Arts Blog : Church, Everyday Life

I fired myself...

Tony Kim — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:22:00 GMT

I would like to provoke some thought about the allure and the potential hazards of being a 'manager'. If you have any sort of organizational skills, any sort of leadership abilities, or any amount of charisma, it’s not too long until someone thinks...(read more)

An easy way to change your world

Tony Kim — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:34:00 GMT

There have been many innovations that have changed the world over time. Penicillin, the telephone, and nuclear energy are all remarkable innovations created by remarkable people. But you don’t have to be remarkable to innovate. Author Seth Godin says...(read more)

Do you have "Otaku"?

Tony Kim — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:59:00 GMT

One of the beauties of living in a multicultural environment is learning new words. Otaku is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests. Otaku is the interest or activity that you are always talking about. It's the show that...(read more)

A brave new world

Tony Kim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:22:00 GMT

Hello to the arts movement community! I am so honored and blessed to be apart of the creative voices of the Towards Wonder site. My hope and prayer is to ennoble creative leaders through writings, illustrations, interviews, and observations......(read more)

Feeling Hungry

Nancy Beach — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:34:00 GMT

I’m just 2 full days into our 5 day Solidarity with the Hungry week where our congregation is voluntarily limiting our food consumption to three very small and bland meals a day with no snacks. I’ve also added for myself a fast on Diet Coke, which may just be harder than the missed food! But with only two days down and three to go, I already have already experienced some “Aha” moments in identifying with the extreme poor. One evening as I was putting our small portions of rice and pieces of chicken into bowls, I thought about how much meat to give each person in our family of 4. Then I imagined a mom who every day has to divide up such meager portions – usually with little or no meat – and decide whether to distribute the food evenly, give the older people more, or sacrifice some of her own. These are excruciating decisions I never have to make. I’ve also noticed how limited my energy is throughout the day with so little protein and overall calories. It’s harder to do my work, and my work is not physically challenging. I can’t imagine walking a mile or more with a huge jug on my back to get decent water, or working on a garden in oppressive heat when the body lacks energy. Our family is already talking about what we look forward to eating on Saturday when the fast is over. But as my husband reminded me, the extreme poor never get a break from bland eating and hunger pangs. This is their life, every single day, just enough to survive, no promise of a treat around the corner. I hope my daughters are experiencing some of these “Aha” moments in the midst of their complaints. This is a memory that can serve us well if we pay attention. When I think of how hungry I feel, I try to offer up a prayer for those who are hungry on a relentless basis. This has been good for my soul…

The Morning After

Nancy Beach — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:02:00 GMT

This past weekend we launched a 3-week campaign at our church we’re calling Celebration of Hope. Our focus is on limiting our consumption in order to feed hungry children in Zimbabwe. I had the privilege of speaking about Poverty and Hunger in our services, digging into the Scriptures such as the story Jesus told in Luke 12 about the rich man who kept building bigger barns. What an accurate image of we Americans and our meaningless over-consumption! Meanwhile, a silent holocaust takes place every year as 6 million children under the age of 5 die of hunger-related causes. I rejoice in the growing passion of our congregation to voluntarily limit our consumption and make sacrifices to serve the under-resourced. Part of our campaign includes a 5-day Solidarity with the Poor eating plan that will run from today through Friday. We’ve challenged people to eat just three simple meals a day (approximately a l cup portion), with no snacks, soft drinks, etc. When we feel those hunger pangs, we will identify with the 1 billion people on our planet who live on less than $1.00 a day. My husband and I are engaging in this plan with our teen-age daughters, who have already whined a bit, but are willing to give it a shot. I think this is a tremendous way we can help our kids grasp the vast inequities between the poor and the non-poor. For three weeks, leading up to Mothers Day, we are all finding ways to limit our consumption in other ways as well, saving the resources and putting the funds in an envelope to pay for the 3.5 million meals we are packing and sending to Zimbabwe. Those meals will feed 15,000 children for one entire year! We already have almost all the required 15,000 volunteer slots filled for 2 hours of meal packing. It looks like we’ll have to turn away some people who really want to serve. In Guest Central, our location for greeting people after the service, I enjoyed some tremendous conversations. One woman, with tears in her eyes, told me she had been deeply moved by the service. Her plan had been to go shopping after church to buy some Gucci shoes she had saved for. Instead, she pressed $1,000. of cash into my hand and asked for the money to go toward Celebration of Hope. (I don’t know why she was carrying so much cash!) There’s such a deep joy in giving, and I could see that joy all over her face. We have a long way to go in this country toward caring for the poor, and I know I still have a lot of growing to do. But I do celebrate evidence of progress as hearts are softening. Nothing could be closer to the heart of God.

The Last Lecture

Pam Howell — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:20:00 GMT

Did anyone catch The Last Lecture: A Love Story for Your Life? ABC and Diane Sawyer told the story of Randy Pausch. Randy is a husband, father of 3 beautiful children, and an inspiration to many people around the world. In September of 2006, Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His condition is terminal. In September, Randy delivered his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a professor in the computer-science department. The lecture made it to the intranet and to date has been viewed by over 6 million people. One of the most moving portions of the program last night was hearing how his story has changed the way people live their lives. He inspired them to change their thinking and to live differently. Artists and teachers have the same opportunity each weekend, tell the story of a life transformed by Jesus Christ. A few weeks back the creative team at my church weaved 3 people’s story about how God has used His Word to speak to them and change their lives, with music and the spoken word. It was beautiful and inspiring. It helped me remember how faithful God’s Word has been to me and my family. I was wondering how you have been telling stories at your church. What creative elements have been supporting your stories?

