WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.560 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Usun Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel center church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.399 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:24.719 This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:26.399 Glory to you, Lord. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:36.719 Behold, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.759 He said to him, What is written in the law? 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.039 How do you read it? 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:49.600 And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:53.359 And he said to him, You have answered correctly. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:55.679 Do this, and you will live. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:02.640 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, who is my neighbor? 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:16.239 Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:23.920 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:30.719 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:45.200 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion, and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:51.519 Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:02.799 And the next day he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:10.960 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.840 He said, The one who showed him mercy. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:21.680 And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:24.240 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:25.919 Praise to you, Lord. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:33.599 And just as Patty makes her way up and gets her tech all set up, I wanted to introduce you to our friend Patty. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.800 For many, Patty has been a longtime friend of this parish. 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:38.719 For some, she's a new friend that we're making today. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.159 So let me tell you about Patty. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:53.120 Patty Bowman-Kingsley is a cross-disciplinary artist, experienced in transformational arts practice, seeking diverse industries, encompassing studio, collaborative, and live projects for over four decades. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:58.159 Patty believes connection and creativity transform culture. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:05.680 She's a full-time missional artist and seeks to foster growth within individuals and communities through visual culture. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:14.800 Her exhibition, Beauty Through Ashes, is on display in our sanctuary gallery right now, and aren't we blessed to have her art beautify our space? 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.759 I'm so excited to have Patty join us this morning. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:23.199 Patty is a dear friend with a heart that aches for folks to know the gospel. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.479 And so I'm so thankful to know Patty and Rachel and I are so thankful. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:28.319 Patty, can I pray for you? 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:29.360 And then we'll hand it over. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.360 So, Heavenly Father, we just give you thanks for your goodness and grace. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:37.360 By all, by your will, all things were created, and they exist. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:41.120 You are creator, maker, uh, sustainer, God. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:43.599 And we give you thanks and praise for that. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:53.599 Let Patty's words carry your word to our hearts that we would uh better care for our neighbor with a heart of compassion that reflects your own. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.319 Uh Lord, bless us, speak your word to us. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:57.680 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:58.560 Amen. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:03:59.759 Amen. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:00.400 Thank you. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.919 Thank you for the warm welcome. 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:03.919 Thank you for the privilege of being here. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:09.360 And for those of you who are watching later or listening later, um, welcome or I don't even know. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:10.479 Do you still do live stream? 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:11.039 That's right. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:12.000 Oh, there we go. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:19.199 So for those of you who are at home or in other provinces or even countries, uh it's a pleasure to be here. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:21.839 I'm going to set my timer because I need one. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:27.920 Those of you who are familiar with me, I'm setting it at 20 minutes and then I'll have five to wrap up. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:29.199 Uh so there we go. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:39.040 My hope today is that we can zoom through some almost black and white slides, literally almost black and white, and I don't know why that first slide isn't showing there. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:43.120 Um, but let me just go off this and come back in again. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:57.040 Um reason being, the reason I normally come with a lot of color and fun in my slides and a lot of pictures and images of artists at work so that you can see them. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:04.480 Today I wanted to focus on scripture primarily and being able, yes, I might need your hands. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:08.399 Thank you, because I'm just going to start whether we have tech in place or not. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:13.279 What I want us to understand, number one, more than anything else, is that God is a maker. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.720 And having made us, we are all makers. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:23.439 Some of us have the privilege of specific and particular giftings that are expressed in what we call the arts. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.879 It's a broad term, uh, you could call it visual culture. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:36.560 Some would say photographers are not artists, I would say, according to stats, can they are now counted as artists, as visual artists, just so you know, they've expanded their definition. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.519 I believe it was around 2019. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:47.759 So again, um the point is that roughly 3% of the population are artists. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:55.759 Of those 3%, are 3% of the 3% are successful artists, meaning financially successful. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:03.600 So most of us live in this category of fragile life, but we wield incredible influence. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:17.519 Um, so my heart and my passion as a missionary, literally in the arts, under an organization that's been around for 51 years in the world, is that the writing on the bathroom wall, the writing on the subway walls, that it would change. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:30.000 That where we see bleak despair, where we see people saying the only way for an artist to communicate is as a tortured artist or an impoverished artist, that in fact that would change. