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Transcript

Episode 5: Images We Can't Unsee · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  In our current series, Imagining Work, we're asking
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  a question.
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  What story about work am I living in?
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  Because not every story about work squares with
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  the story about work that God is telling
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  on the pages of the Bible.
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  We took our last few episodes to look
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  at a few stories that are powerful in
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  our cultural moment and the way those can
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  shape us and cause us to live them
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  out in ways that we might not want
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  them to.
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  Now, we're going to pivot and look at
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  the story of Scripture, the story that God
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  is telling on the pages of the Bible,
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  and look at how can we get into
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  that story?
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  How can we live inside of that one
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  so that we live that story out instead
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  in our life at work and in the
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  rest of our life too?
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  I want to start by talking about the
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  power of images because one of the simplest
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  definitions of story is a sequence of images
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  in time that are meaningful in relation to
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  each other.
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  So just take a moment and imagine you're
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  looking at a picture of a seed, and
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  then you're looking at a picture of a
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  sapling, and then you're looking at a picture
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  of a great tree.
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  Well that's a story, right?
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  You can connect, you can make meaning in
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  the connection between the first image and the
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  second one and the third one, and there's
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  a sequence of time and it tells something.
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  Jesus used the image of seed and of
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  tree many times, and we're grateful for the
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  way that that's helped us understand the kingdom
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  of God and life in the kingdom of
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  God.
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  So images have this power to convey meaning
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  and to help us make sense of our
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  lives.
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  Like we talked about, we live inside of
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  narrative structures as human beings.
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  That's the way we make decisions.
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  That's the way we make sense of things.
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  That's the way we navigate our lives, even
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  subconsciously.
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  And so we want to take some time
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  to make the subconscious conscious, to reflect on
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  the power of images and the specific images
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  that have power in our lives.
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  So I want to just give a couple
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  examples here of images that can haunt us
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  and images that can draw us into beauty
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  and into life.
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  And you can probably think of examples of
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  both these kind of images from your own
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  experience.
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  We shouldn't be too quick to brush off
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  an image that strikes us, even if we're
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  not sure why.
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  There's something meaningful there, whether the tone is
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  dark or light.
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  Whether it's an image from a film or
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  a painting, even if it's just a moment
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  in real life that we're noticing in nature
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  or with other people.
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  If something strikes us, if something inside of
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  us is moved, we should pause.
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  We should attend to that.
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  So it's going to help us navigate our
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  life with God.
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  God might be speaking to us through those
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  images and through those moments.
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  And other voices might be speaking to us
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  too.
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  And so my first example of an image
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  that has haunted me comes from a film,
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  a 2001 thriller called Donnie Darko.
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  And if you know the film, you probably
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  already know what image I'm referring to.
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  And that's the character Frank, who always wears
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  a rabbit suit.
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  Now, if you haven't seen the film, you
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  might be like a rabbit suit.
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  Like, that doesn't seem so disturbing or whatever.
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  But it's the mask of this rabbit suit.
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  The main character, Donnie Darko, has visions of
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  this character named Frank, who always appears in
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  a rabbit suit, almost like a Halloween costume.
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  But the mask is arresting.
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  The teeth are exposed in this permanent manic
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  grin.
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  The ears are twisted.
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  The eyes are misshapen.
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  And the first minute you see it on
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  screen, you just stop and stare because of
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  the power that it evokes.
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  It's the kind of image that you can't
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  unsee.
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  I was so moved and in a way
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  haunted by this film after I saw it
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  that I do what I often did.
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  I did what I often do.
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  I looked up the Wikipedia article about it
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  and I read an entertainment weekly interview with
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  the writer, director Richard Kelly, and he actually
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  intended for this exact effect to happen with
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  the mask.
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  This is a quote from that interview.
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  I was very adamant that it had to
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  make an impact.
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  It has to disturb people.
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  It has to make the audience sit up
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  in their seat and have a really intense
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  response.
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  And Richard Kelly and the costume designer who
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  made that mask obviously succeeded in that intention,
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  that this mask would arrest people in their
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  tracks and stick with them.
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  It's the kind of image that you can't
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  unsee.
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  And that can be true in a haunting
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  way, sometimes even in a way that we
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  wish wasn't true for certain images in our
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  lives.
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  But it can also be true of beautiful
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  images.
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  There are images of beauty that strike us
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  and in a good way also becomes something
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  that we can't unsee.
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  An example of this in my life is
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  from the town where I now make my
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  home, Aurora, Illinois, and there's a mural in
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  the downtown.
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  It's simply called Alexa.
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  It's a painting of a woman, mostly tones
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  of gray, black and white.
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  But her blouse is green and behind her
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  head, there's this golden circle like a halo
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  from a traditional Christian icon.
