Behind the scenes:

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.

“Spaceman Stu” | McDonalds
By Pop The Campaign

“Running Green” | New Balance
By RDN

“Invasion” | Coke Zero
By Passion Pictures

“Fruit Snacks” | Fruit Roll-ups
By Orion Tait

“Strings” | Sky Arts 2
By Jon Yeo

I have been thinking more about Children’s Ministry lately, as I have noticed that  its the one ministry I never have never give much thought to. I have noticed that in the past few months God has been challenging me to consider what introducing Jesus to a kid looks like. Through ministry opportunities and friends, God has been asking me to imagine what Children’s ministry in a Church community could be. This is fresh, I have  few responses to this question at this point.

“Kids on The Move” is the Churches Children’s Ministry, and is just as incredible as every other aspect of the Church. On the the Churches creative blog they posted a kids service from the last day of their “Day Gulch Summer Camp”. It is the full service so its one hour but its incredible how every aspect is directed right at the kids. I learned a lot and its pressing me to ask more questions. The are a few things that I still unsure about they way they do things but overall I love it.

Mark’s story is incredible. I really don’t have much of a comment on it, not sure if there is much else to say. It reminds me of a friend of mine who is in the hospital right now – as he lays sick in his hospital bed he told me he is blessed… 

A Short Film by Hillsong Church.

Today I was thinking a lot about how we are contributing to community. What are individuals doing to walk towards the vision of that community. Many times in a community there will be a few people who stand out. Those are putting in those extra hours to see that things are getting done. Those who seem to be pushing hard to ensure the community is reaching its purpose or vision.

Often this can become an issue. Towards someone like this there can be two responses from others in the community…

1. Some from the community will lift up that person above others. They see that person working so hard and they could idolize him or her. Putting them in a high position just because they are working really hard.
2. Others may look at these kind of people as they are working to hard. That in there hard work they are “missing the point”. Maybe forgetting the focus.

Both of these attitudes are wrong.

When I imagine a beautiful community, I see a family who are all contributing towards the vision. I see individuals consistently asking themselves the question, “what is my role in this community?”.

When individuals are not rising up to contribute, to engage in their role, others may need to take on that role too. This is why in communities some may stick out more than others. Its not always because those people want to stick out, but maybe because others have not stepped up to contribute.

We are called to intentionally contributing to the vision of our community. To always be considering who needs a helping hand – always having our eyes open.

To be honest, this is what I imagine – If I lived back in Jesus day and we served on the same team. Lets say our team was in charge of cooking food for Church (just an example..). I picture us preparing the food and I feel that Jesus would offer his part to play. Along with helping those who can’t keep up with cooking (like myself ha!) but I think Jesus would want to see a team who were all playing there part.

Imagine a community where everyone is contributing. All are considering what role they play and fully engaging in it. With that image in mind could anyone really “stick out” in that community?

I know this is a reminder directly at myself. Moments ago I paused writing this because I was called to eat dinner. After dinner I put my dishes on the counter not even considering to help with dishes and began to walk to my room to finish this blog post. Then I remembered what I was writing about, contributing to community. So I turned around. Ended up having rad conversation with my parents. Never forget what this could do for your own health.

This kind of community I am describing is equal. It does not put one above the other because there is no opportunity for that. Here we see unity.

This is beautiful community.