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.399 And I believe the way that will change is by connecting artists through community. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:42.079 That often artists live in isolated spaces, they have a hard time finding studio space, they have a hard time finding uh places to lay their head. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:46.639 They have a hard time sometimes getting good quality food. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.199 Now, that's not unlike a lot of other people. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:54.240 Um, and you know, we get invited to a lot of things too, so we eat pretty well in those settings. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:07:02.800 And I, you know, I'm not making us out to be these tragic characters, but I'm just letting you know that according to stats, Ken, the statistics are bleak. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:08.079 And it it is, I believe, up to us at this time in history to see that changed. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:20.879 And as reformers, as people who understand reformation, not only do we understand it historically in the time of Luther, but we understand it in your setting in recent years, reformation. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.399 And does it mean we stop? 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:27.040 Because we got started and we've arrived, so now we just hang out in that place, right? 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:32.560 I would say no, we don't we don't hang out, we don't stop, and yeah, there we go, we're having a good time today. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:33.600 There we go. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:35.120 Let's try it this way. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:40.079 So we're going to look at God's heart for artists and why he made us. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.279 So I've lost half my screen, so you'll bear with me on this. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:44.959 Um, but why did he make us? 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.040 Honestly, some days I wonder. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:52.399 I look at myself in the mirror and I say, seriously, Lord, what were you thinking? 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:59.439 And why are we having to wrestle through so much stuff in order to be able to release beauty or create? 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:02.319 Why do we have to get healed so often? 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.839 Because in order to reflect his beauty, we have to be whole. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.920 We have to see wholeness in our own lives. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:11.279 We know that in the beginning, that's the first baseball game in history. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.279 In the beginning, God created. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:13.759 Right? 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:15.759 The first act he did was to make. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:19.040 And we know by studying scripture that primacy is important. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.879 The first thing mentioned in scripture is that God created. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:30.720 So the most important piece of my whole being and existence according to Scripture is that God created. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:39.200 Now, what he created is pretty powerful, amazing, but that he is a maker, and I can find myself as an artist in scripture. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.679 And often artists don't see themselves in scripture. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:56.960 When I talk to artists in mainstream culture, and we're talking about sacred texts and historic philosophies, it's really delightful because when you say, well, you know, in Hebrew culture, God said this, Yahweh said this to Moses, and people can identify. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:05.679 Well, in Christian culture, we use the same text and we have the older and the newer testaments, and we can explore, now we're losing everything. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:07.039 This is just spectacular. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:08.000 There we go. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:15.600 Um so we know that the difference between the maker and the made is that the maker made something from nothing. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:26.799 So apart from divine creative miracle, we the made, we create in his likeness an image, we create with a similitude or a representation of who God is. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:30.559 That's what the word says, that's what the words mean in those passages. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:36.399 But also we need to recognize where the source of all creativity comes from. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:40.159 And the one who could create something from nothing is not me. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.480 And it's not you, but it is him. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.039 And I believe he's still doing that today. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:53.679 So when I ask him for divine insider revelation, when I ask him for a sound that's never been heard before on the planet, do we have access to that? 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:55.360 I believe we do. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.919 Boy, this is going very good on the tech end of things. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:07.279 It may not matter so much for you because it is really literally black and white. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.679 Um, but God is maker. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:11.279 He said, Let us make. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.440 There's a reason it was plural. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:18.240 In scripture, there's only a few times where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit show up together. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:23.279 And in making humanity, that was one of those times, let us make. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:34.000 So we're made in his likeness and image, which means everyone, not just those of us in this room, not just those of us who profess a uh love of God, we are all made in his likeness and image. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:34.720 Right? 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:38.159 That means I can find his likeness and image in an atheist. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:44.720 In an agnostic, in someone who believes very different from me. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:51.200 I can still mine and seek and find his image in all of creation. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:52.879 Now, why is that so powerful? 00:10:53.120 --> 00:11:04.080 That's powerful because my responsibility is to steward the love and care and nurture he has for everyone that he created, not just my Christian club. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.759 So, hence I'm predisposed to evangelism. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:09.679 Because it's kind of my passion. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:14.320 When we believe this, we know that we are all makers, right? 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.039 If God is a maker, we are a maker. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:18.480 We reflect him. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.480 Now, when we look at what he how he shows up in scripture, it's pretty powerful. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:28.080 He shows up in creation, he shows up in worship within the tabernacle. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:33.120 We heard those words this morning, we listened to them, we spoke them out, we worshiped with our words. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:49.759 I thought, ah, there's so much recitation here in the liturgy within the church that if you zoom down to it's spoken word under food, you see that when the angels came, there's two words for praise when the angels came to announce Jesus' birth. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.399 But it doesn't actually say they sang. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:53.360 Right? 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:59.440 But it does use words that would indicate it was praise and it was in unison and it was a collective group. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.919 So I, you know, that sounds like what we I was listening to today. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:15.120 As we're sitting here and as we're speaking these words collectively, well, then we're all participating in making and in the creative act of spoken word together. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:18.960 If we go back up the list, expressions of dance, song, music. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:20.480 Fascinating to me. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.039 The Zephaniah says that he sings over us. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:25.759 Well, how can you sing if you didn't write a song? 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:32.320 So he's a songwriter, and he's a singer, and he sings over us, and what do we do? 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:34.399 Like the last slide that we just looked at. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:36.320 Well, then we reflected back to him. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:37.759 We sing back. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:41.759 He sings to us, we sing to him, he sings to us, we sing to him. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:43.919 He dances, he sings. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:46.240 Sounds like an artist to me. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:54.240 We see acting, we see mime, we see pottery, we see food in feasts, we see him change water to wine. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:00.240 I'd really like to explore that creative miracle because that would attract a lot of people. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.919 We see him doing performance. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:15.279 When I say performance art, understand I'm a graduate of a fine arts program, yada yada, which means I've been told by my colleagues who do performance art, that performance art is never rehearsed. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:18.799 You only do it once, and you don't videotape it. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:25.279 Now, there's a whole business out now for videotaping performance art, and my performance artist friends work in those industries. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:35.600 But I have met people who at Louis Blanche refused to perform because the artist was told they had to rehearse and be at the rehearsal. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:44.240 She said, Then I then I won't perform because my artistic sovereignty is such that I don't have to, because I don't rehearse. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:14:00.799 Jesus went to the cross and rehearsed and became a 3D sculpture so that we would understand how to enter into eternity and how to enter into the kingdom of God through his life. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.080 More on that as we zoom through. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.639 So we see sculpture. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.960 We'll touch on what Jesus did when we talk about the bronze serpent. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:23.440 When we look at the replication of what we're part of, it is important to note that when Adam lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:28.799 Same phrasing as being created in the likeness and image of God. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:39.200 So we replicate through our being a similitude of what God originally replicated in man when he made man in his likeness and image. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.039 That's why I'm saying to you, theologically, we must comprehend. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:58.960 We must, because if we understand this, then it doesn't matter who I meet on the street, how they're dressed, what they say, whether they're young, they're old, whether they're from a country I'm familiar with or one I've never spoken to anyone from before. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:07.679 Every single human being with a heartbeat and a pulse in this world has the image and likeness of God in them. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:10.080 And my God created them. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:20.720 And my heart is to know them, to come to know them, to become something I wasn't yesterday so I can connect and love them, walk alongside them today. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:29.440 That is a quite a foreign concept because we're turning the church's fortress into the church as fountain. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.840 And I believe this is a fountain church. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.679 I believe that, or I wouldn't be here. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.960 Well, I might, because I'd be preaching to people who didn't agree. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:40.879 That'd be even harder. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:49.679 But here, you just had Focus Magazine, the Town Magazine, reflect back to you the support that you were providing to the community. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:52.879 I tell you, you guys, this is so exciting to me. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:16:16.000 It's not about headlines, but when the headlines tell you that your mission is now written in the community file, that means you're doing something that is eternal, that is messageable, that is receivable, that is replicable, that is a similitude of who He is in Scripture, in heaven, on earth. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:19.200 What is the culture of heaven saying to us today? 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:23.519 How do we deliver that culture in earth today? 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.399 What's in heaven, what's on earth? 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.679 As it is in heaven, so on earth. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:32.799 Oh, look at that. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:37.360 I don't think I um, yes, I think I timed it too long. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:39.600 Goodness sakes, I better hurry up. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.519 I hit the timer wrong, Creighton. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:42.799 I mean, I'm really I'm really sorry. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:44.240 I gave myself 40 minutes. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:45.679 I'll go shorter. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.879 So we know about Basilel and Aholiab from the tent of meeting. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:53.919 You know about those guys, right? 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.440 Betzalil, Betzal, depends on how you pronounce it. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:10.960 Um, but what was important, I've spoken on this before when I've been here, and I touched on it because it is the only time in scripture in the Old Testament, it may not be the only time, let me retract that because I'd have to do a search of the whole scripture to say that. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:16.799 So let me just say it is the first mention of the Spirit of God being in someone, not on them. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:23.119 Okay, the Spirit of God would come upon people, they would do heroic acts, they'd do amazing things, like, how cool is that? 