THE GENEALOGY at the end of Matthew chapter 1 is curious, isn’t it? After a long and, to many ears, boring list of begetting names and family lineages, the story ends with the news of Mary’s scandalous pregnancy and Joseph grappling with a miserable decision—publicly shame Mary (with the resulting possibility of her death!) or divorce her without a fuss, but likely to a life of misery and loneliness.

There are nights that I fall into my pillows with a mind full of restless and toxic thoughts that keep me staring at my white ceiling and from much-needed sleep. Nonetheless, what occupies my mind is nothing compared to what Joseph was dealing with upon the news that Mary was pregnant. His days must have been filled with a paralyzing sadness at this betrayal, and nights restless with their tossing and turning as he faced what seemed like only two options. Imagine: You’re excited about the prospects of marriage, you’re moving through the betrothal stage of the process—more than an engagement but not yet marriage— working diligently to ensure that all is lined up for a wedding feast that will include friends, family, and days of eating, drinking, and celebrating only to be told months before the big day(s) that you’re going to be a dad and, oh, by the way, the baby isn’t yours (of course!) or even another man’s!

When Joseph is finally able to sleep after stewing over the pain of his impending Solomonic decision, he is visited in his slumber, and the dream changes his life. A messenger from God appears to him and whispers, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20–21).

Here’s the thing: Joseph is a simple worker of wood; he is not any rabbi’s apprentice. Nonetheless, he is a faithful Jew—going to temple on High Holy Days, observing feasts and fasts, and having some understanding of the Hebrew Scripture from the training of his youth. The angel’s proclamation of the Spirit’s presence could possibly have made some sense to him. And yet, what he’s told in the depth of his REM sleep that night causes him to take massive action and redirect the entire course of his life. When Joseph wakes, he knows what to do. Does doubt linger? How could it not? Is he still confused? Probably. Does he begin to calculate the reputational cost of his obedience? Likely. But there is no wavering for Joseph.

The Spirit’s work—that which began at the creation of the cosmos, continued through the kings and prophets as told in the early scrolls, and that animates his ancient world—that work must continue. It must be birthed. And the child, “Jesus”—not a unique name of that generation or time, but one with the immeasurably important promise he will save his people from their sins—will be received and cared for by his earthly father and presented to the world.

After nights struggling under a shroud of doom obscuring his family’s future, Joseph rises that morning with a renewed call and a God-word that rests upon his shoulders. The dawn of a new day has begun. The dawn of a new life is promised. The dawn of a new creation is about to break through, and the dark of the night has been dispelled. Everything has been changed.

George Sweetman has served as the dean of student life at Tyndale University in Toronto for the past 25 years.

This article is part of A Time for Wonder, a 4-week devotional to help individuals, small groups, and families journey through the 2024 Advent season. Learn more about this special issue that can be used Advent, or any time of year at http://orderct.com/advent.

The post Restless Nights and Renewed Callings appeared first on Christianity Today.

I CAN STILL REMEMBER our first trip home as a family after my daughter was born. I don’t know that I had ever driven as safely or as slowly as I did when we left the hospital. We had been anticipating this moment for nearly a year, but for all the appointments and books and classes and redecorating, nothing prepared me for the sudden and colossal change I had undergone. I was now a father. The safety net of the hospital was disappearing in the rearview mirror, and each creaking mile took me further into an entirely new reality.

The complicated thing about parenting is that you receive an identity change before you really know what to do with it. I became a father when I first heard my daughter cry. She’s ten now, and in so many ways I am still becoming her father. What might have felt akin to impostor syndrome early on has shifted into an indelible piece of who I am. Faithfulness through success and failure has yielded the fruit of that change.

I think about this experience often when I read about Joseph. Matthew describes him as a righteous man, who prioritized care for his betrothed and obedience to the law of Moses. When he sees that Mary is pregnant, before they were married and could conceive, his response indicates that he holds his righteousness even above his heartache, as he likely suspects infidelity. But as he moves toward a quiet divorce, saving Mary public shame, a messenger of God intervenes as Joseph is dreaming one night. The child in Mary’s womb is the work of the Holy Spirit, he is told, and this son will save God’s people from their sins. The dream ends, and Joseph rises to a new identity and with it, a new world. He might have gone to bed a heartbroken man, but he wakes up a committed husband and father.

Mary’s experience is the focal point of the other three gospel accounts, and they provide a vivid depiction of what it looks like for her to faithfully respond to the word of God. Our experience with the Holy Spirit operates on a similar trajectory. We are forever changed by grace at the core of who we are, and the new life inside of us is to be displayed as a tangible testimony. We nurture and care for what is within so that it might go out to serve the world around us.

In Matthew’s gospel, Joseph presents us with a different vantage point. While Mary nurtured life toward its external revelation, Joseph is called as a father to witness something outside of himself that will one day occupy the center of his heart.

After the message in his dream, Joseph’s whole life became an expression of waiting. The promise from God’s messenger carried no details or dates. Joseph is to be Jesus’ earthly father, but his choice to receive that calling is less a one-time acceptance and more a daily choice to follow through with his new identity and the responsibilities it entails.

I will not attempt to speak for the Bible in its silence, but we know the realities of parenting that Joseph would have experienced. We can faithfully imagine his heart swelling as he heard Jesus’ first words. We can picture Joseph hurting with Jesus, as the Son wept over his first cut or scrape. Joseph, righteous and obedient, called to fatherhood in a dream, was surely learning to be a father as he watched Jesus dream peacefully in his sleep. This humble man who followed behind a toddler clumsily racing through his home will one day follow proudly behind a triumphant, risen king.

