SMITCHing

Robert Crumb's illustrated rendering of the Bible's first 50 chapters carries an "adult supervision recommended for minors" warning. Long in the works, it's now finally available. Crumb is notorious for his quirky, sexually-charged eye, and is considered by many to be the godfather of underground comics. He's also probably familiar to a host of ex-hippies who converted to Christianity during the Jesus Movement of the 60's and 70's—many of whom are now respectable, middle-aged Evangelicals. Crumb admits that he doesn't believe the Bible is God's word, but acknowledges the power of it's stories. He follows in a long line of illustrators drawn to the text, from Albrecht Durer to Barry Moser . In fact, there were illustrators wanting to show us what the stories might have looked like as soon as it became possible to mass-produce the Scriptures in print. It makes me wonder why artists, particularly those who aren't of the faith, continue ...

I read the blog of a good friend today. Spreading Goodness is written by Ron Frost. In his most recent post, he makes an important point about God's essential nature in relationship to His attributes, or as Ron writes, His perfections. Ron also makes an interesting observation about theologians. "...the Fall will still account for a human bias towards domesticating God and his word: of making God into a resource for human self-love." I was struck by the correspondence between this statement and a recent conversation I had with a number of pastors. They were bemoaning the lack of Bible reading among those they serve. And when their charges did read it, many tended to disregard the pressure Scripture asserted on their selfish pursuits. As a result, they became autonomous self-justifying theologians. A conversation like this is not uncommon. "I know God wants me to be happy, and I'm not right now." "But you realize of course that arguably the Bible only a...

New is powerful. New is seductive. New promises something more. Old is, well, old. There's an old saying—sorry, I couldn't resist that transition—in advertising: The only thing more adaptable than the cockroach is the consumer. It encapsulates the idea that "new" is the holy grail of marketing. New markets. New products. New ideas. Marketing professionals seek these because we so readily tire of "old", and "new" is the only thing that can separate us from more of our money. Too bad. Old can be very, very good. Wine, brandy, and friends come to mind. As does Christianity. It's an ancient faith. Perhaps not as old as Judaism or Hinduism, but very old nonetheless. For thousands of years creeds—very basic outlines of the Christian faith—have united Jesus' followers. For example, consider the Apostle's and the Nicene creeds. These are simple statements of faith that have served the church for centuries. But in the contemporary evangelical ...

Do you ever stop to think how our appetites define us? There's a new series of Subway commercials out where a co-worker, who has obviously returned from a fast-food run, enters the workplace crying out his hungry associates orders. "Who's got the extra-large opposite-sex-repellent special...the I'm-not-fat-I'm-just-husky combo...?" The idea behind the spots is that one's fast-food appetite will shape who one is, quite literally. But I think the commercials have it backwards. I think one's identity shapes one's appetites. The Bible talks about a fundamental change of identity: you who were once enemies of God, now have peace with Him; you were once slaves, but now you are free, etc. It's indicating more than just a change of external circumstances. The Scriptures teach a fundamental change of identity as a function of one's relationship to God. Something else comes along with this change: new appetites. Or, if you'd rather, new desires. ...

I love summer in Oregon. We always enjoy a crop from a few blueberry plants we have, and thankfully you don't have to be particularly gifted to grow good fruit here. It does very well on its own. But this summer is special. This summer's crop is remarkable. And it's not just our patch. This year's cherry crop is the most abundant in years. Things are so fat, the birds don't even bother with a suburban harvest like our. And our blueberries just keep getting fatter and sweeter each day. As I was picking a few, I thought about this fruitfulness. Why this year? I'm not a farmer, but I think it has to do with extremes. We had a very cold wet winter—one that gave us 20" of snow on the valley floor. That hasn't happened in a hundred years. Then Summer came hot and fast. It was the extremes of wet cold and hot dry that stimulated our sweet bounty. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Christian "fruit" is like that. The love, joy, peace, patience, ge...

Lancaster County centers on a centuries old community of Pennsylvania Dutch. Apparently, you gotta watch them closely .

Does anyone else still hear echoes of Leni Riefenstahl in Will.i.am's February 08 ode to Obama? Granted, there were overwrought comparison's when the video made its debut, but a lot has changed in the last 14 months. Campaign rhetoric has given way to the hard realities of governance. Citizens of all political persuasions have cause for concern over the breath-taking changes the current administration is making to an America "in crisis." Some fear the change is too much, while for others it's not happening as fast or as extensively as they would like. But time offers perspective, eventually on the new president's policies and for now on Will.i.am's video. His is a brilliant example of political propaganda in the tradition of Riefenstahl. Do not for a moment think that this makes him a Nazi. I do not doubt the nobility of Will.i.am's intent. Rather, I am interested in the favorable comparison of two unarguably talented artists, and the outcome of their...

