 -Pastor Melissa Fain- This is a continuing Lenten exploration of non-religious artists' take on religion. This is how I’ve suggested one engages these meditations.
Alexamenos Graffito About the Artist: Some Roman idiot with a knife, some time to kill, and a desire to make fun of someone back around 200 AD. About the Art:This is ancient graffiti mocking someone who is a Christian. It is considered the earliest depiction of Christ on record. My Take:First off, I promised non-religious takes on religion. I did not promise it would be “good.” Secondly, I put this piece right up there with The Book of Mormon: the Musical. If you are new here, you might think it’s a dig at Matt Stone and Trey Parker, but that could be further from the truth. As I’ve already written, The Book of Mormon: the Musical was written to be a love song to organized religion. ALL organized religion. It’s a reflection.
We use reflections all the time. Our mirror in the morning tells us if we need to clean up a bit more. The camera on our phone is a reflection of an event we are witnessing. Our problem isn’t reflections, it’s unflattering reflections. South Park actually. I’ve scoured the internet for the title of this episode, so if you know it, comment below and I’ll tag. In the episode, everyone has a social media profile, including Wendy. The only problem is, everyone has a DOCTORED social media profile EXCEPT Wendy. More than that, the kids are judging beauty not by actually looking at the person, but by looking at their altered photo online. Wendy fights it the entire episode, telling everyone that the pictures are fake, but she is real. The episode ends on a terrible downer, as it finally shows her changing out her authentic photo for a doctored one. The whole Christian faith has been doctoring their image for years now. The individuals have kept a squeaky clean profile. Our churches have tucked away the evil and darkness. We have not done a great job simply being true, and because of that, we don’t take truth well. We also look at the truth like it’s all Christ with the head of a donkey. We puff ourselves up, call it trash and walk away. Meanwhile, someone has made a statement that never went away. It exists. It persists. In the case of the donkey-headed-Christ, it is now the oldest depiction of Jesus on record. It’s much more valid to look at it, and learn something from those reflections, especially the ones that are just showing the unflattering visages of us. This is what the Alexamenos Graffito teaches me: Around 200 AD, someone was bold enough in their faith to be the subject of someone else’s boredom. It wouldn’t be until Constantine in the 300’s that being a Christian would be a legal faith. That means Alexamenos is in dangerous territory. Now the viewer has to wonder if Alexamenos was even alive at the creation of this piece, or if he lived much longer after it was finished. We do know that part of the reason Constantine was compelled to legalize Christianity was that the followers by 325 AD were mostly rich and powerful. Now we have to wonder about this man who scratched the image, and was bold enough to write a name. Did he live that much longer after he was finished? This reflection allows us to ask so many questions about early Christians and their faith traditions. About a century and a half after Paul and nearly a century and a half before the council of Nicea. This exists. How does the Alexamenos Graffito preach the Word of God to the people of God? -Pastor Melissa Fain- This is a continuing Lenten exploration of non-religious artists' take on religion. This is how I’ve suggested one engages these meditations.
Vincent VanGogh: Potato Eaters About the Artist:Vincent VanGogh (1853-1890) Was born to an upper middle class family of ministers, artists, and art dealers. He was encouraged to join the family business. He began with art dealing, but was quickly let go, because it didn’t interest him, and he was rude to the customers. He decided to turn to teaching, but failed at getting students. That’s when he became immersed in religion. Taking up his father’s field, he went to University to be trained, only to completely fail at that too. He decided to become a missionary, and was placed in a small coal miner’s town. He connected immediately with the people and their plight. Out of an act of charity, he gave up his missionary lodgings to the homeless, and was fired for it. About the Art:Potato Eaters is the response to being in this small coal town, and being with the people. VanGogh connected with them, and saw them as his people. He focused on art in a way he hadn’t focused on anything else. This was his masterpiece. My Take:With everything going on in Ukraine right now, I’m sure there has been an uptick of people searching for VanGogh’s sunflowers. He painted them all the time. Inside, outside; a couple, a whole field. They were his muse. What the average viewer doesn’t look for is Potato Eaters.
