in a better place,” or “I understand what you’re going through.” Sullivan shares what comforted her most when she lost her sixteen-year-old daughter to brain cancer.
Controversial art piece forbidden in China, brought to Europe: SHOWstudio in London is exhibiting the Gao brothers’ bronze sculpture The Execution of Christ this month as part of an exhibition called “Death.” Based on Manet’s painting The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, the work shows eight life-sized Chairman Maos firing at Jesus, referencing the religious oppression that’s still going on in China as well as the artists’ own experience of losing their father when he was arrested and killed during Mao Zedong’s reign. Follow the link to see details of the sculpture. (Even just the standalone sculpture of Christ is very moving.)
Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang, “The Execution of Christ,” 2009. Bronze, life-sized.
Found at zazzle.com.
The Gospel Coalition’s New England Regional Conference is coming up, and this year it’s in Boston! (Not only that, it will be co-hosted by my church, Citylife Presbyterian.) The plenary speakers are Tim Keller, John Piper, D. A. Carson, and my very own pastor, Stephen Um. The dates are October 19-20, and registration costs $100. For more information or to sign up, visit http://www.centerforgospelculture.org/tgcne/#.UBXxlPVQQk5.
There will be six main talks and two breakout sessions. Here are the two I signed up for, with descriptions from the website. I’m excited!
Manoel Oliveira – The Gospel Across Cultures
“In this session Dr. Oliveira explores the ways in which the Gospel speaks powerfully across cultures while also challenging diverse cultures in diverse ways. Of particular significance for Gospel-centered churches is to listen the voices of those who have left their home culture and found the Gospel in a different culture. It is these voices that can help the church understand her own cultural captivity and the Gospel means of being freed from those captivities.”
Richard Lints and Patrick Smith – The Gospel and Apologetics: Pressing Issues the Church Faces
“Even as our public discourse has become more polarized and partisan, the need to speak the Gospel into the Public Square has become more vital and yet more difficult. Learning to speak with courage, compassion and clarity to address pressing cultural issues is a skill ever more urgent for church leaders today. Come and engage these two apologists as they think through the pressing challenges the Church faces in our contentious public square.”
Isaiah 2:4 (cf. Micah 4:3) has inspired many artists and peace activists throughout history. The verse describes what the millennial reign of Christ will look like: “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
Esther and Michael Augsburger, “Guns into Plowshares,” 1997. Steel and 3,000 handguns, 19 ft. long x 16 ft. tall. Evidence Control Facility, Washington, D.C.
Sculptor Esther Augsburger and her son, Michael, thought to illustrate this prophetic passage by literally beating guns (the twenty-first century equivalent of swords) into the shape of a plowshare, transforming the life-destroying weapons into a life-affirming work of art. They designed and built the four-ton steel structure themselves.
The 3,000 guns that make up this work were collected from the gun buyback program run by Washington, D.C.’s police department, which seeks to reduce gun violence by reducing gun ownership. Participants are granted amnesty and anonymity—that is, they are immune from prosecution; they are not even ID’ed. This no-questions-asked turn-in offer is ongoing, but sometimes incentives are provided, usually through corporate or private sponsors. In January 1994, for example, former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe pledged to pay $100 in cash for each firearm turned in on the 15th of that month. “I think if you have one gun off the street, then maybe that’s a life that you saved,” Bowe said. Bowe ended up paying out $360,000—for 3,600 guns turned over and disabled (source). Having heard of the successful turnout, Esther Augsburger convinced then–Police Chief Fred Thomas to let her use some of these guns for her art piece (source).
Guns into Plowshares was installed in 1997 across from the Metropolitan Police headquarters in Judiciary Square but has since moved to the front of the District’s evidence control facility at 17 DC Village Lane SW. Continue reading
Italian artist Igor Scalisi Palminteri recently created a new art series titled Hagiographies. For this project, Palminteri purchased cheap Jesus and saint statuettes (and a framed painting) from the street markets of Palermo and transformed them into superheroes using acrylic paint. Jesus is thus reimaged as baby Superman, Robin, “Dash” the Incredible, Spider-Man, Captain America, and so on. And his parents and saint buddies are part of the superhero cast too: Mary is Catwoman and Elastigirl; Joseph is Superman and Mr. Incredible; Saint Anthony is Batman; Saint Rita is Wonder Woman and the Flash; and so on. For photos of these works, see here and here.
I think the artist meant these pieces to be more than just a playful exercise in recycling, but to provoke serious questions, like:
The Jesus Question 