Yesterday, Johnny Seedfelt spoke at the Vox church service and he brought to light how the poets of the past such as Milton and Dante were far more compelling when describing the “devil” we know than the things of light. He proposed that we are oriented in the wrong direction.
If repentance is truly a”turning around” and if we begin to ask then question as the tax collectors and sinners did as they encountered John the Baptist call to repentance, ” What shall we do then?” or rather more accurately translated, “What should we make?”, then our orientation changes 360 degrees. We stop looking at the broken pieces and darkness and we venture into what we can create out of what we have. We look at what we can make right and just. We look for what we can give. What might we contribute? Where might I be gracious?
For me personally, the past 4 months have been a place of healing.Even this morning, I am reminded that healing does not mean the removal of danger to be broken again or removal of the things that break us yet perhaps healing reminds of of hope, that pain and brokenness are not eternal. We do have the promise of resurrection, new life. In that day John, the author of Revelation, describes his vision shown to him be an angel,
” Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. No longer will their be any curse.”
I think back to an artist’s retreat I attended last spring, where David Taylor spoke of shepherding artists and that if you shepherd, care for and cultivate their hearts they are sure to bear the fruit that God has designed them to bear. Just as a lemon tree when properly cared for bears lemons so an artist will bear its natural, God designed fruit when cared for. Overwhelmed by new burdens and learning curves, going to counseling for me was an admittance that I needed help, not by degrees, but I needed a new perspective an outside person to look into my heart and ask questions to bring air, to invite healing in.
As I began again to feel delighted in and cared for I found myself adding care once again to the places I found myself.
We have a weekly “family dinner” with those in our collective (intentional community or missional community). I found myself delighting again in not just making the event happen as a daily task. Yet, enter the soul, setting the ambiance: putting a 3 tables together readied for a feast, lighting long stemmed candles, arranging the chairs so that they aesthetically had rhythm and creating questions for each guest, a game of sorts, that revealed a memory, hope or dream. It was a night, as I will remember, with the fragrance of the kingdom – not perfect, of course (with rowdy “children” not always listening to heartfelt answers by others), but a hint of hope.
When we had our first time of Lectio Devina 2 and 1/2 years ago with Fireseed, the thing that I heard from God, was to do all things as an artist. For myself, God has not called me to make art only, but to be an artist in all of life. As my heart is cultivated and cared for, I am able to bear the fruit God has designed me bear.
- Millie
A showcase of experimental , prayer pods and altar spaces created in collaboration for a variety of specific east Austin sites. There will be live collaboration and live music the night of the program. East Austin artists as well as friends of Fireseed elsewhere are encouraged to attend and explore working collaboratively, intersecting art and faith.