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:24.480 Amazing, cool. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:57.039 But for what God had designed for the tabernacle, again, what God had designed, architect, designer, calling forth 30 different expressions of the arts, whether it was a silversmith, a goldsmith, whether it was hammered, whether it was laid flat, whether something was a solid casting, whether it was the work of a perfumer, the work of a tailor, the work of someone who knew how to work with dying goatskins, or the overcovering of another form of leather. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.640 Come on, guys. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.960 The God of gods is the architect and the designer. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:16.720 So when we are asking him for plans, it doesn't matter whether you're an artist, it matters that we understand that we're makers because his creativity is expressed in all of us. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:18.720 Some of us are unique. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:27.680 Some of you might wish we weren't so unique, but all of us convey his heart to make. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:33.759 So Bezal and the Holy Ab 30 different forms of art that I can find and count up. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:37.920 How do we understand that heart for maker? 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:41.920 Well, the Bible is unequivocal in its reference to artists. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:44.400 Christ was born in a design family. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:19:00.880 There's um studying being done today because the interpretation of Christ as the carpenter's son actually does not recognize the role that Joseph had and the role that he gave up in order to go to Nazareth. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:03.680 He wasn't just a carpenter. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:08.480 Carpenter would be the lowest of the terms, the most humble of the terms. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:18.720 But in fact, it's it's presumed that Joseph was likely more of an architect, certainly a supervisor of the building of a palace. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:25.759 That's the family that God deposited Jesus into. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:31.039 He was raised by designers, he was put in a design family. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.519 Now, the power of design is extraordinary. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:43.039 And those of you who study design, if I was doing life over again in my research and study, I would probably become a designer because if you're a city planner, that's a designer. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:51.920 You design where people who are poor live, where people who are wealthy live, who gets the public pool, who has the private gym. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:54.240 You design all that. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:00.960 You can allow people to flourish and expand and grow, or you can have them diminished or contained. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:02.079 Right? 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.200 These things are all biblical patterns. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:13.359 So when I'm looking for what is my role as an artist in society today, in this nation, by golly, I just look at the Bible. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:26.480 I mean, again, we could look at examples and models, but I'm trying to convince you that the focus of the church for at least the next decade can reach people we've never reached before. 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:28.799 People right across the street. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:40.000 You live in an arts community, you installed an arts gallery, you invite people in, the Port Perry Art Association, other people who use your facility, you are doing this. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.000 You're doing this already. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:49.519 And I want to encourage you, and I want to encourage you that we could perhaps do a little more. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:21:08.960 And I say that because whatever kind of creative we are, we all know that God created us to connect with mankind, to be who he designed us to be so that people could become who they were designed to be. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:34.319 And as we move forward, my research right now, those of you who don't know, I'm doing a master's of arts, and the research is focused on building vitality in artists through learning communities, through a leadership model of learning communities wherein artists can we can focus on well-being, broad skill development, and spiritual care. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:41.599 Because in Canada in the 1948, I believe it was, there was a manifesto released, and in English it's called Total Refusal. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.759 It was a reformation document. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:45.440 Truly was. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:49.759 I call it a reformation document because they kicked out the church in business. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:57.359 And all artists said was we're not going to be controlled by the church anymore because there was a lot of control by the church at that time. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.759 And we're not going to be controlled by commerce. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.920 Because whoever pays the bill, that's who artists are expected to create for. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.319 Well, there's merit in that, honestly. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:13.839 I'm a commissioned painter, so I serve at the at the mercy and the generosity of those who commission me. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:19.279 And if I don't want that commission, however, I can say this might be a better artist for that commission. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:23.759 I'm not sure artists of that day had that kind of decision-making power. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:39.920 So what happened here in Canada is that that total refusal of spiritual care within the realm of the artist's life has left artists without spiritual care as part of the fabric of their being and their development. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:44.240 So the research that I'm doing in the public square, and why is it important to do it in a public square? 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.440 Because I'm 61. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.359 So someone who's 24 can pick it up and say Kingsley was crazy. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.720 Or man, she really did something we can build on here. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:53.519 Right? 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:58.319 But it's important, it's also because it's not enough that we talk about it here. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:02.799 But I go to York University, I get to talk about God all day long. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:21.200 I get to talk about Christ's presence in the public square, what it looks like for spiritual care, what it looks like to meet people equally, but unabashed, unafraid to be who I am, to encourage them to be who they are and to look under the hood, right? 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:30.160 To follow what they believe to the end of the road and decide whether or not they want to change or adjust or whether they might want to reconsider something else. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:43.680 One of the reasons I don't have piles of slides today with pictures on them is because I wanted you to understand that I'm no longer collecting trophies of people that I'm going to show on a screen unless I have permission to show them. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:47.920 Or they're innocuous enough that you won't recognize them. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:53.200 Reason being, the indigenous community has a wonderful phrase, nothing about us without us. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:59.519 If we use that in our lives, gossip would end. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.079 If you're in the room, do I have permission to share? 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:04.880 Oh, thank you. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:05.359 I do. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:08.240 I have permission to share from a couple people today. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:10.319 But those are the ones I'll share. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:14.559 Let's look at sculpture again for a moment, and we're going to zoom through this to the end. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:21.039 We have sculpture used many times in scripture, but the Byzantine movement rid themselves of all art. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:22.880 Thank God Anglicans did not. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:28.480 But prior to you, um, the bronze serpent was lifted up in the wilderness. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:29.279 Oh, look at it. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:30.720 That is my 20-minute timer. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:31.680 It worked. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:41.359 The bronze serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, and the reason being was because the the Israelites were being bitten by venomous snakes. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.400 So God said to Moses, make a bronze serpent, told Moses to make it. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:52.319 Don't know how he did it because he didn't have Bezilel mentioned there, but nonetheless, Moses puts together a bronze serpent on a pole, stands it up. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:56.240 The purpose of this bronze serpent was so people would look up outside themselves. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:00.960 This is my simplified interpretation, look up outside themselves and live. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:10.480 If they keep looking at where they're getting bitten, they keep looking at the point of attack and stop looking to themselves for the answer, they will find it. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:13.680 A simple object, look and live. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:15.839 Fast forward a few books. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:20.079 And we get to the point where now the Israelites are burning incense. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:22.240 Yeah, it's kind of what we do, right? 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:25.519 There was a reformation, there was a revelation, God did something. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.599 Oh, let's just all sit in front of that and camp for the next 40 years. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.839 Surely that's where God will show up again exactly as he did it before. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.200 No, we make an idol out of what we believe. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.640 Or we can, I make an idol out of something he did for us. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:51.279 So instead, um the uh the king of the day smashes that because he takes it down as part of all the idolatry in the land. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:55.119 Just you can just ignore that. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:02.720 Um and in the end it's called hashdad, a piece of brass, crushed, nothing, has no power. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:12.799 Um so God shows us that there's power in creative expression, and it can even bring deliverance to people if God calls for it and uses it in a community, right? 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:17.519 But if we worship it, if we burn incense to it, it's idolatrous. 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:20.480 It's going to be smashed and broken down because there's no power in it. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:22.000 But then what does he do? 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:25.680 All artists would then go, oh, I can't do sculpture anymore. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:40.240 No, because Jesus comes along and says, as the just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:46.720 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:52.000 Now we know, 316, we read it all the time, we share it all the time. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:57.119 But the point of the verses before was the redemption of the use of the arts. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:04.720 So I could say to my performance artist friends, this, yes, Jesus Christ became performance art. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:18.720 He became a never-before rehearsed, three-dimensional representation of the mercy and the truth and the love of God so that you would know you can be an artist. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:31.759 And you can believe in scripture, and you can believe in a God who made beauty and he made art, and he allows us to engage in it for the sake of his name and for the sake of his kingdom. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:38.640 So let me just close here quickly by recognizing that there's no power in human construction. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:39.680 We know that. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:46.319 But it is a season, it is a season where we can call upon the name of the Lord and watch people get saved. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:49.839 We can open up our hearts and invite people in. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:57.359 And when I talk to you about artists' communities, I'm going to get to a single slide very quickly here and try and click on it for you. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.759 I want to share a story of one young man who contacted me this year. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:03.839 That's Brandon right there. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:09.519 And he said, There's there's something sitting in front of that slide now, so too bad. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:13.759 Um, but he said to me, he wrote me a letter and I said, Do I have permission to share this? 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:14.400 He said, Yes. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:19.839 He says, I learned that I could be an artist because I saw you being one. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:26.319 I learned CAD from your father because he taught us as teenagers, as young teenagers. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:28.640 So when I went to college, I already knew it. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.039 He came to me and he said I had a good job. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:36.480 I was working in the 3D industry, and I really became good at computers because of that. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:38.240 Eventually he got laid off. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.599 And then he had a bit of a mental health crisis. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.359 I don't know what that was, but again, he gave me permission to share, so I'm sharing. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:47.119 And he called me up. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:49.920 He just rang me up, he said, Patty, he says, Hey, it's Brandon. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.079 I'm just wondering if you know anywhere where I can sing. 