The first time I saw Potato Eaters was on my first date with my now husband, 19 years ago this April. We went to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. They had a special VanGogh exhibit, and it included a reproduction of Potato Eaters. There was a plaque that proclaimed Potato Eaters to be his finest work of art. I couldn’t see it. I vocally expressed it. I walked over to one of his bedroom paintings and openly said that was better than Potato Eaters. Potato Eaters was so dark! It was so ugly! Give me Sunflowers! Give me Starry Night! Now Starry Night is his masterpiece! How could anyone say anything different? Then I grew up. Well, I grew older. I hope I never really grow up, or if I do it’s seconds before I die. Anyway, I matured, and I learned. To know this piece is so vital to his artistic career, and his conclusion as a missionary, completely changes this piece for me. To now know how difficult it is to control light in a painting, and how technical he was with light, completely changes this piece for me. There is so much going on. This family is in need. You can see it from their sallow faces. You know what they are thinking just from looking. They are all mentally saying, “This is all we have.” They have all come to terms with that fact in their own way. The man on the left is fearful. The woman next to him is thinking an added thought. She is looking at the man and she wants to know what they are going to do about it. Can they do anything about it? The other two? They are older, and hold faces of resignation. This is how it is. This is life. This is truth. The little girl? We cannot know. Only that her innocence will lead to the others eventually. That, by itself, is deep! Then you realize another truth. On the wall is a painting of the Nativity! This is a Christian family, who go to Mass. Where is their church here? What does the Priest’s parsonage look like? Is he forced to only eat potatoes too? Knowing what led to this painting, the answer is no. Then there is the light. This is a coal miner’s family. In the late 19th century coal powered furnaces were a thing. You do not see it in this house. You can tell by their tiny light over the table, and their warm clothing. There is no furnace. You would see light coming from somewhere other than the tiny oil candle. That’s when you know, their work heats someone else’s house. Van Gogh, having been born to a wealthy family, is telling the world why he gave up his missionary home to the homeless with this family. When you understand what is really going on, how can you look at this and ignore their fear and loss?! How can you not see how amazing this painting truly is? How does The Potato Eaters preach the Word of God to the people of God? -Pastor Melissa Fain- This is a continuing Lenten exploration of non-religious artists' take on religion. This is how I’ve suggested one engages these meditations.
Self Portrait of a Young Man (29000.344) About the ArtistRev Howard Fenster (1916-2001)- Born in Alabama, he was one of 16 kids. In 1930, compelled by the Holy Spirit, he took up preaching. To supplement his income, he was also a bicycle repair man. In 1961 he moved to Pennville. It was while he was checking a tire with some white paint, he felt the Spirit again. The paint on his finger looked like a face. He heard the Spirit tell him to paint. Already, he was frustrated because he believed his sermons went in one ear and out another. His only concern was his talent. He heard the Spirit again to do it anyway. That’s when he started his career as a folk artist. His work is almost exclusively sacred in nature. He’s been on album covers, music videos, and late night talk shows. He created over 46,000 individual pieces of art from 1961 until his death in 2001. About the ArtSelf Portrait of a Young Man (29000.344) When you have an artist that has so many pieces to see, what do you focus on? I decided to focus on a very specific self-portrait. This specific self-portrait is more than Rev Finster. This one also includes the Holy Spirit. “Where?” you might ask. Well, friends, in the words written on his face. Here’s the truth about hearing a message from the Spirit. If you’ve experienced it, you know. Really, that’s it. You can relate to others who have experienced it. There is no way to explain it, except to sound completely and totally nuts. Also, you learn the people who don’t get it, REALLY don’t get it. People think the Spirit’s call is really like picking up a nice hobby, or doing something where you have a natural talent. In reality, the Spirit call is almost never fun, or rewarding for that matter. It’s an act of sacrifice for the sake of the whole Body of Christ. For Howard Fenster it is a wild ride. For many, it’s not. My TakeI felt compelled to include Rev Fenster in this collection of writing, even though he never really stopped being a minister. Then I realized it wasn’t that he never stopped being a minister, it was that he never pushed against the corporate church beyond basically saying congregants' memories were easily lost. He wanted to preach in a way that would be lasting. He felt called to leave the church and paint his sermons.
