I AM a Bride

Running from my kingdom I am out of breath...abandoning my throne I try to escape by foot.  I am panting like a dog on a humid day.  I try to pull some air into my lungs so I can continue what I do best...RUN.  "But you are an heir to a throne, you are royalty."  I often hear these whispers coming up from the pavement behind me.  Someones footsteps are speaking to me, and no matter how fast I run I always hear the faint sound of someone chasing me.  I am engaged to a guy that has actively pursued me for nearly nine years.  The pursuit was seen sometimes by chase and sometimes through waiting.  Reluctantly he watched as I ran as far and as fast as I possibly could, he let me go,  hoping I'd still be the girl for him.  5,000 miles later he was right and his love ran faster than my resistance.  We are not yet married, but I already see a rough sketch of a Christ like husband in him.  I am reminded of Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."  He reminds me to not give up my throne as a joint heir with Christ Jesus.  I used to call him my muzac, like music, but for me it meant my very own personal muse named Zac.  And in this case he was my muse that inspired me to write this poem during a very difficult winter day.

Born a Bride

In all my striving, 

I am reminded that I am getting married

There's someone out there in this world that calls me his baby

He thinks about me for no particular reason,

and wonders what I'm doing when he's away from me

He ponders my thoughts, my ways, 

and cares enough to ask... 

"what are you thinking, and why are thinking the things you think?"

Which I know is a very dangerous question to ask a woman,

yet he still asks.

He reminds me that I've always been 'getting married',

I've always been a bride,

I've always been betrothed, 

I've always been preparing for a wedding.

There's always been a groom, before I ever met him.

A groom who embodies every ounce of the word love

Whose own body became the atoms that made the substance called love

He is in and of himself, love

His flesh and bones spell the word love

For in His marrow was the creation of blood

that demonstrated to the whole Earth, what is love?

He calls me beloved,

and thinks about me so much that each individual grain of sand 

on every beach, of every continent,

represents one thought about me

He longs for my worship night and day

and His smile lights up the sky when I utter just three words to Him,

"I love you"

He not only ponders my thoughts 

but He knows my thoughts 

before I even think them

When I pray, he begins to answer before I manage to say the first word

He cares so much that he challenges my thoughts 

and reminds me to think on what is pure, what is lovely, what is good

He reminds me to think only what is true,

even when every circumstance tells me the opposite 

and every experience whispers lies to me

"The truth", he says is "you are a bride,

and every bride becomes a queen. 

So act like one." 

                          

We are the bride of Christ.  What have some of us given up because of fear or persecution or the lust of the eyes and the pride of life?  The day we wake up and realize that it is an entire kingdom we have abandoned, and it is our throne we have left empty maybe we will return to our position in Christ Jesus.  We are called to rule and reign with Christ.  Do not run from the kingdom of God you were born in to.
"[..]and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."Isaiah 62:5    

I AM ART

          I believe that as Christians it is our job to convey the gospel story in a language that our culture can understand and connect to.  Why are there so many different versions of the Bible?  One of the reasons is that the language of the times keeps changing.  As a result new versions are written in order for the emerging generation to understand what is being said.  Did you know that there is a version of the Bible translated into Hawaiian Pidgin and it is called "Da Jesus Book"?  Hawaiian Pidgin is a creole or slang language that originated as a form of communication between English speaking and non-English speaking residents.  Pidgin is the primary language for many residents of Hawaii.  Da Jesus Book is an example of creativity used to reach a sub-culture where a new language emerged.

            My generation and the generations that are growing up today in America relate to the world largely through media, television, music, and art.  Therefore we should be expressing and translating our Christianity in every art form.  You must take this beyond your idea of the "Christian religion".  Art is so much more than a mere tool for evangelism or a tool to teach us more about the religion of Christianity…it is who we are in our purest form.  We are creators, and by extension we are artists.  Before we could understand that we were anything else we knew that we were born to create.  Why?  Because in Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."  We are the sons and daughters of the creator of the universe, made in His own image, thus we are creators. Our lives are a continual work of art; our salvation is made possible through the creativity of God.  How? To be "saved" or "born-again" really just means to have a re-created new nature.  So in a sense you could say that creativity is in our physical and spiritual DNA. The forming of our physical bodies in our mother's womb was a creative act and the recreation of our nature was a creative miracle.  "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"(2 Corinthians 5:17).

            So what do we do with this revelation?  We are artists by nature, and we live in a culture that is communicating more and more through social media, pictures, videos, gifs, and memes.  Our culture relates to the world through computer screens, phone screens, TV screens, the silver screen.  We hear through music, and we listen with more than just our ears but with our eyes we understand concepts, feelings, emotions and ideas.  It's interesting that the church used to be driven by the arts.  Look at the beauty of the Sistine chapel and the art of the renaissance age; it is breath taking.  It's a tragedy that many churches have excellent teaching on the word of God yet are lacking in creative expression; as a result the gospel is becoming more and more irrelevant to young people.  As a church we need to realize that we are presenting the gospel in such a way that doesn't translate to a vast majority of our culture. 

            This is not a new reality, but it's becoming more and more obvious as our culture shifts.  I have always had a strong passion and appreciation for the performing and visual arts yet have sat in churches that dull down the message of Jesus until it's dry, boring or outdated.  Even though the truth of the gospel is being taught, it's presented in a boring manner and 2 hours later all I can think about is my butt being numb while someone lectures me or over spiritualizes faith.  I've listened to "secular" music and seen films that have had more of an impact on my life than many church services I wasted my time at.             
                         This is a call to remember the creativity that is inside all of us.  This is a call for every individual to express the beauty, the awesomeness, and the indescribable love of Jesus Christ through every art form.  What we can create and express on this earth is unimaginable, and yet so attainable if we just believe and break through the ceilings and the limits we've place on human creativity in the realm of the church.  The language of art and music is timeless…we can reach any culture through some form of art…perhaps we're just not speaking the right language? If our culture is speaking through art and music we need to translate the gospel through the language of the arts.  Look at some of the greatest films of our time. Listen to the greatest music hits. Take notice of the art that captivates and inspires you through a language you can't even verbalize.  I am art and so are you, don’t' stifle the creativity that God has designed you with.  Art can't be contained in four walls; it will paint every sidewalk, every building, it will light up the sky, it will echo through entire cities…just look at nature, it's beauty covers the earth.  Think beyond what you've ever imagined and create what you see with your spiritual eyes.  Call to life the art and the expression of a living God that has died, been ignored or been oppressed. 

"Any group that willingly or unconsciously sidesteps creativity and human expression gives up their effective role in the society in which they live.  In Christian terms, their ability to be the salt of that society is greatly diminished."  -Francis Schaeffer-