NPR ran a piece on its web site examining the issue of a celibate Catholic clergy. While the program is interesting, what really caught my attention was a posted comment. S C (AboutTime) wrote: I felt sad when I heard this story. Here is a man who has dedicated his life to others, who has had a key part of his life stolen from him by the church. When he realizes it, he is ostracized and suspended by the clergy. It is time to realize what faith really is: a disorder that requires treatment. Mon May 11 19:38:36 2009 According to SC, religious faith, and I presume Christian faith in particular, is a disorder requiring treatment. In other words, faith is reduced to cognitive belief in unreality—where a fundamental dichotomy exists between faith and reason. But is SC taking up a fully formed Christian view of faith? Sadly, according to some, he is. The protestant church at large tends to lend tacit agreement to SC's view, wherein a mind-to-mind connection defines faith. "I belie...

Last Saturday I was asked to give a talk by New Wine, New Wineskins on art and business at their Created to Create day conference. My first thought was to talk about what it's like to be an artist working mostly for commercial concerns. A talk like that would be easy. A war few stories. Some observations about the utility of art in commercial service. 5-10 minutes for questions. Good to go. The more I thought about the opportunity, the more I wanted to test drive some of the ideas in my last two posts. There's nothing that compares to presenting ideas to real flesh and blood. You either get affirmative nodding, or the equivalent of a Golden Retriever's "Huh?" head cock. At worst, you get no response, but regardless, you learn something about the stickiness of your ideas. I presented four ideas stemming from the assertion that art is serious business. First, art is used by business to move trillions of dollars in consumer goods. A full 70% of US GDP is consumer ...

The image above may raise some eyebrows in the church, but the recent article that it accompanies should give serious pause. In my last post I raised some questions about the relationship between marketing and ministry, offering some preliminary conclusions. The book above is an apt illustration of the problem with that relationship. Carter and Coleman write on their web site: "The authors then pull some very simple rhetorical lessons from Jesus’ life that readers can use today. Both Christian and non-Christian leaders in just about any field can improve their ability to communicate effectively by studying the words and methods of history’s greatest communicator." In other words, Jesus becomes a means to an end. We can make use of him—quite apart from receiving him by faith—for a desired end. Jesus is therefore relevant because he is useful, and we can sell the benefits of following his example. I know nothing of the authors' intent. Nor do I know if they are Christians, ...

Something happened this week that got me thinking about marketing and ministry. We produced this video at our church to celebrate our Children's Ministry and to support an effort recruiting new volunteers. The response was telling. Generally, the most driven and capable people in leadership were critical of the video. Conversely, those who aren't high-profile, high-capacity people were the most complimentary of it. In short , the video stimulated a curiously polarized reaction. I began to wonder what might be the reason for the split. It occurred to me that high-capacity, results-oriented leaders are generally more attuned to the finer points of marketing, appreciating its effectiveness at helping them achieve their goals. These folks were much more alert to the problems with this piece—and there are problems which I'd be hard pressed to defend from the perspective of marketing. On the other hand, the humble person in the pew with no such aspirations may actually be more at...

Doug Lowell, chief creative at Portland-based ID Branding posted about Saturn's expected independence from GM. Hallelujah! I look forward to buying from a once great brand that retails exceptional cars. I look forward to rewarding the courage of Saturn. And I will. As soon as I can afford a new car.

I work with a lot of church folks who are trying to promote their latest ministry. Everyone has a different, and they believe better, way for all of us to be better Christians. They usually hold this view because they believe God has given them a vision for ministry, a purpose if you will, that they are destined to fulfill. So with all of the effort and resources devoted to a variety of sometimes competing visions that God is supposedly giving to His shepherds, why is it that the church (at least the North American Evangelical church) so often seems self-absorbed and powerless? Could it be that the ministry activities designed to fulfill supposedly God-given visions are rooted in something other than Divine guidance? I think so. I wonder what would happen in the aforementioned Evangelical church if its adherents simply fell in love with Christ and His Word. What if clever marketing and consumer-centric approaches were replaced by the genuine power of the Holy Spirit? What if lives that...