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:53.599 I'm going, what an odd thing. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:55.680 I just get these random calls, right? 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.759 Okay, I'm the artist missionary. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:59.039 Big M on my head. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:00.880 So I said, you know what? 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:10.160 The only person I know right now who's doing anything with music is a woman named Boggy Lipinski for Durham College, and they're doing a one-night mental health event actually at Pickering Town Center. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:12.079 Here's, let me connect you two. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.480 They connected, he goes over, he sings. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.039 It changes the whole trajectory of his life. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:18.240 Was it difficult? 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:18.720 No. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:20.960 I just answered the phone, referred him. 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:23.839 He went, carried his own backpack, did that singing. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:33.440 Now that same young man, extraordinary young man, went to a radio station 94.9, we know it, looking for a place for his music to be played. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:36.559 Instead, he ended up doing the graphics for that radio station. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.640 Now he does 12 radio stations. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:40.720 That's what he's been working at. 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:46.960 That's what it means for us to join hands and to open up our hearts for community. 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:52.240 And this is what it looks like when we demonstrate what community looks like. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.839 I believe it's this simple. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:56.799 This is my version of the Good Samaritan story. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:59.680 Assuming I can call it up here for you. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:02.319 Oops, maybe not. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:03.440 Okay. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:08.400 Well, for those of you who want to look on Facebook, I was hoping it would link. 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.319 It's a bunch of turtles swimming in a pond, and one flips upside down. 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:13.680 And it's flailing. 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:16.400 So you've probably seen it because we all watch the same things. 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:21.519 And it's like the turtles, the other turtles can't even get close enough to it because it's flailing so much. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.640 But the bravest turtles, they come in alongside even when they get whacked in the head. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:26.880 If you've ever done lifeguarding, you understand. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:32.000 But then finally, that turtle realizes the other turtles are going to help it. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:33.599 And it calms right down. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:35.200 It just lays on its back. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:40.480 And the other turtles come in, they all surround it, and they flip him back the right direction. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:43.200 That's what artists learning communities will do. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:48.960 It's also what health communities would do, or education communities, or any other form of common unity. 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:56.000 But it does mean, it does mean we have to continue to be the wellspring for a community. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:00.480 It means, like Isaac, when he dug a well, people said, Well, I want that well. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:02.319 He said, Oh, okay, I'll call it contention. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:03.519 I'll go dig another one. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:05.519 Goes over here and digs another one. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:08.480 Oh, that one he called strife because someone wanted that too. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:10.480 And he walked away and gave that. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:17.680 Jesus, the cruciform, gained everything through humility and death. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:20.079 He died so young. 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:24.480 We're concerned if we're ill at 45 or 80. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:26.240 I don't want to die. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.000 I have a lot of fun living. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:52.160 But if if we can come to the fullness of death and be made new so that someone could understand who he is and how much they're loved as artists or in your realm, as makers, would it be worth it to risk leaving the comfort of what we've known here? 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:57.519 Or sharing that with people we don't recognize, who don't speak the same language. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.640 I don't mean literally language, I mean the spiritual language. 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:03.039 It could be other languages too. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:05.279 But could we be those people? 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:07.119 Could we be Christ? 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:13.759 Could we have everything in our actions be the keyhole for the kingdom of God? 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:28.079 That everything we know to do and be would be a reflection of who he is as a maker, as a creative, and as a lover of everyone he made in his likeness and image. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:30.000 Could we go there? 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:34.880 As we close, and I already closed and I'm past time, my apologies. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.279 There's a Ruth Bell Graham poem from many years ago. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:43.440 I just encourage you to close your eyes, see if I can remember it. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:47.359 Drink it and wonder, marvel and eat. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:52.160 God torn asunder, man made complete. 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:58.559 Stagger the mind at truth here revealed, kneel and be broken, rise and be healed. 00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:00.000 Go out and die. 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:02.240 Die, live and live. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:07.200 Take all you have, take all and give. 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:16.160 Here's the remembering to scorch and to bless sinners partaking in God's righteousness. 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:19.759 Lord, this is my body. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.680 We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today. 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:31.200 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:34.960 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:39.920 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:45.359 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:53.680 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution. 00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:56.640 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.