I was surfing through some blogs earlier and found this really interesting quote from Colossians Three Sixteen. It’s from a book by Mark Driscoll placed in a discussion weaving across a couple sites and books. The discussion took a brief look at fundamentalism’s tendency to reject contemporary culture. There was a short paragraph addressing the arts. I liked the thought, so here it is:

It’s admittedly difficult to move beyond just throwing rocks at culture but it is a worthwhile process. It’s not enough to just point out all of the problems with the arts when we’re not putting anything positive forward. It’s not enough to poke holes in people’s worldviews when we’re not shining the light of the Gospel through the openings. It’s not enough to throw rocks when we could be building.

This is a great encouragement to me as I go to work with PUSH in a few days. ‘Putting something positive forward’ is what I hope to be doing for the next several months. I have gravitated more and more for the past several years towards doing just that. I have also add ‘excellent’ to ‘positive’ in what I want to put into this conversation. Excellence is not only honoring to God, but is also the best way to influence other artists and non-believers.

Seeking excellence rather than simple accomplishment is a method to stand above the crowd and command a voice in our culture. Tying that in with a positive message toward culture there is a huge potential for change.

Here’s another thought I found while tracking that discussion. It’s from the same book, but it’s although it’s actually from an email that was sent to Driscoll by D.A. Carson. You’ll see how this bears on the previous point in a second:

No truth which human beings may articulate can ever be articulated in a culture-transcending way—but that does not mean that the truth thus articulated does not transcend culture.

It took me a second to absorb the grammar, but this is a great way of taking a look at why art works and why it is continually made and re-made by contemporary artists. Here are the previous two paragraphs from that email:

Paul refuses to circumcise Titus, even when it was demanded by many in the Jerusalem crowd, not because it didn’t matter to them, but because it mattered so much that if he acquiesced, he would have been giving the impression that faith in Jesus is not enough for salvation: one has to become a Jew first, before one can become a Christian. That would jeopardize the exclusive sufficiency of Jesus.

To create a contemporary analogy: If I’m called to preach the gospel among a lot of people who are cultural teetotallers, I’ll give up alcohol for the sake of the gospel. But if they start saying, “You cannot be a Christian and drink alcohol,” I’ll reply, “Pass the port” or “I’ll think I’ll have a glass of Beaujolais with my meal.” Paul is flexible and therefore prepared to circumcise Timothy when the exclusive sufficiency of Christ is not at stake and when a little cultural accommodation will advance the gospel; he is rigidly inflexible and therefore refuses to circumcise Titus when people are saying that Gentiles must be circumcised and become Jews to accept the Jewish Messiah.
truth.

Cultural relevance is to be valued – as long it does not get confused with (or confuse) gospel. You can see how this fits right in with the idea of speaking to and challenging our culture.

I have a couple other thoughts following this, but I have a lot of packing/sorting to do today and several lengthy errands to run…

Moving is soooo much fun.