The Christian Imagination

There’s an interesting post and discussion over at ThinkChristian.com about preaching: Doing Away With Preaching.

He quotes another article wherein the author says: “Preaching as it is practised in modern churches is extra-biblical, a poor form of communication, and creates dependency.”

Here’s the comment I posted: I don’t think the problem is with preaching per se. It serves a purpose, especially as the number in the community grows. The problem is over-reliance on preaching combined with what is often a passive audience mentality in the hearers. In the West, we live in an over-communicated society where we often don’t take time to reflect on or talk about what we here. For a sermon to be effective, there has to be a context where we do more with it than just passively listen to it and then go on to the next thing afterwards.

My opinion is that preaching is overrated in how important it is, but that’s not to say it doesn’t provide value. We also have to remember that it’s only one part of a church service, and that God works in ways that go beyond rational communication.

I once read a book by Juan Carlos Ortiz where he started wondering why they discussed one topic in the sermon, another in Bible study, etc. So, they switched the focus on their entire church to focus on one topic for a certain length of time.

We live in an age where we take in lots of information but spend very little time doing anything with it. If we expect a 30 minute sermon on one topic once a week that is often not thought much about once we leave the building to have any real impact, we’re kidding ourselves. It really comes down to what the individual decides to do with what they hear. Perhaps, though, the church community could do more to support living out sermons in our daily lives in ways that are meaningful.

Mass communication is never the most effective method of communicating meaning to individuals, and perhaps part of our love for it is that it’s easy. It will always have a place, but it doesn’t absolve us of individual responsibility for our lives nor of getting involved in committed relationships.

Today we talked about art and the Bible. The following are verses we discussed:

Visual Art
Ex. 25:31-33 (representinng real objects)
Ex. 28:33 (creating pomegranates that are not the normal color)
2 Chr. 3:6 (art for beauty – see KJV)
2 Chr. 3:16-17 (free standing columns that serve no useful purpose, form of abstract art)
2 Chr. 4:3-5 (altar and molten sea)
Num. 21:6-8 and John 3:14-15 (brazen serpent, art used for religious purpose)

Poetry
2 Sam. 1:19-27 (secular ode)
2 Sam. 23:1-2 (David inspired by God, and he was a poet)

Music & Song
Exodus 15 (song of praise for deliverance)
1 Chr. 23:3-5 (4000 Levite musicians appointed to temple)
1 Chr. 15:16-22 (template music performed by professionals)
1 Chr. 25:1, 6-7 (David appoints musicians)
2 Chr. 29:24-29 (Hezekiah)
Numbers 21:27-30 (song of the well)
1 Sam. 16:14-23 (David and Saul)
1 Cor 14:26, Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16 (more informal and relational)

Drama
Ezek. 4:1-8 (Ezekial performs drama repeatedly)

Dance
Psalm 149:3
Psalm 150:4-5
Exodus 15:20
2 Sam. 6:14-16

Popular Culture
Acts 17:28 (references Greek Stoic poets)
1 Cor. 15:33 (reference to play Thais by Greek dramatist Menander)
Titus 1:12 (references Epimenides)

I often seek theological insights in reading science fiction, because this is a genre eminently suited to explorations of the nature of the Creator and creation. I’m never surprised when I discover that one of my favourite science fiction writers is Christian, because to think about worlds in other galaxies, other modes of being, is a theological enterprise. (L’Engle, 134-135)

L’Engle was known as a children’s writer, with her best known novel, A Wrinkle in Time, essentially being science fiction. I’ve always liked science fiction, though for awhile I didn’t read much fiction, seeing it as a waste of time. In recent years I’ve discovered a real love for fiction and the truth it conveys. Perhaps it’s fitting that a genre like Science Fiction merges the rational and the romantic into a powerful whole that reflects reality back to us.

My favorite TV series of all time is the new Battlestar Galactica. The series is a dark portrayal of what it means to be human and survive. It doesn’t come from a Christian world view, but it gives one of the more positive representations of religion to be found in any TV series.

What I like though, are the questions. The most recent episode, Razors, asked what it means to be a leader and make hard decisions, and it did so without providing an easy answer. When do we love our humanity? When are we no better than the enemy? What level of compromise or violence is necessary to maintain order? When does the letter of the law need to be put aside and grace bestowed?

It’s truth in fiction that causes me to reflect on my own life and learn what it means to be human, and what it means to be a Christ-follower.

But the reality of the outcome of all annunciations is a reality which is scoffed at by most of the world. It is one of the greater triumphs of Lucifer that he has managed to make Christians (Christians!) believe that a story is a lie, that a myth should be outgrown with puberty, that to act in a play is inconsistent with true religion. (L’Engle, 84)

L’Engle, Madeleine. Walking on Water. New York: North Point Press. 1995.