Advent shows us there is a burden and a beauty after awakening. Those who have seen a great light carry a responsibility to steward new life. But what is within us is at work around us, too. All things are indeed being made new. Joseph teaches us that those who wait will also witness.

Caleb Saenz is lead pastor of The Garden, a church planted in San Antonio in 2023.

This article is part of A Time for Wonder, a 4-week devotional to help individuals, small groups, and families journey through the 2024 Advent season. Learn more about this special issue that can be used Advent, or any time of year at http://orderct.com/advent.

The post The Eternal Testimony of Jesus’ Parents appeared first on Christianity Today.

THE PROPHETIC VISIONS splintered through Simeon’s mind in a fraction of a second as a teenage girl and young man walked up the temple steps with their child. The images of what had been and would come, contained within this bundle coming to meet him.

War and rumors of war.
Peace and a marriage feast.

A scrap of linen swaddling cloth.
Linen temple drapes torn in half.

The groans of a Jewish girl laboring in a stable.
The tear-stained cheeks of a mother kneeling at a cross.

Each image pointed to the completion of the promise he’d waited for his whole life: a Messiah who would usher in a world turned upside down on itself, a world where the meek were strong and the rich became poor. He might have laughed at the irony of the sight before him. A tiny baby with the strength to snuff out death, and an impoverished couple witnessing the greatest coronation in history. This is the blessing Simeon would give the God-child as his calloused hands held the infant: the blessing of paradox, for he will be the rise and fall of many Israelites.

Luke doesn’t write much about Simeon beyond describing him as a “righteous and devout man” (v. 25). We aren’t given the detailed story of the day Simeon met Jesus, and the gaps leave ripe room for imagining what Simeon experienced during those long-awaited moments. What did it feel like to wait all those years? Was he ever tempted to speed up the process, to look for the Savior another way?

As we peer through Simeon’s ancient eyes, we realize that the promise of Advent is both slow and mysterious. It requires both waiting and wondering. Personally, I’m not very good at slowness. I tend to sprint through Advent with the rest of the world, dutifully ticking away the days on my December calendar; hurry through the mysterious and confusing bits; get to the candlelit “Silent Night” and festive presents. I rush though as if the less I think about the grit of Bethlehem, the more I can enjoy the twinkling lights and Christmas trees and gingerbread houses. My impatience is a way to resist the lingering questions.

But then I remember Simeon. Simeon waited. And waited. Along with many of the other prophets in the Bible, Simeon dwelled in the paradox of Advent for years. Unlike me with my chocolate calendar, Simeon didn’t have the luxury of a countdown or the ease of knowing how the story would end. He just got comfortable with the one thing he knew: God would fulfill what he had promised.

We, like Simeon, are waiting in the afternoon shadows of the in-between between Jesus’ saving work on the cross and the ultimate redemption of his second coming. The scandal of the Christmas story is that it flips our vision of the world upside down and gives us a new way of seeing. In doing so, it demands that we surrender our tendency to rush and to rationalize. How would the Christmas story change for us if we allowed ourselves to be wrapped up in the radical profundity of it all—of a child that causes both “falling and rising” (v.34)? Of divinity intermingled with the gritty, ordinary chaos of humanity? If we paused long enough, what pains, questions, and promises would bubble up to the surface? Advent offers us the gentle invitation to model Simeon’s posture, waiting patiently, pondering, and wondering.

Lily Journey is a non-profit professional, poetry enthusiast, event creative, and writer.

This article is part of A Time for Wonder, a 4-week devotional to help individuals, small groups, and families journey through the 2024 Advent season. Learn more about this special issue that can be used Advent, or any time of year at http://orderct.com/advent.

The post To See a Prophecy Fulfilled appeared first on Christianity Today.

We often engage a wide spectrum of experience during this unique season. Ecclesiastes bears testimony to the reality that there is a specific time for everything—for planting and sowing; for crying and laughing; for lamentation and celebration. Wherever the Christmas season finds you this year, you can take heart in the fact that God orders reality according to seasons and rhythms that are sometimes dark and sometimes light; sometimes heavy and sometimes full of levity.

In this Advent devotional from Christianity Today, we move through the cycle of morning, afternoon, and evening, each with its own tone and specific reality to press into. As we move through the weeks of Advent, this devotional guides us along a journey through times of renewal, trial, revelation, and ultimately to a time of wonder at the great gift that we have at Christmas: Christ’s incarnation on Earth, his taking on flesh for the sake of love and our salvation. Dive in, find the time to witness the days of Advent through the eyes of wonder, and join as we worship together.

The post A Time for Wonder appeared first on Christianity Today.

I ONCE HEARD SOMEONE CLAIM that if you could enter a black hole and reach the event horizon, you would see into the past and future simultaneously. My attempts to wrap my head around this have not yet been successful. I’m no physicist, but I do understand what it is like to stare at my past or to try to see into my future.

Typically, this causes problems. Looking to the past often leads to regret, shame, or depression about what has happened and cannot be changed. Looking to the future often leads to worry, fear, or anxiety about what may happen. The reason for this, I think, is that my gaze is focused solely on myself. In contrast, Christ calls us out of ourselves to look to him. During the Advent season we are invited to look to the past at what Christ has done, even as we look to the future hope of what he will do when he comes again.

