Destiny Drops Tonight

So long as all goes as planned, tonight will be the third "gift" drop in my current art series "Given Presence." I have doubled the amount of works (16 gifts) and have added a little flair (little painted stars) to create a larger impact. As usual, the drop will be in the arts district of Kansas City during First Fridays. If you would like to check out this new work which contains the poetic summation of my thoughts on Destiny then check it out here. Peace and enjoy the Fourth!

Tillich’s Creative Destiny

”Providence is a permanent activity of God. He never is a spectator; he always directs everything toward its fulfillment. Yet God’s directing creativity always creates through the spontaneity and structural wholeness of all creatures . . . It works through the conditions of individual, social, and universal existence, through finitude, non-being and anxiety, through the interdependence of all finite things, through their resistance against the divine activity and through the destructive consequences of this resistance. All existential conditions are included in God’s directing creativity. They are not increased or decreased in power, nor are they cancelled. Providence is not interference, it is creation. It uses all factors, both those given by freedom and those given by destiny, in creatively directing everything toward its fulfillment."
- Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, Vol 1

Barth's (pre)Destiny

“Predestination means that from all eternity God has determined upon man’s acquital at His own cost.”
- Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics

“Barth wants to eliminate any sense that God’s love for us is somehow conditional upon or determined by us. Though the reformers affirmed salvation by God’s grace alone, many of their heirs came to speak of salvation as a result of something we did, thought or felt:“If you repent and believe, then you will be saved. If not, you will not be saved.” We like that message because we live in a culture in which our subjectivity and our actions tend to be everything. . . [However] Barth’s view of salvation is strongly “objective” --our feelings and response have little to do with it. Barth means to say, in effect, Jesus Christ has accomplished your salvation. This is [the] undeniable,ultimately irrstable fact. (49)“
- Will Willimon, Who will be Saved?

The Destiny of All Things

“Who knows, maybe there isn’t a vain of stars calling out my name.“

- The Flamming Lips

As a christian concerned with the overarching narrative dimensions of the Gospel, it is not so much the individual as it is the communal aspects which tend to rule my theological thinking. Hence when considering something like Destiny, I tend to think not of an individual’s role in the Kingdom of God so much as its eventual and unavoidable arrival and full fruition. Destiny thus strikes me with comforting assurance. The Rule of God will one day come to its full and unfettered expression and because God is who God is, all will be well.

"Scribe"

If you live in the KC area and are into graffiti “Scribe” is the name you will come to know. A bit of a local celebrity, now going international, Scribe (aka Don Ross) is widely known for his cute and whimsical aerosol characters which appear in most (if not all) of Kansas City’s most well known productions (murals). Member of the famed DF Crew whose members consist of some of the best writers (graff artists) in the world, Scribe’s mark is as ubiquitous as it is deft; the quality of his work equal to its quantity. His work can be seen on local walls, buses, flyers, t-shirts, advertisements, billboards and in art galleries. Last year Scribe even co-authored his first children’s book, There’s An Octopus Under My Bed (you should purchase one for your kids, we bought one and we don’t’ even have kids!)

Beyond all this activity Scribe is a super nice guy. My wife and I finally had the privilege to meet him at a recent show where we purchased the piece shown on the left. For us this makes the second piece we have purchased from Scribe and will make a happy edition to our home. His work is a reminder of life’s wonder, wit and beauty. We will enjoy it.

Finally I have added a more permanent link to Scribe's site under my Kansas City artist's links. Make sure you check it out. Also i would like to thank Scribe for your continuing to share your talent with Kansas City. You and your crews make Kansas City an awesome scene to be a part of.

Going (Returning)

After a few months of obsessing over my new job I think I am ready to return to the blogosphere. In this short time away several things have taken place intentionally as well as incidentally. First we put a new floor in my studio space downstairs, which looks outstanding (While installing this snap-in-place vinyl flooring the best “That’s what she said” occurred upon my father-in-law’s insistent declaration “Its in. Now pound it!” I could hardly swing the hammer I laughed so hard). Next, I got a new Playstation 3 to help me stop obsessing about work (I needed something mindless to pursue so I started playing Little Big Planet which is ironically artistic). Also my wife landed a new job which starts next week and has also purchased a Mini which is currently in Oxford being built (Her car is 10 years plus and has been breaking down a lot the last few months so we figured, what the hell). Yesterday I preached my first funeral for a person of no particular faith to which I applied a more universalistic hermeneutic (My father would not approve). Finally today I returned to making some art for the first time since starting my new job (which I love by the way).
And so dear friends I hope to resume an artistic conversation. Thanks to all who kept checking in or who at least kept my link on their blogs. I hope to be posting here with more frequency but be patient with me. This job of my still weighs heavy on my heart and mind.

Make Me

I have been busy reading, thinking, praying, searching . . . and finding. I have found (or perhaps I have been found) a new job as a hospice bereavement coordinator which starts in exactly one week . I am excited and nervous. This is a big step for me since graduating with my pastoral ministry degree in 06 and I hope to do well as I put so much of that knowledge and experience to work. My somewhat obsessive personality has me turning the possibilities over and over in my mind. And for at least awhile dear friends the art of blogging will be somewhat sparse for me as a new ministry begins.

“Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace.”
- Saint Francis