Salem Baptist and Willow Creek Build Bridges

Nancy Beach — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:50:00 GMT

We have a tradition the last few years at our church to focus our services on Martin Luther King weekend toward bridging the racial divide. I’m still glowing from the joy of our services yesterday, when we partnered with Salem Baptist Church, the largest African American church in Illinois. This partnership is not new – we’ve been building friendships with the great people at Salem ever since our pastors, Bill Hybels and Rev. James Meeks, began their unique relationship a few years ago. Since then, core members of their church and ours have taken an annual Justice Journey together – visiting the key sights in the South where major events connected to the Civil Rights movement took place. Bill has preached at Salem Baptist, our high school ministries have visited one another, and I am growing a friendship with Salem’s arts leader, Walter Owens, and his wife Terri, who is a pastor and teacher. Salem brought one of their choirs and a small band to serve us, and believe me, our church was rockin’! Then I had the privilege of interviewing Bill and Rev. Meeks, to explore together what we can practically do to right the wrongs of our country’s history and seek justice for people of all colors. We unpacked some of our learnings from the outstanding book, Divided by Faith. That book challenges the assumption of most white Americans that if we are not racist as individuals, if we are open to friendships with people from another race and very respectful, then we don’t need to worry about “the race issue.” What we fail to take into account are the structural inequities in our country, as a result of 400 years of enslaving African Americans and then decades of Jim Crow laws. Rev. Meeks was quick to acknowledge that none of us created these problems – but we must do what we can to make things right. The playing field simply is not level when it comes to education, employment, housing, and overall opportunities for black Americans. I urge you to read Divided by Faith and allow it to stretch your thinking and make you uncomfortable. The most segregated hour of the week in America is still Sunday morning at ll:00 am. Most of us worship with people who look just like us. There are many reasons for this reality, but we are learning that when we move out of our comfort zones, when church becomes a more diverse place, we are all enriched. Whereas about ten years ago Willow was about 98% Caucasian, we now enjoy at least 20% non-Caucasians. This is a much more accurate reflection of the growing diversity within twenty minutes of our campus. On this Martin Luther King day, I want to be a part of the solution. Not only do I want to continue building friendships across the racial divide – I also want to figure out what I can do on a practical level to help right some of the injustices that still exist. I’m not yet sure what that will entail, but I look forward to figuring it out in community. How grateful I am that the dream of Dr. King is fundamentally rooted in the heart of God. One day we will all worship together from every nation and every tongue. As Bill said yesterday, we need to taste that experience so much more this side of heaven.

Do I Want To Be Called a Christian?

Nancy Beach — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:55:00 GMT

Recently I had an encounter with a Christian couple when the conversation briefly turned to politics. Upon hearing the name of one politician, all of a sudden the woman became quite huffy, and quickly degraded the man in a way that just felt mean. In that moment, I experienced a desire to disassociate myself from the category known as Christians. The lack of tolerance, grace, and civility expressed by some people in the evangelical faith – especially when discussing certain political and moral issues – quite honestly embarrasses me. I am not at all surprised that the young people interviewed by Dan Kimball for his book, They Like Jesus, But Not the Church, listed intolerance as one of the primary reasons they avoid communities of faith. Christians are perceived to be those who hold tightly to a quite narrow set of beliefs, and then cast anyone who disagrees as immoral, evil, and not worth listening to. Like it or not, we are cast in this light, and I, for one, am so very tired of it. When challenged by the label intolerant, many Christians become defensive, saying that we must hold strongly to our beliefs, that Jesus promised us we would be persecuted for taking the narrow way, and that only wimpy people who don’t stand for anything are really called tolerant. I find myself wondering if there can’t be another option, somewhere between intolerance and not standing for anything. I think that place must include the skills of listening, really listening, and genuinely loving others who may hold different points of view, who are continually asking questions, and who should matter to us because they matter to God. If we step back and look at the bigger picture, the name Christian was given to those early believers because they were Christ-ones, men and women who were known as followers of Jesus. It is a name that we should be able to wear with dignity and pride, and with a sense of awe and responsibility that we would have the privilege to be associated with our leader, Jesus Christ. The whole idea of spiritual growth is to become more like Jesus, which includes his primary characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, justice, grace, humility, kindness…If we play the word association game with non-believers today and ask them for the first words they think of when they hear the word Christian, many if not most of them would not list those fruits of the Spirit-filled life. Sadly, they might be more inclined to say words like intolerant, mean, haughty, exclusive, and selfish. Our reputation is not at all what I think we want it to be. So here’s my question in all of this – how can we become more tolerant without letting go of what we firmly believe? What is required for our reputation to be transformed? What would tolerance look like in our communities of faith, both in our individual encounters throughout the week as well as in our weekly gatherings? We must face the reality of how we are perceived…and then seek guidance for how to forge a different path. I think all of us want to bear the name Christian proudly, and recapture its meaning among those who look at us from the outside. What do you think? For a link to Dan Kimball's book, They Like Jesus, But Not the Church click here.