David had his eyes set upon Christ when he composed Psalm 110. In the opening lines, God speaks to someone that David calls, “my lord.” In other words, God is talking to King David’s king. This King of Kings is our Savior, Jesus Christ (Acts 2:34–36). The psalm paints a portrait of Christ as victor over God’s enemies, ruler of the nations, powerful, vibrant, and just.

As if this picture wasn’t magnificent enough, the psalm adds another layer to the image: Christ is also a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews explains why this is significant: “[Melchizedek is] without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever” (Heb. 7:3). Christ is an eternal priest, unlike the Levitical priests of the Old Testament, a perfect and continuous mediator, intercessor, and advocate between God and his people.

In this poem, David invites us to focus our thoughts, our affections, and our desires on a vision of the priest-king Jesus Christ. As we look into the past and behold the birth, life, suffering, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ we are drawn out of our regret, shame, and depression. Christ is king; he has the power to ensure there is nothing that has happened to us, or by us, that God will not use for good (Rom. 8:28). Christ is our priest; all our shame and guilt has been dealt with on the cross.

More than that, Christ has conquered death and the Holy Spirit who brought Christ to life dwells in us, giving us new life and hope for the future. Our worries, our fears, and our anxieties are put into proper perspective when we look to Christ and remember that just as he came once, he will come again to destroy evil, uphold justice, and save his people.

For a psalm so full of violent imagery—enemies made into a footstool, shattered kings, corpses filling the nations—David ends on a surprisingly calm note. In the midst of judging the nations the priest-king stops to take a break. The final portrait David paints for us is of Christ, pausing to take a drink of cool, refreshing water from a brook, then lifting up his head (v. 7). His pause indicates that the end of all things is not yet upon us. We stand in our present moment—the event horizon, if you will—between the first and second coming of Christ. Rather than obsessively staring at our own past or future, through this psalm, Christ invites us to look at him to find forgiveness, identity, peace, security, and hope in what he has done for us in the past, and in what he will do when he returns in the future to establish his reign as priest and king, once and for all.

Andrew Menkis is a theology teacher, with his poetry and prose published in Modern Reformation, Ekstasis, The Gospel Coalition, and Core Christianity.

This article is part of A Time for Wonder, a 4-week devotional to help individuals, small groups, and families journey through the 2024 Advent season. Learn more about this special issue that can be used Advent, or any time of year at http://orderct.com/advent.

The post The Event Horizon of Advent appeared first on Christianity Today.

Una vez escuché a alguien decir que si uno pudiera entrar en un agujero negro y alcanzar el horizonte de un suceso, uno podría ver el pasado y el futuro simultáneamente. Por mucho que me he esforzado por comprender esto, todavía no lo consigo. Mis conocimientos en física son limitados; sin embargo, sí entiendo lo que significa contemplar mi pasado o tratar de vislumbrar mi futuro.

Por lo general, esto causa problemas. Mirar con frecuencia al pasado lleva al lamento, la vergüenza o la depresión con respecto a lo que pasó y no puede ser cambiado. Mirar al futuro a menudo lleva a la preocupación, temor o ansiedad sobre lo que puede suceder. La razón por la que pasa esto, me parece, es que mi mirada está enfocada solo en mí mismo. Por el contrario, Cristo nos llama a quitar los ojos de nosotros mismos y a mirarlo a Él. Durante la temporada de Adviento, recibimos la invitación a mirar hacia el pasado a lo que Cristo ya hizo, a la vez que miramos a la esperanza futura de lo que hará cuando regrese.

David tenía sus ojos fijos en Cristo cuando compuso el Salmo 110. En las primeras líneas, Dios le habla a alguien que David llama «mi Señor». En otras palabras, Dios está hablando con el Rey del rey David. Este Rey de reyes es nuestro Salvador, Jesucristo (Hechos 2:34–36). El salmo pinta un retrato de Cristo como el vencedor sobre los enemigos de Dios, como el gobernador de las naciones, poderoso, vibrante y justo. Y como si esta imagen no fuera magnífica en sí misma, el salmo le agrega otra capa: Cristo es también sacerdote según el orden de Melquisedec. El autor de la carta a los Hebreos explica por qué esto es tan significativo: «[Melquisedec] no tiene padre ni madre ni genealogía; no tiene comienzo ni fin, pero, a semejanza del Hijo de Dios, permanece como sacerdote para siempre» (Hebreos 7:3). Cristo es un sacerdote eterno que, a diferencia de los sacerdotes levitas del Antiguo Testamento, es un mediador perfecto y constante: un intercesor y defensor entre Dios y su pueblo.

En este poema, David nos invita a fijar nuestros pensamientos, afectos y deseos en una visión del rey sacerdote Jesucristo. Cuando miramos al pasado y contemplamos el nacimiento, vida, sufrimiento, crucifixión, resurrección y ascenso de Cristo, dejamos de ver nuestro lamento, vergüenza y depresión. Cristo es rey: Él tiene el poder para asegurarse de que no haya nada que hayamos experimentado o hecho que Dios no use para bien (Romanos 8:28). Cristo es nuestro sacerdote: toda nuestra culpa y vergüenza han sido resueltas en la cruz. Más que eso, Cristo conquistó la muerte y el Espíritu Santo que lo devolvió a la vida mora en nosotros y nos da vida nueva para el futuro. Nuestras preocupaciones, temores y ansiedades son puestos en la perspectiva correcta cuando miramos a Cristo y recordamos que así como Él vino una vez, volverá de nuevo para acabar con la maldad, hacer justicia y salvar a su pueblo.

