thought of you.

Creativity is amazing. Honestly for me when I see/experience something creative it has the biggest impact on me.

In “Surprised By Joy” C.S. Lewis shares his story and how Joy was a “sign post” to Christ. Lewis ran on a pursuit of Joy crossing the finish line to find more than he could have ever imagined, Christ.

What is your sign post? What are you chasing after? What is that which when you engage with it you feel as if you are experiencing something more?

Creativity is my sign post. Most of my blog is a collection of creative thoughts, films, etc. I have felt such a deep calling to creativity. Not simply to be creative but to inspire and empower creativity in others. Creativity is my sign post.. when I interact with creativity my heart is drawn to Christ. Not simply am I overwhelmed with emotion its further than that it empowers me to act. God actually uses creativity to communicate to me and love me.

Tonight seemed to be a very lazy night. I jumped on my laptop and got lost in an exploration of the internet. Just reading different blogs and stuff, sounds ok but when you have been doing it for a few hours it looses purpose. And yet God met me.

As I ran around the internet I came across an animated short film. Ryan J. Woodward, involved in films like Were The Wild Things Are and Ironman 2, spent three months working on a short film called Thought of You. The three minute animated piece captures a contemporary dance between two people, the narrative was intentionally left undefined,

“rather than creating a narrative animated piece that communicates a well defined story, this piece allows for each individual who views it to experience something unique and personal that touches their own sensibilities.”

It’s interesting how this film met me. The first thing that I thought was that I needed to share it with my friend Richelle who is a dancer. There is something about a dance like the one seen in this short film that I connect with. A few weeks ago my Theology term paper was about the Trinity. “Perichoresis” is a term that was used by the Eastern Orthodox tradition as a “eternal dance of Father, Son and Spirit sharing mutual love, honor, happiness, joy, and respect”, I love this idea. The Trinity is our example for relationship and community. Brian McLaren furthered  it like this,

“God’s act of creatic means that God is inviting more and more beings into the eternal dance of joy. Sin means that people are stepping out of the dance, corrupting its beauty and rhythm, crashing and tackling and stomping on feet instead of moving with grace, rhythm, and reverence. Then, in Jesus, God enters creation to restore the rhythm and beauty again.”

Although I am unsure of what I think the narrative of this short film exactly is just seeing it reminds me of God’s invitation to the dance. That God is inviting all of us to move with him. Most dances have one person who is leading, those in the dance are aware of who the lead is but sometimes from observation you may not even notice who is leading. God has invited us to not just be these dead beings who are robots to him..no God has invited us to move with him.. to contribute and reimagine…. to be in relationship.

So may you find your sign-post, the rhythm that moves deep with in you leading you to Christ. Further may you step fully into the invitation to dance. May you find the rhythm and be moving to the harmony of grace. As others observe they will identify your dance as beauty and love.

[I didn’t at all plan this post to go like this…oh well lifes a dance..]

Sources:
- Lewis, C.S. Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1955.
- Woodward, Ryan. Thought of You. http://vimeo.com/14803194
- Music in short film: The Weepies – World Spins Madly On
- Woodward, Ryan. Conte Animated. http://conteanimated.com/the-animation/
- McLaren, Brian D. A Generous Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

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Tags: Brian McLaren, C.S. Lewis, dance, joy, Ryan Woodward, thought