I took these photos last Christmas in Sacramento. This is Eva; her grandmother is my step-sister.
I’ve been thinking about why black and white photos are often so much more striking than color photos. My theory is that it all has to do with desire. I desire that which is different from my usual experience. Because I see in color, I often find black and white photos more interesting. I desire change from the norm and I look for chances to see something unusual.
I think this is what church should be. In an ideal world, my everyday experience with God would be interesting and different. In reality, my everyday experience with God tends to be just that: everyday. (I’m going to use church in a broad sense here because I’ve been challenged in my ideas of what church can be and what it can look like. My mind is swirling with statements about church that I immediately dispute with “yes, but” or “yes, and” statements.)
I desire church to be a time where I can see God in new ways. If that means that church is my small group on Monday nights, that’s fine. If that means church is a day at the beach, that’s fine. In all honesty though, I want my church – the body of believers that I worship with on Sunday evenings – to be a place where I have different experiences of God. I go to church expecting to interact with God in ways that are not everyday. I desire different encounters with God and I know that God is big enough for this to happen.
I think a lot of people go to church out of a desire for something different. Maybe people want a different encounter with God. Maybe they want a different kind of community. Maybe they want a chance to be still in the midst of chaos spinning around them (I know I often need this). In a competitive world, are followers of Jesus welcoming, caring, and excited to share our experiences with others? Am I welcoming, caring, and excited to share my experience with others? Am I willing to share God?
Often, when I see a black and white photo, my attention is drawn to something I failed to notice when the photo was in color – the change from my everyday experience makes that possible. What are we, what am I, doing to make church a place (or community) that is different from the everyday experience?
I’ve been thinking about why black and white photos are often so much more striking than color photos. My theory is that it all has to do with desire. I desire that which is different from my usual experience. Because I see in color, I often find black and white photos more interesting. I desire change from the norm and I look for chances to see something unusual.
I think this is what church should be. In an ideal world, my everyday experience with God would be interesting and different. In reality, my everyday experience with God tends to be just that: everyday. (I’m going to use church in a broad sense here because I’ve been challenged in my ideas of what church can be and what it can look like. My mind is swirling with statements about church that I immediately dispute with “yes, but” or “yes, and” statements.)I desire church to be a time where I can see God in new ways. If that means that church is my small group on Monday nights, that’s fine. If that means church is a day at the beach, that’s fine. In all honesty though, I want my church – the body of believers that I worship with on Sunday evenings – to be a place where I have different experiences of God. I go to church expecting to interact with God in ways that are not everyday. I desire different encounters with God and I know that God is big enough for this to happen.
I think a lot of people go to church out of a desire for something different. Maybe people want a different encounter with God. Maybe they want a different kind of community. Maybe they want a chance to be still in the midst of chaos spinning around them (I know I often need this). In a competitive world, are followers of Jesus welcoming, caring, and excited to share our experiences with others? Am I welcoming, caring, and excited to share my experience with others? Am I willing to share God?
Often, when I see a black and white photo, my attention is drawn to something I failed to notice when the photo was in color – the change from my everyday experience makes that possible. What are we, what am I, doing to make church a place (or community) that is different from the everyday experience?
I think it comes down to “realness.” The people who have made the biggest impact on my life are those who are real with who they are, who they are not, and who they want to be. My favorite professors have been unapologetically irreverent (in a good way). My best friends are honest about their strengths as well as their weaknesses. They are honest about needing support and willing to offer support as needed. I experience real people as gracious. The real people in my life are those who desire authentic relationships and value honest communication. The real people in my life remind me of Jesus. This is what the church should be – a bunch of real people with real problems who are in love with a real Jesus.
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