Para un salmo repleto de imágenes de violencia —enemigos puestos por estrado, reyes aplastados y cadáveres amontonados en las naciones—, David culmina con un tono sorprendentemente pacífico. En medio del juicio a las naciones, el rey sacerdote se detiene para descansar un momento. La imagen final que David nos muestra es de Cristo haciendo una pausa para tomar agua fresca de un arroyo, para finalmente levantar su cabeza (v. 7). Su pausa indica que el fin de todas las cosas aún no está cerca. Permanecemos en nuestro tiempo presente —digamos, el horizonte del suceso— entre la primera y la segunda venida de Cristo. En lugar de contemplar obsesivamente nuestro pasado o futuro, a través de este salmo, Cristo nos invita a mirarlo a Él y encontrar perdón, identidad, paz, seguridad y esperanza en lo que Él hizo por nosotros en el pasado, y en lo que hará cuando regrese en el futuro para establecer su reino como sacerdote y rey, una vez y para siempre.

Andrew Menkis es profesor de teología. Su poesía y prosa han sido publicadas en Modern Reformation, Ekstasis, The Gospel Coalition y Core Christianity.

The post Adviento en el horizonte appeared first on Christianity Today en español | Cristianismo hoy.

Tal vez resulte extraño guiar nuestras meditaciones navideñas en torno al libro de Eclesiastés. A medida que comienza diciembre, no hay tiempo para pensar en la fugacidad de la vida, ¡hay que limpiar la casa, preparar comida navideña, envolver regalos y pasar tiempo con la familia! Sin embargo, quizá esta agitada temporada es exactamente el momento apropiado para reflexionar sobre la naturaleza efímera de nuestras vidas.

A menudo participamos en muchas actividades durante esta temporada. El libro de Eclesiastés afirma que hay un tiempo específico para todo: para plantar y cosechar, para llorar y reír, para lamentarse y celebrar. Cualquiera que sea el estado en el que te encuentres en esta temporada navideña, deseo que encuentres ánimo en el hecho de que Dios guía nuestras vidas por medio de periodos y ritmos que a veces tienen luz y a veces sombra, que a veces son livianos y a veces parecen más pesados de lo que podemos soportar.

En este devocional de Adviento de Christianity Today, seguimos el curso de la mañana, la tarde y la noche, y cada una tiene su propio tono y realidad específica. A medida que avanzamos por las semanas de Adviento, este devocional nos guía a través de temporadas de renuevo, prueba, revelación, y en última instancia, a un tiempo de asombro ante el gran regalo con el que nos encontramos en la Navidad: el nacimiento de Cristo en la tierra, su encarnación por amor y por nuestra salvación. Adéntrate en esta aventura; encuentra el tiempo para ser testigo de los días de Adviento a través de la lente del asombro y únete a nosotros a medida que adoramos juntos.

Semana 1

Adviento en el horizonte

Andrew Menkis

Semana 2

Después de la calamidad, Dios se acerca

Aaron Cline Hanbury

Semana 3

La gran luz del futuro

Morgan Mitchell

Semana 4

El asombro de la Navidad nos invita a acercarnos

Isaac Gay

The post Lecturas devocionales de Adviento 2024 de Christianity Today appeared first on Christianity Today en español | Cristianismo hoy.

Surprised, he pointed at a maroon-covered, finely printed journal lying on his desk, the word Image emblazoned across the top. Below the title, a description: Art. Faith. Mystery. As the dean of students at a Christian liberal arts university, he knew his way around a landscape that I was just beginning to roam.

The direction of my life was permanently altered at that moment. I found a world that took seriously the things I loved: faith, books, imagination, the creation of culture, and the development of craft. It lit a fire in my chest. But ten years later, it feels like that world is crumbling—or is at least on quaking ground. In February, Image announced it was shuttering after 35 years of operation for financial reasons—and then, in March, joyfully reversed its announcement after an outpouring of support. Other small magazines and presses haven’t made the same comeback, and Christians in the Visual Arts announced it was disbanding last year.

From my vantage, these closures don’t demonstrate a lack of energy, talent, or interest in arts and literature in the church. In some ways, the arts and faith movement—led by writers, painters, poets, and photographers who live by a drumbeat not usually highlighted in Christian community—seems to be swelling to a crescendo.

But the lack of institutional viability and support is palpable. Major streams that watered the literary and artistic ecosystem of the American church seem to be drying up all at once.

Budding artists and seasoned writers feel left to fend for themselves, as seen in widely discussed reflections from Lore Ferguson Wilbert and Jen Pollock Michel on the publishing world. Creative gatherings for Christians are often difficult to fund and organize; there’s a precarious feeling that their existence must be constantly justified. It’s no coincidence that so much Christian writing today is in a personal and confessional mode—there’s a quiet cry going up from artists in our pews to have genuine spiritual and aesthetic community.

Small magazines can fill that need, serving as “experiential labs and community hubs for rising and established writers and thought leaders,” said Sara Kyoungah White, a former editor at the Lausanne Movement who is now a copyeditor at Christianity Today.

