“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men...
What is a
Christian? Seems easy to answer right? It is someone who believes that Christ is the Son of God. Well Scripture says that the demons in hell know that and tremble because of it. So just believing doesn't just make someone a Christian. Christian faith also incorporates acting like Jesus. What does it mean to act like Jesus? Well its includes a few things... things that may initially seem foreign to our sinful nature. Most of Jesus' preaching ministry involved communicating these foreign concepts of what he meant by faith: this being the case he used various illustrations. You may be familiar with a few of his parables and image saturated analogies like
the kingdom of God, being
born again and his miracles surrounding the healing of blindness that illustrated the disciples' faithlessness. Sometimes he used several illustrations to describe one thing. Such is the case with this week's scripture reading.
Salt
The above featured image is of salt poured onto a church floor. It is what contemporary artist
Motoi Yamamoto is known best for. He pours salt on the ground and makes it into beautiful designs and sometimes sculptures...but in doing this he defeats what we understand as salts designated purpose: to be eaten. Salt on the ground is not suitable to eat. Jesus also used the imagery of salt. His was of the Church being salt that is not suitable to eat therefore being thrown to the ground. By "Church" I don't mean the buildings but rather the believers in the buildings. Believers are the salt of the earth as long as they do not lose their "saltiness"... the thing that defines who they are as Christians... the thing that gives them flavor or an impact upon the world... the thing that helps them fulfill their designated purpose as followers of Christ. The saltiness of a Christian's salt is their action. The can remain a believer all that they want but until they become an actor they will never be a factor (stole that line from Lupe Fiasco. The saltiness that makes a Christian fulfill their designated purpose is them believing and acting out the actions of Christ. That is what separates a fan of Jesus from a follower of Jesus. It may look nice but in the end is just pouring your salt out onto the church floor.
 |
| Intersections, Anila Quayyum Agha |
...You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house...
Light
I first encountered the work of
Anila Quayyum Agha two days ago while doing my art blog reading ritual. It is a laser cut wooden cube that has been suspended in the middle of a room with a light inside. This allows the light and the shadows to form gorgeous designs all over the room.
Anila Quayyum Agha, an Afghan born multimedia artist, was visiting the Moorish architectural mosques of
Alhambra, Spain when she thought about the gender segregated worship of her youth and her current life as an American. This piece (as well as her other works) deals with the intersection of gender, religion, language and cultural norms in contemporary life. The juggling act only amplifies if you live a bi-cultural existence between home life and the outside world. Even if you live in a monochromatic section of the world, the Christian life can prove to be a similar quandary: that of boxed in light. Sometimes the box may be that you cannot share your faith and stay professional at your job. Sometimes the box may be that you cannot understand how to communicate the message of Christ effectively without offending those of other religious and cultural understandings. Sometimes the box may be certain sin that you or others cannot get past to be an effective witness. Sometimes the box may be traditional church structures and practices that you find outdated and cumbersome to witnessing. Sometimes the box may be personal shyness. How do you share this light of Christ that resides on the inside of you? How do you act out your belief in Christ? How do you turn your salt into light? How do you allow your light to shine past restrictive capsule of the box? Well there will always be some sort of box blocking our shine but the good news is that God always provides cracks for the light to seep out and break the shadows... and the patterns that they leave on the lives outside are a beautiful work of art-
,+Rene+Magritte.jpg) |
| The Pleasure Principle (Portrait of Edward James), Rene Magritte |
...Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Self
Like many of the
Surrealist artists of his time
Rene Magritte's paintings dealt with the fantastic and the playful: the stuff of dreams. His personal image is seen as his logo, as it is often repeated in his artworks... that is, his image without his actual face: bowler hat, suit and sometimes even an umbrella but not his face. Often it is blocked by another object such as a floating pear. That is often how we use the word "image" nowadays when we are referring to personal branding: an image that you reside in publicly but protects others from truly encountering your true personal self... a facade. This portrait is not even the artist himself, but he still blocks out the subjects face with a glowing ball of light as if it is his actual identity. But when it comes to believers in Christ it actually would serve as a suitable portrait... because you are in fact the light. The light isn't just something that you have heard from Jesus, something that you believe in or something you act out when the box isn't blocking you. Through the empowering of the Holy Spirit the light
is you. As we grow in faith God conforms us to the image of His dear Son. The way that we think, act and view the world becomes more like Jesus. We do not have to worry about the box fully blocking our witness if our life is a testimony. Therefore Christ can say that men will see our good works and glorify our father in heaven. The life that we have learned from Jesus and now live through the Holy Spirit is now our identity. Revealing that light and glorifying God is achieved with our living publicly, justly, mercifully and lovingly.
The initial point of me creating this blog was to use images to explain God's words just like God's Word used imagery
to explain God. Jesus used images to get us to imagine who God really was and who we could be because we were created in the Image of God. Yet we have some image creation to do ourselves. We are called to shape the image of what the world around us understands a Christian to be. That Christian is the one that you see in the mirror every morning (cue
Michael Jackson song). Is that Christian patient and loving? Is that Christian persistent in his/her patience? Is that Christian an example of personal holiness yet distant from the heir of self-righteousness? Is that Christian humble and helpful? Is that Christian a public or private Christian? Does that Christian resemble Jesus Christ? If not then you may be concealing your true identity, boxing in your own light and pouring your salt onto the ground...salt that could have been used to feed the spiritually starving souls around you.