I won’t lie. I was smug as hell when I first saw his work. First, I thought his theological reflections were adolescent. You saw them, and there they were. There wasn’t any deeper meaning. Second, I thought his artistic style was too simplistic. I could do that in a day, and not even blink. The final thought I’ll share after I tear down my first and second thoughts first. He wanted to preach in a way people would remember. Of course his messages had to be simple! What I want to do is different. I want to preach in ways that can’t be conveyed in words; messages that can’t be preached at the pulpit. This doesn’t mean I’m not going to let up on critiquing the theological message. A bad theological message can hurt way more than just the person who believes it. I am going to put away my superiority complex to want something deeper from a person who clearly had deep faith. It’s fine that his messages were simple. It’s necessary for his call. His style reminds me of how I used to draw in elementary school. I need to get down off that horse fast. We live in a world where painting hyper-realism is doable. We can use digital media to stop a moment. We can zoom in on said moment, and get variation of color in a way we never could. Really great artists can use these tools to make near photo quality paintings. That is a statement of their skill, not their art. It disheartens people into not even trying. Even Rev Fenster had his moment. He felt called to paint and told God he didn’t have the skill. Why would anyone even want what he’s making? Then he felt called to try anyway, and he did. I feel we need to encourage art in all forms. It not only expands our definitions of art, but it helps people see skill in others. This leads me to my third critique, and one I can’t reorder in my brain. It’s not smug. It’s just the truth. Rev. Fenster was a man. The longer I’m doing this, the more I’m seeing secular religious art being an easier path for men. In fact, the longer I’m doing this, the more I’m seeing women being put in support roles for men, so men can have an easier path. I have quietly been watching other art forms where the men seek help from women, and when the time comes for the women to get the same support? There are crickets.There are not fewer women in these fields because the women are less talented. There are fewer women because that door doesn’t go both ways. This makes even my hopeful expressions of art a bittersweet experience for me. It carries weight, and even a small added weight, wears one down after years of it being chained to you. I basically told a close friend a year or two back: If I have to quit now. That is not a failure. Even the biggest fighters go down during fights. They are not all wins. At some point, you either die or quit. If I quit before I succeed, that might not be my failure either. I was just worn down too much by others to make it. Like the portrait: It’s not my message, it’s God’s, and I’m not vain enough to believe the message would die with me. I am, however, realistic enough to my own limits, and how it is very possible to wear me down to them. I’m saying all this to help you see context when I say, I’m happy for him and his wild ride. I’m saying all this so you understand why I pray, “God, I’d be doing so much better if you hadn’t made me female. Why me?” See, his wild ride might speak to more than just me. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for. You might be chained to your own weight. You are allowed to appreciate someone for what they bring, while also pushing against it. How does Rev Howard Finster preach the Word of God to the people of God? -Pastor Melissa Fain- This is a continuing Lenten exploration of non-religious artists' take on religion. This is how I’ve suggested one engages these meditations.
What makes this piece different, is it's mine. I finished it yesterday. Today's post will look a little different from the other Lenten posts. The Art: I already knew the creators of religious art was oversaturated with men. I thought I'd go outside the church to find artistic expression and I'd find women. Only secular expression of religious themes are still over saturated with men. Basically, I wanted to see what women outside the Church thought about Church, as much as I was seeing what men thought, only I was only finding men. Just look back at all the posts so far. Amazing talent. Awe inspiring work. All men. In my frustration, I picked out one of the artists, and began a feminist critique through art of their work. About the Art: To really get what I'm doing, it is important to see the related piece. In this case, I chose Aaron Douglas's Creation. I love Douglas' work. It looks simplistic, but the way he uses simple shapes, and range is much much more complex than it appears. His Creation, shows a man looking up at the hand of God. It's a white god, and the stars themselves are white. As the viewer I thought, can he have those stars? Probably not. With these illusions to the flood, the rainbow and Father Abraham, it's a deep piece by an agnostic painter. I recently wrote on his piece titled: Noah's Ark. I picked Douglas for my critique for two reasons. First, I want you to look this artist up. I want you to see his work. He lived in the 20's. When he's visualizing segregation, slavery and oppression he's doing it as an African American