White found community, she told me, in small magazines like CT’s Ekstasis (the magazine that came out of that conversation with my dad), Foreshadow, and Fathom. Writing in those pages allowed her to explore her faith through the kind of nuance and poetry that have grown rare in these didactic times. She could engage with the works of like-minded creatives and re-enter the literary and cultural landscape with a Christocentric lens. Such communities evoked those of artistic and literary greats like Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and James Joyce, who gathered in the salons of Paris.

But you don’t have to be a writer or artist yourself to benefit from flourishing Christian literary and artistic communities. “The best way to think about literary publications is as part of a larger ecosystem of ideas,” said Paul J. Pastor, senior acquisitions editor at Zondervan, in an interview.

Reading for the Love of the World

Sara Kyoungah White

“Any ecologist will tell you that the resilience and vibrancy of an ecosystem depends on the ‘little’ guys just as much as—and sometimes more than—the ‘big’ guys,” explained Pastor. “Just like in a forest, where the ‘keystone species’ holding an ecosystem is often a type of creature overlooked or invisible to most people, so there is a specific and important contribution of the small literary publication that may well be essential and irreplaceable—and only fully seen by the wider collapses that follow when it goes away.”

Without that hindsight, though, institutional support for this kind of community can be a tough sell in the church. A literary magazine may not bring in new converts or keep the church lights on. Why should we financially support work that doesn’t have quantifiable, utilitarian value?

Most succinctly, we should do it to foster a vibrant and beautiful culture in the church. God has embedded a hunger for beauty in the human spirit, and God’s own interest in beauty is evident in his Word. We see it in the artistic call of Bezalel to weave pomegranates with red, purple, and blue thread onto the robes worn into the Holy of Holies (Ex. 28:31–35; 35:30–35); in the masterful poetic structure of the Psalms; in the epic language of apocalypse and prophecy.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to be aware of how we are satiating our hunger for beauty. Are we developing a taste for what is good and an aversion to the acrid flavor of evil? Are we more influenced by beauty that orients us to the strange and unexpected work of God in the world—or by political slogans and self-help books?

The power of the small literary magazine is in its ability to confront us with new ideas, to expand our palates to the overlooked, the strange, the serendipitous, the delightful. This will never be very measurable, but that does not make it unnecessary. “The contributions of ‘small’ writers and literary publications are immense, but their influence can be difficult to trace,” Pastor told me. “You can’t know how an image or idea developed in a poem or short story may awaken something in a reader who, years later, will write or paint or talk or sculpt it out, perhaps for an audience of millions, perhaps just for one person whose life may be saved, and in turn—who knows?”

“But,” he added, “what such artists need, what such a movement needs, always, is a passionate and supportive audience.”

Groundbreaking storytelling requires backing and bulwarks. In the mid-20th century, that looked like “grants, residencies, affiliations, and academic positions.” In the Renaissance, it was elite patronage. Perhaps now, we need a new model to make room for what Anne Snyder, editor of Comment, in an interview called “the necessary wrestling with tougher stuff: arguments, substantive debates, being unafraid to be political when necessary, the hard calls that choosing the Jesus Way necessitates … a combination of cultural chutzpah and a delight in the imago Dei.”

That may seem like a daunting or even risky proposition, but Pastor is hopeful. “There is a new generation producing absolutely remarkable work,” he said, “and while the organizations that support us are fragile, it has always been that way.” A century from now, he predicted, ours will be remembered “as a renewal moment in Christian literature. And all of us get to participate in it.”

The ceaseless work of creation, education, and tending to the depths of the human spirit will continue. But we can advance it with bold and creative institutions tasked with bridging image and word, mind and spirit, for the sake of the church.

Humans will satisfy this hunger for beauty one way or another. As God’s people, we should host the feast.

Conor Sweetman is the director of innovation and collaboration at Christianity Today and editor of Ekstasis.

Repairing the Evangelical House Means Renewing the Evangelical Imagination

Carolyn Weber

Metaphors Have a Power That’s More Than Metaphorical

Raed Truett Gilliam

Reason and Logic Belong to God. So Do Imagination and Myth.

Louis Markos

The post The Church Loses When Our Arts Communities Die appeared first on Christianity Today.

Even a cursory glance at any historical period shows us that artistry plays a central role in developing culture and sustaining healthy, thriving communities. In the 6th century BC, when King Nebuchadnezzar captured the Israelites and set about dismantling the nation, he not only exiled the military, he also made sure to destroy the artists and craftsmen (2 Kings 24).

He knew that if he wanted to conquer Jerusalem, he would not only have to overcome the military force, but also those who were responsible for establishing the heart and soul of the culture, the makers.

The formation of creative community has encountered a different kind of adversary in the West. The Industrial Revolution mechanized and streamlined production for the sake of simple uniformity; the focus on efficiency and profit drove craftsmanship into the shadows. Creativity was mortgaged to save margins, and the flourishes and personal qualities of gifted artisans were left to fend for themselves in a harsh economic arena.

Unfortunately, the local church has not been immune to this focus on efficiency. The rise of the industrialized megachurch—with millions of dollars raised for the sake of comfortable and symmetrical square buildings—along with the gradual disappearance of the local congregation, meant that the exquisite neighborhood chapels built long ago by talented, local artisans now sit empty or are appreciated as private residences or amazing cafes.