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  But it's her face that's the most moving.
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  If you look at it, just etched across
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  her features, there's this pain and longing and
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  determination all together.
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  And then behind her back, she's holding.
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  You almost don't notice it at first.
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  This bouquet of flowers, their shoulders back.
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  She faces the world.
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  I looked up the story of this image
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  as well.
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  It's painted by a woman from the Netherlands.
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  Her name is JDL.
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  She goes by her initials for Judith Delue.
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  And it's actually a painting of her friend,
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  Alexa, who has multiple sclerosis and is a
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  single mom.
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  And about how she's faced the world in
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  the midst of the pain of that debilitating
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  disease with this kind of grace and determination
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  and beauty.
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  And when I first saw that mural, I
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  couldn't unsee it.
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  And I'm really thankful for that.
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  So as we turn towards the images of
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  scripture, what would it be like if those
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  images had that kind of presence in our
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  lives?
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  If we couldn't unsee the images that the
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  Bible gives us of life with God and
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  life in his kingdom.
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  And I think that's possible.
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  I think that God gives us the images
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  of scripture for a reason so that we
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  can enter into them.
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  And the specific Christian tradition that is perhaps
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  done the most work about the power of
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  images is the Church of the East, sometimes
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  called the Orthodox Church, particularly within their tradition
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  of painting icons.
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  And so I want to read a quote
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  from Archbishop Callistos, where he was an English
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  bishop and scholar from the Orthodox Church.
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  And he passed away somewhat recently in 2022.
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  But this is what he says about icons.
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  He says, an icon is not simply a
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  religious picture designed to arouse appropriate emotions in
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  the beholder.
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  It is one of the ways whereby God
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  is revealed to man.
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  Through icons, the Orthodox Christian receives a vision
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  of the spiritual world.
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  I just I just love that, that when
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  you're looking at an icon, it's like looking
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  through a window to the reality of God's
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  kingdom.
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  The spiritual world made manifest in paint and
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  canvas right before our eyes.
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  The Orthodox Church has given us so many
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  beautiful icons.
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  If you've never had a chance to look
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  at them, I'd encourage you to visit an
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  Orthodox Church near you or at least look
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  up some icons online.
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  And that idea that an icon can be
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  how God reveals himself to us is really
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  where the power comes from.
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  Now, for myself as a Christian with the
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  heritage of the Reformation, I believe that there's
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  a unique way God has revealed himself through
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  scripture.
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  That's not true in the same way of
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  icons painted within Christian tradition.
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  But scripture gives us so many images.
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  It's inviting us to use our imaginations and
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  indeed to paint and make images as well.
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  And those images, if they're faithful to scripture,
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  can still minister what God is revealing there.
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  And so that's what we want to do
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  with the rest of the series is turn
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  our attention towards the images that God gives
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  us in scripture.
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  We have eight images of work, and I'm
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  just going to read them out.
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  And then we'll talk about how we'll be
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  looking at each of them.
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  So the first image is gardener.
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  Then artist.
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  Priest.
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  Builder.
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  King.
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  Friend.
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  Servant.
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  And emissary.
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  I'm really excited about each of these eight
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  images and each of them, as you can
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  probably imagine, listening to them is true of
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  workers.
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  So we can ask, how do I connect
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  with this image?
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  How could I live out this image myself
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  in my own work life?
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  But each of them is also true of
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  Jesus and embodied in his work in his
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  ministry.
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  And that's the image that I want to
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  leave us with here just at the end
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  of this episode from Paul's letter to the
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  Colossians in chapter one verse 15.
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  He writes about Jesus.
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  He is the image of the invisible God.
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  And then in verse 19 for God was
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  pleased to have all his fullness dwell in
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  him.
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  God is invisible.
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  We can't see him even as disciples of
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  Jesus.
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  We have faith that truth and goodness and
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  beauty and life.
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  Those are all emanating from God coming from
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  him.
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  That's the place to find them is in
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  him.
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  They can feel beyond our grasp because we
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  can't see God.
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  He's hidden.
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  He's invisible.
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  But the way that he's made himself accessible
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  to us is in the face of Jesus.
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  He is the image of the invisible God
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  and we can see what God is like
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  and we can access that holiness that life
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  that love by looking at Jesus.
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  So that's the most important thing we're going
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  to do with each of these images is
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  ask how do we see Jesus in this
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  image of Scripture and how can that shape
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  our mind and our imagination when we think
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  about work and the rest of life?
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  Lord Jesus, we want to see you.
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  We want to see the images that you
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  give us in Scripture clearly.
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  We want to welcome them into our hearts.
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  Help us to see them in a way
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  where we can't unsee them and help us
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  most of all to see you do your
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  work in us as we do our work
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  with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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• 11:00
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 11:03
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• 11:09
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