who know it. He deserves more attention from all audiences. Secondly, my critique of him is the masculinity in all his work. He lived in a time where "man" meant all of humanity. He could stay masculine, and no one would have questioned him. That can't exist today. About the Artist: If I create something I truly love, I'm usually the most upset by it's creation. I've been doing this for almost a decade. There are backlogs of attempts to put myself out there. There are critiques meant to set something broken back to wholeness. I have been met with an echo. We all have. Some of us think our echoes are validation. Nothing changes if people who already agree with us, choose to agree with us more. I've been ordained for a dozen years. Like, literally 12 as of Feb 14th. I've worked in churches and religious systems since 99'. Twice as long as I've been ordained. As long as I don't rock boats, or don't take too much power, I'm safe. Well, I was safe. Well, I was never safe. I sealed my fate in high school when I led a group of fellow teenagers to walk out on the (who would eventually be) the General Moderator for the Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ). We walked out right when he began his sermon because he was hired as the senior minister, and didn't get along with the associate who happened to be a woman and the youth director. No one in the church knew, and not involving the church in a decision like that was my big problem. As time progressed, he was the one who owned the narrative, so the story became twisted. The story became that the associate led a coup d'etat to take down the poor senior minister. Only it appears the walk out did absolutely nothing bad to this minister. His hissy fit, throwing down the gauntlet to say it was him or her, got her fired, and hurt the church for a generation. He did gangbusters! That was my introduction to ministry. This associate was the first time I had seen a woman preach. I saw how she was treated, and I STILL felt called to go into ministry! Getting God's call is not the same as "finding your passion," or "doing what you always wanted to do." A real honest to goodness call will not often get you accolades or high paying jobs. It's taking on things no one wants to support. It's saying things that no one wants to hear. It's preaching to Nineveh. My take:Notice what is the same: There is a person looking up. There is an olive branch next to the person. There is the hand of god. There are stars the same color as the hand of god. The rainbow is hidden in both. There is water. There are squiggly lines.
Notice what is different: Douglas put the entire piece underwater. At least that's how I see it. The bubbles, and the waves tell me this is after Noah's Ark, but before the water's receded. That also puts the person in the chaos, because the uncreated world was in the oceans. That makes it even more poignant that the olive branch stands next to him. What's different is the person's gender and color. The man is black. The woman is white. I'm speaking from my context, and only my context. I'm a white woman. I'm not taking on anything that doesn't belong to me. God is white in Douglas's work, while god is a man in mine. Douglas's man is looking up at god. My woman is looking at a star, and wants to touch it. There is still the illusion to the flood, because Douglas's road was transformed into a creek in mine. I knew I couldn't put bubbles in the sky, so I decided for wind, only my wind became the spirit. Also blue, and completely by accident. It's filled with so much hope. I want her to get the star. I want the Abrahamic promise to belong to her too! Only, I fear the star will never reach her, or if it does she won't be able to use it. This painting is the truth, and what the truth holds depends on what we do with it. How does "New Creation" preach the Word of God to the people of God? -Pastor Melissa Fain- This is a continuing Lenten exploration of non-religious artists' take on religion. This is how I’ve suggested one engages these meditations.
For this art, I’d like to ask you to listen to the song without seeing the imagery. Press play, and don’t watch. Let the music take you in. When you come back to it after reading what I’ve written, watch it. About the Artist:Omar Thomas (1984-) Born in Brooklynn, New York to Guyanese parents, he moved to Boston in 2006 to earn his Masters in Jazz Composition. He won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers award in 2008. He is hailed for his ability to capture emotional intent in his work. About the Art:Thomas was commissioned by the JMU Wind Symphony to create a memorial piece in remembrance of the 9 lives lost during the 2015 Charleston AME Church shooting. The piece is angry, sad, confused, and ultimately hopeful. It uses the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing, as it’s muse. My take:My undergraduate degree is a BA in Music. Music was my balm when my personal world was a minefield. I sang and played my soul out. That’s why it might surprise you to know that it is extremely difficult to get a song to bring me to tears. I’ve been sad while singing. I’ve cried while singing “Amazing Grace” at a funeral. A few tears slipped while I sang “Let there be Peace on Earth” the Sunday after 9/11. Those were less the songs, and more what was happening for those songs to be played.