The modern evangelical church streamlines its expenses when it comes to its physical buildings, giving only fleeting thought to the role of awe and wonder, which are often considered superfluous and excessive. Why have a beautiful sanctuary when a Family Life Center and gymnasium will do? Our places of worship have become indistinguishable from shopping malls, the bland and mundane providing function but lacking inspiration, leaving our latent desire for beauty and transcendence unaddressed in our congregational life.

And yet, the impulse to make sprouts up everywhere, even in a society that deprives it of oxygen and opportunity. Creative desire is, at its core, more than a mere personality trait or interest—it’s a fundamental component of who we are, as creations made in the image of God.

Genesis opens with God creating the heavens and the earth, but it goes on to reveal these creative mandates for Adam and beyond, both in the flora and fauna of the garden, as well as in the building of a place that hosts the very presence of God. God created light—fiat lux—but also created individual humans to be illuminators in their own right.

We are most engaged in God’s creation when we ourselves create and when we take joy in the beautiful work of others. And so, we invite you to meet ten makers whose artistry and intention draw us to delight in God and his world.

Garden

Spiritual • Pastoral

Alabaster Co is a faith-based publishing brand making the Bible beautiful by integrating visual imagery and thoughtful design into the Bible.

Explore More

• The Wisdom Collection
• The Gospels Set
• The Book of Psalms

Alabaster Co.

Publishing Brand Exploring Creativity, Beauty, and Faith

Alabaster Co is a faith-based publishing brand making the Bible beautiful by integrating visual imagery and thoughtful design into the Bible.

Explore More

• The Wisdom Collection
• The Gospels Set
• The Book of Psalms

Alabaster Co. was launched by the simple question: “what is beautiful?” From this place, founders Bryan Ye-Chung and Brian Chung began to pursue and explore the intersections between faith and creativity through the lens of business. While Bryan Ye-Chung grew up Christian, it wasn’t until college that Brian Chung converted to Christianity after being raised Buddhist. It was at this point at university in Southern California where they met—their spiritual interests and creative backgrounds colliding in friendship and faith, ultimately leading them to create Alabaster Co.

Initially, the two launched the company with each of the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—as starting points in their mission to combine art and design with the beauty of scripture. Now, they continue to ask what is beautiful as they expand their work to visually refresh other books of the Bible, create short films, compose music, write articles, and seek out new ways where faith and spirituality can collide to make something beautiful.

alabasterco.com

Saint Frank Coffee opens an everyday extraordinary world crafting relationally sourced coffees you can believe in because trusting your coffee to taste good and do good shouldn’t be hard.

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• Shop Coffees
• Subscribe Coffees
• Wholesale

Saint Frank Coffee

Specialty Coffee Roasting Company

Saint Frank Coffee opens an everyday extraordinary world crafting relationally sourced coffees you can believe in because trusting your coffee to taste good and do good shouldn’t be hard.

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• Shop Coffees
• Subscribe Coffees
• Wholesale

Kevin Bohlin believes that coffee shops can change the world. As the founder of San Francisco-based Saint Frank Coffee, having a positive impact in the world—both locally and globally—is the goal. Most businesses exist purely to make money and garner success, but Kevin’s vision of success looks a bit different. Having left everything behind in Texas, Kevin started over in San Francisco, where working in a local coffee shop and becoming a national barista finalist changed his world.

From those experiences, Kevin decided to take his missional, educational, and teaching background, combined with his faith and the interest in the city’s patron saint, Saint ‘Frank’ Francisco, to show that the coffee industry could become a source of renewal for those who interact with it. Everything matters at Saint Frank. Everyone is important. It’s out of this belief that Kevin developed personal relationships with each farmer before ever roasting coffee, decided to live in the neighborhood where he started the first location, designed a work culture rooted in service and intention, and creates products and experiences in such a way that anyone who interacts with Saint Frank is changed for the better.

saintfrankcoffee.com

City

Corporate • Urban

Selah Clothing Co. aims to step outside the box on two fronts, bringing a positive message to streetwear culture and creating a new aesthetic for the Saints.

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• Short Sleeve Shirt
• Hoodie
• Tote Bag

Selah Clothing Co.

Clothing Company for the Saints

Selah Clothing Co. aims to step outside the box on two fronts, bringing a positive message to streetwear culture and creating a new aesthetic for the Saints.

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• Short Sleeve Shirt
• Hoodie
• Tote Bag

Selah Clothing Co. aims to step outside the box on two fronts, bringing a positive message to streetwear culture and creating a new aesthetic for the Saints. Creator Philip Bowles has rooted the brand in the good news of the gospel while growing beyond the limitations of what might be expected of a faith-based apparel line. His designs do not possess explicit references to Scripture, but Bowles sees the artistic and creative process behind Selah Clothing Co. as an expression of his identity in Christ. He is convinced that,“God is the ultimate creative and so it’s in our being, it’s in us, to create and be creative.”

With a commitment to artistic integrity and individuality, Bowles is eager to further the growth of Selah Clothing Co. as a competitive brand in the streetwear market. In doing so, he is taking hold of a missional opportunity to introduce a message of hope and truth to secular culture.

selahclothing.co

At Starfish Project, survivors of human trafficking and exploitation experience freedom, establish independence and develop careers by creating beautiful, high quality jewelry.

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• Give Hope Gift Set
• Lenore Necklace
• Kyra Earrings

Starfish Project

Jewelry Company that Transforms Lives

At Starfish Project, survivors of human trafficking and exploitation experience freedom, establish independence and develop careers by creating beautiful, high quality jewelry.

