Thanks for the Introduction, Josh

...to Relevantmag.com.
Entertaining, educational, enlightening.

[I'm breaking a personal blogging rule with this post, so: if you too hate long posts, by all means stop reading now.]

This morning I was reading Tim Willard's article "The Paralyzing Force of Relevance" and came across some encouraging words. Maybe not encouraging in the normal sense, some of them are actually sort of depressing. The encouraging part is that someone is saying them, and saying them with the hope of arousing progress and change.

One of the first things Willard comments on in regards to the church's relevance or influence on culture is related to the church's impact on the arts.

"J. Gresham Machen, founder of Westminster Seminary, had much to say about the decay of the modern Christian influence upon culture:

“The loss is clearest, perhaps, in the realm of art. Despite the mighty revolution, which has been produced in the external conditions of life, no great poet is now living to celebrate the change; humanity has suddenly become dumb. Gone, too, are the great painters and the great musicians and the great sculptors. The art that still subsists is largely imitative, and where it is not imitative it is usually bizarre. Even the appreciation of the glories of the past is gradually being lost ..."
My mind tends to rest on the current role of the Church within culture. It is true we must adapt to the times we live in, but I think it folly to assert that orthodox or traditional ways of worship are irrelevant simply because they are old."

He takes this quote simply in regards to relevance, but it got my mind going with it in multiple directions. I think that Machen is saying that because the church is no longer the big patron of the arts there is nothing great anymore. Most of you who know me would know that I disagree with that thought. But I think the more important issue that he is bringing up is simply that the church has little to no impact on the arts anymore. To me, this is the great tragedy. Our God, who not only created all this beauty in the world but lives in us, is brought praise and glory when His people use their gifts to celebrate what He has created. And somehow we just aren't doing that too well. Or too loudly. Shouldn't we, who have Christ in us (that's right), be able to have the most insight and creativity? Not to mention energy and resources since we have all the power we need. How did we let go of the arts? Hm. No good.

In the next section, entitled "Timeless Faith", Willard uses the idea of "vintage" to describe qualities that don't go out of style -emphasizingg the aspects of church tradition that can't be neglected for the sake of trying to be "cool" like the world, if you will. He makes a great point:

"Instead of coming up with ways to get unbelievers into churches and saved, might it be a better idea to get ourselves into the unbeliever'’s lives?"

What a novel idea - let's look at what Jesus/the disciples/the early church did. Willard expounds on this with comments on accountability and discipleship that are very worth reading.

He closes the article by talking about love - what could be more relevant to our world? He ends with saying that if we're looking at what God's heart is to find ways to be relevant, we will not go wrong.

Sometimes it makes me feel like a hippy when I find myself thinking, "Yeah! All we need is love!", but really... isn't that what it comes down to? It's going to take a heart of love to create the kind of art that can impact a broken world just as much as it's going to take a heart of love to step out of your boat to talk to that person you know doesn't have Jesus, right?