I want to tell you about vaction...
but I need to finish what I started first...
I was watching the News Hour last night on PBS. They had a story about the Nelson-Adkins art museum in Kansas City. They recently had to expand by building a new building. If you are familiar with the Nelson-Adkins, you know that it is a very classy and classical building. There was great apprehension about how adding a new building would impact the classic architecture of the old. How can new and old blend together?
It got me thinking about the relationship between church and culture. There was a time when the church was very instrumental in cutting edge cultural issues. In nearly every field, the church was the driving force of progress. In education, the church was the provider of learning and the clergy set the standard for scholarship as the most educated. Much of the art (sculpture, mosaic, painting, pottery, etc) was commissioned and developed in the church. The church set the tone for architecture as churches were the great works of structural endurance and beauty. The very best of what was then contemporary music was produced in and for the church. The literary greats had a firm footing in the church. And many of science’s great discoveries occurred by the minds of great Christian studying astronomy, medicine, physics, etc.
Today, it seems, these things are more thought of in opposition to the church. Education is now public and the clergy is largely uneducated. “Christian music” struggles to put out quality work often simply trying to recast whatever is popular with “Christian” lyrics. Churches are void of significant art and in broad and general terms (probably too much so), the art community is “non-Christian.” One can no longer turn to church buildings if one wants to look at modern architectural acheivement. Christian literature (primarily fiction) has taken a turn from quality literature to narrow, and usually poorly written pop-theology. Somehow, Christians have gotten a bad rap as anti-science. Is there a way the church can redeem culture?
I believe there is. I think it begins by recapturing the proper idea of sacredness. For too long now, we have viewed things far too dichotomously (is that a real word?). Some things are sacred and some things are secular. I have a sacred identity as a Christian and a secular identity as an employee. This, I believe is a false dichotomy. It is an unnecessary distinction. It is a sinful sentiment. A proper idea of sacred is much more holistic, and at its heart is the concept of sanctification. All of life is sacred. All of life should be sanctified.
To be sanctified is to be set apart for a holy purpose. We who believe so strongly in a holiness theology that is rich in this idea of sanctification should understand this better than most. Unfortunately, often our hearts are the only things we let God sanctify. God desires our whole life to be sanctified. If we begin thinking of our whole life as sanctified by God, then our heart, our mind, our body, even our career must be transformed by God’s holiness and participate in it.
When all of my life proclaims who God is and proclaims the Good News of God to the world, then culture begins being redeemed. When I paint a painting, I paint one that tells the world about God. When I build a building, I build it to show the world the character of God. When I write a book, I write one that tells the story of God. When I create music, I let the world in on God’s creative spirit. When I explore the mysteries of the universe, I am helping the world to understand the mystery of God. Everything I am and everything I do participates in the redemptive work of God in the world, and thus helps Christ speak redemptively in the world.
I was watching the News Hour last night on PBS. They had a story about the Nelson-Adkins art museum in Kansas City. They recently had to expand by building a new building. If you are familiar with the Nelson-Adkins, you know that it is a very classy and classical building. There was great apprehension about how adding a new building would impact the classic architecture of the old. How can new and old blend together?
It got me thinking about the relationship between church and culture. There was a time when the church was very instrumental in cutting edge cultural issues. In nearly every field, the church was the driving force of progress. In education, the church was the provider of learning and the clergy set the standard for scholarship as the most educated. Much of the art (sculpture, mosaic, painting, pottery, etc) was commissioned and developed in the church. The church set the tone for architecture as churches were the great works of structural endurance and beauty. The very best of what was then contemporary music was produced in and for the church. The literary greats had a firm footing in the church. And many of science’s great discoveries occurred by the minds of great Christian studying astronomy, medicine, physics, etc.
Today, it seems, these things are more thought of in opposition to the church. Education is now public and the clergy is largely uneducated. “Christian music” struggles to put out quality work often simply trying to recast whatever is popular with “Christian” lyrics. Churches are void of significant art and in broad and general terms (probably too much so), the art community is “non-Christian.” One can no longer turn to church buildings if one wants to look at modern architectural acheivement. Christian literature (primarily fiction) has taken a turn from quality literature to narrow, and usually poorly written pop-theology. Somehow, Christians have gotten a bad rap as anti-science. Is there a way the church can redeem culture?
I believe there is. I think it begins by recapturing the proper idea of sacredness. For too long now, we have viewed things far too dichotomously (is that a real word?). Some things are sacred and some things are secular. I have a sacred identity as a Christian and a secular identity as an employee. This, I believe is a false dichotomy. It is an unnecessary distinction. It is a sinful sentiment. A proper idea of sacred is much more holistic, and at its heart is the concept of sanctification. All of life is sacred. All of life should be sanctified.
To be sanctified is to be set apart for a holy purpose. We who believe so strongly in a holiness theology that is rich in this idea of sanctification should understand this better than most. Unfortunately, often our hearts are the only things we let God sanctify. God desires our whole life to be sanctified. If we begin thinking of our whole life as sanctified by God, then our heart, our mind, our body, even our career must be transformed by God’s holiness and participate in it.
When all of my life proclaims who God is and proclaims the Good News of God to the world, then culture begins being redeemed. When I paint a painting, I paint one that tells the world about God. When I build a building, I build it to show the world the character of God. When I write a book, I write one that tells the story of God. When I create music, I let the world in on God’s creative spirit. When I explore the mysteries of the universe, I am helping the world to understand the mystery of God. Everything I am and everything I do participates in the redemptive work of God in the world, and thus helps Christ speak redemptively in the world.
posted by EF + at 12:37 PM
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