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• Give Hope Gift Set
• Lenore Necklace
• Kyra Earrings

At its core, Starfish Project is a family, the members of which are the survivors of sexual exploitation in Asia. The Starfish Project family was first brought together when Jenny McGee and a friend decided to reach out to the young women and girls they had seen working in brothels and massage parlors. When she heard the women’s stories in the brothels, it broke her heart and she knew she had to do something more to help them. Through the compassion and love demonstrated in those relationships, five women made the bold decision to leave their lives in the sex industry behind. Their next decision was to start a jewelry business together.

Jenny saw life-giving transformation in the team as they worked together to create beautifully vibrant pieces of jewelry while building all aspects of the business (including developing skills in graphic design, photography and accounting). She explains, “…there’s something very healing, about having a job with dignity and coming into a safe environment where you are making something that people value.” 15 years later, Starfish Project is a social enterprise that invests 100% of their sales in providing opportunities for exploited women and girls to experience freedom and independence while developing career and life skills. Each stunning piece of jewelry the women create is representative of the resilient survivors behind the business.

starfishproject.com

Wild & Free Supply creates timeless leather products you can love, with a mission you can get behind. We make it possible for you as a Christian to double up your consumer spending power to have a Gospel impact with each purchase.

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• Women’s Tote
• Crossbody Purse
• Large Messenger Bag

Wild & Free Supply

Creator of Timeless Leather Products

Wild & Free Supply creates timeless leather products you can love, with a mission you can get behind. We make it possible for you as a Christian to double up your consumer spending power to have a Gospel impact with each purchase.

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• Women’s Tote
• Crossbody Purse
• Large Messenger Bag

What began with a lunch-hour brainstorming session between Lukas and Suzy VanDyke, married photographers eager to use their time for greater gospel impact, grew eventually into Wild & Free Supply, a business empowering local ministry leaders in Honduras. It was a mission trip that acted as the bridge connecting those initial brainstormed ideas and the business that now produces high quality leather goods. While getting a feel for the culture and ministry in Honduras, Lukas and Suzy noticed a need among seminary students for good paying work with the flexibility to accommodate their studies and ministry involvement. After connecting with a local leather tannery, Lukas was inspired to respond to that need.

Wild & Free Supply’s impact is three-fold. The business invests in the local economy using leather sourced from Honduras, provides dignified work for ministry leaders to support themselves and their families, and offers consumers an opportunity to double up the value of their spending for a gospel impact. Wild & Free Supply’s timeless leather pieces are the vehicles of the business’s fruit, but the gospel-centered mission is the fuel that keeps them going.

wildandfreesupply.com

Studio

Artistic • Literary

Eric Ordway is a ceramic artist and teacher based out of Columbia, MO. He makes handmade, small batch functional vessels and ceramic sculpture.

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• Espresso Mug
• Pitcher
• Flower Column

Eric Ordway Ceramics LLC

Ceramic Artist

Eric Ordway is a ceramic artist and teacher based out of Columbia, MO. He makes handmade, small batch functional vessels and ceramic sculpture.

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• Espresso Mug
• Pitcher
• Flower Column

Eric Ordway was trained and currently teaches as a ceramic artist, focused on making ceramic vessels that allow themselves to partake in the intimate moments of every day—such as a slowly enjoyed morning coffee. Lately, however, he has been rethinking the way we see these objects as purely functional and profitable. As Eric has developed his thinking—and even an MFA thesis—on the work of clay artistry as an expression of contemplative communion with Christ, the pottery has moved outside a purely functional realm.

Through new technique and intention, Eric allows the vessels to inhabit a presence of their own. He thinks of these ceramic works as “incarnate prayer”: physical creation birthed out of slow, thoughtful communion with Christ. The work of the spinning wheel and the flames from the kiln offer unique resonance with the reality that God is our potter and we are his clay. By focusing on the craft of ceramic artistry, Eric tends to the quiet parts of the soul that are bombarded all day long, offering creations that are prayer-breathed and invite us into unity with incarnation—both in our own bodies and in Christ’s.

ericordway.com

Kaitlyn Rose is a fine artist currently based in Michigan – endlessly in love with light, seeking joy that reaches outside of circumstances, and the movement of paint across a surface.

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• Prints
• Latest 2021 Original Works
• All These Layers Collection

Kaitlyn Rose Paintings

Fine Artist and Painter

Kaitlyn Rose is a fine artist currently based in Michigan – endlessly in love with light, seeking joy that reaches outside of circumstances, and the movement of paint across a surface.

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• Prints
• Latest 2021 Original Works
• All These Layers Collection

Kaitlyn Rose knew that her artistic calling wouldn’t follow a conventional track. While teachers and gallerists around her offered a vision of “the ideal artist’s life” as tiny New York apartments, all night painting sessions, part-time day jobs and a slow attempt to make something of yourself, Kaitlyn saw glimpses of a different way forward. After a time of crisis in 2018, right after registering her own LLC, Kaitlyn knew that the wall between her art and her faith had to come crumbling down.

By learning to share both pain and redemption between the walls of both church and studio, Kaitlyn found a new way to live in the fullness of what God had for her as a creator and person redeemed by Christ. By doubling down on her painterly skills in creating expansive and vibrant abstract work, paired with a sacred attention to her writing, Kaitlyn’s work has blossomed into a sustainable way to share the wonder of Christ profoundly, spilling forth from the canvas and onto the screen of digital media.

kaitlyn-rose.com

Bonny at The Ark seeks to reach people with the Love and Presence of God, through creating and sharing Spirit-filled and inspired artworks for hearts and homes.

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• Calligraphy Canvas Banner
• Essential Oils Soy Candles
• Watercolour Landscapes

The Ark

Multi-Disciplinary Artist

Bonny at The Ark seeks to reach people with the Love and Presence of God, through creating and sharing Spirit-filled and inspired artworks for hearts and homes.

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• Calligraphy Canvas Banner
• Essential Oils Soy Candles
• Watercolour Landscapes

Since 2016, Bonny Cheung has been creating a space with her work where one can experience what she hopes to be the presence of God. It makes sense that she would choose to share her work collectively as The Ark. Cheung’s hand-poured soy candles reinterpret a room’s limited space with the wideness of the natural world. Her warm, watercolor landscapes on rugged hand-pressed paper hanging banners, and floral oil paintings reinterpret walls as windows where the Beautiful Man’s hand may reach through. Cheung is a re-interpreter of the world, framing its center around beauty.

As a mother to a newborn, she shared a reinterpretation of herself as also being a kind of newborn—a newborn mother. It’s this never-ending centering of beauty in her work that showcases how The Ark transforms the interpretation of a space and objects. “If it’s not beautiful, ” she says on her website, “it’s not the end.”

lovetheark.co.uk

Nathan Yoder (Yondr Studio) is an illustrator, based out of Edmonds, WA, specializing in traditional pen drawing and engraving methods within the world of branding.

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• Wine Label
• Crest
• Wood Engravings

Nathan Yoder

Pen Draughtsmen and Wood Engraver

Nathan Yoder (Yondr Studio) is an illustrator, based out of Edmonds, WA, specializing in traditional pen drawing and engraving methods within the world of branding.

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• Wine Label
• Crest
• Wood Engravings

Nathan Yoder uses hand-carved wooden blocks, pens, and inks to create still moments from beavers, seagulls, ducks, and deer in their natural habitat. This unique skill set gives Yoder’s work the quiet tonality and focus of a Mary Oliver poem. Since 2014, Yoder’s multidisciplinary design and illustration studio based in Seattle, Yondr Studio, has exchanged convenient digital tools for traditional tools. Yoder’s move away from a computer-dependent process prevents the computer’s synthetic lens from mediating his understanding of nature or being his muse. Instead, Yoder invites a different lens to be mediator and muse—one made of Spirit.

Keeping this thread since the beginning, Yoder went from hand drawing screen printed t-shirt designs in 8th grade to hand drawing a refreshed crest for the iconic brand Stetson. Yoder wants to be connected to tools and materials that are made from the very landscapes he is drawing. For Yoder, it’s through the artist’s work of devotion that the viewer can be connected in a very tangible way to creation and furthermore, to the Creator.

instagram.com/nathanyoder

The post The Illuminators appeared first on Christianity Today.

Our Panelists

Sho Baraka

Sho is a globally recognized recording artist, performer, culture curator, activist, and writer. His work seeks to elevate the contemporary conversation on faith, art, and culture. An alumnus of Tuskegee University and the University of North Texas, Baraka is a cofounder of Forth District and the AND Campaign, and he has served as an adjunct professor at Wake Forest School of Divinity. He was also an original member of influential hip-hop consortium 116 Clique, recording with Reach Records. His latest book is He Saw That It Was Good: Reimagining Your Creative Life to Repair a Broken World. Sho lives in Atlanta with his wife Patreece and their three children.

Morgan Harper Nichols

Morgan is an Instagram poet and artist who has created her life’s work around the stories of others. Morgan’s Instagram feed (@morganharpernichols) has garnered a loyal online community. Her books, How Far You Have Come and All Along You Were Blooming, combine her poetry and art. Known for its lyrical tone and vibrant imagery, Morgan’s work is an organic expression of the grace and hope we’ve been given in this world. Morgan has also performed as a vocalist on several Grammy-nominated projects and written for various artists, including a Billboard No. 1 single performed by her sister, Jamie-Grace. She resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her family.

Rev. Tracey Bianchi

Tracey is a pastor, preacher, professor, and freelance writer who has served in a variety of settings from church ministry to seminaries. She served for 16 years as a preaching and worship arts pastor in the Chicago area. She currently teaches adjunct courses at Northern Seminary and serves on the Board of Trustees at Denver Seminary. She's the author and co-author of four books and she makes her home in Chicago with her husband and three teenage children.

Gigi Khanyezi

Gigi is the founder and director of Christian Creatives for Justice, a beloved community of Jesus-following, justice-centered artists. As a dancer, former worship leader, spoken-word poet, and sketch artist, she has used the arts as a means of worship, protest, and as a tool to mentor young people. Gigi grew up in East Oakland, California, as a half-Brazilian, half-white (Amish) Latina and spent ten years serving in Soweto, South Africa. She is currently a doctoral Student at Howard School of Divinity and has the great joy of being Momma to her little boys, Jericho and Judah, whom she fostered and adopted while living in South Africa.

Conor Sweetman

Conor is the founder and editor of Ekstasis magazine. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Hannah, and enjoys thinking about artistic and literary things. He studied English literature and has a BA from Tyndale University and an MA from York University.

The post Imagine More: Recovering a Faithful Vision for Art, Creativity, and Justice appeared first on Christianity Today.