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings rips me apart every time. It really doesn’t matter what mood I’m in, or how many times I’ve heard it. The edges of my eyes get misty. I feel it. Now there’s a second. “Of Our New Day Begun” is a mourning wail. It is the musical version of a Lament if I’ve ever heard it. More than that, if you are anywhere in the mourning process, this song sings, and sounds to your specific place in that journey. Maybe it has just begun, and in that case, this song is raw. It plays your nerves like violin strings. Maybe you have finally begun the sacrificial journey, willing to bring what can no longer be before God. In that case, it screams. It is an angry rebuke of a broken creation. Maybe you have found the light after brokenness. You are in the midst of thanksgiving. In that case, it brings out the happy tears. It’s a joyous celebration that something new has been created, while still lamenting what can never be again. This is, in a very real sense, a Lenten song. This is, in a very real sense, a modern Psalm. This is, in a very real sense, what I was talking about with Dr. Pemberton, when I said not all speech uses actual words, or if it does, it’s more about what those words mean, not what they are actually saying. It’s times like this I begin to understand why I felt called to get my dinkey music degree (because a BA in music is a BA in basket weaving without an education focus or something to back it up) was vital to my call as a minister. Seminarians are inundated with words. Ministers study with language. Meanwhile, my first conversations with God lacked vocabulary. Now I’m trying to show you, and I see how difficult it can be to see communication beyond words if you’ve never thought beyond them. Learned back when I was tied to the lyrics of someone else’s song, that the notes sing too. True, they too were someone else’s notes, but they said more than the words. “Of Our New Day Begun” says more than words too. We need only listen. How does this piece preach the Word of God to the people of God? -Pastor Melissa Fain- This is a continuing Lenten exploration of non-religious artists' take on religion. Noah’s Ark https://www.wikiart.org/en/aaron-douglas/noahs-ark-1927 About the artist:Aaron Douglas (1899-1979): Was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas. He was the most influential artist of the Black Harlem Renaissance. In 1924 he moved to Harlem, and continued his art, teaching, and becoming an art critic. His style was within the art deco genre, and synthetic cubism. His bold and simple color pallet uses range to draw attention to specific parts of the painting. About the art:About the art: Noah’s Ark is a classic Biblical story of Noah being the last redeemable person on the Earth, and God saving that person, while destroying the rest of humanity. It is a big do-over. Painting over the canvas to start again. It’s one of those stories that is unbelievably horrific, yet we paint pretty images of the story in our Children’s Bibles and on baby’s nursery walls. My take:Douglas has quickly become one of my favorite artists. It’s because of him that I even chose to take on this project. He is not afraid to use religion to speak to broader stories, especially in the African American context. I love his use of light. You don’t have to have an art degree to know where he has placed the focus. In this piece it’s two-fold. First, there’s the Godlight shining on Noah. You see him giving orders, as the last minute preparations are being made on the Ark. Only, that light doesn’t radiate out. There are two places the light radiates. First, there’s God, stopping short of touching anything but Noah. Nothing is going to stop the rising waters, and you can see them in the background. Devastation is going to come, and God will not stop it. Then there’s the real focus. In the background, if not for the waters, as far back as you can get, there is a worker making last minute fixes to the boat. That man is going to die. In fact, all the people, apart from Noah, are working on their death. The man in the foreground is dragging a log. Perhaps it was a log holding the boat in place. Then there is a man carrying up supplies, or pitch to the boat. All three of them will be dead. That’s when I realized he painted Noah’s Ark to be a slave ship. Noah, in this painting, is not the “good guy” at all, just as God is not a loving God. As Christians, we are told where to focus. How dare we draw our attention to the footnotes or the margins. God and Noah. That’s it. Practically speaking, if Noah’s Ark is to be believed, Noah couldn’t have built that Ark on his own. It was, in the truest sense, slave labor. It was slave labor because none of the workers would have gained any fruit from their hard work. No wonder Noah got stupid drunk after the waters receeded, and it was dry enough to get off the boat. If you’re that Noah, in Douglas’ painting, you would have to see the immense loss you could have prevented had you looked in the shadows. How does Douglas’ “Noah’s Ark” preach the Word of God to the people of God? For another resource:
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/1/ac-0901_article -Pastor Melissa Fain- As I mentioned before, I’m going to explore artistic expression for Lent. Specifically, I want to look at how secular (or non-religious) artists explore the topics of religion in their work. A few ground rules:
About the artist:Zhang Haun: Born to a farming family in China, Zhang knew poverty and struggle at an early age. He is openly embarrassed by his country's political choices. His first performance piece, titled “Angel” took a baby doll, covered in blood. The baby was then taken apart by Zhang over a white canvas. After it was in pieces, Zhang attempted to put it back together again. The imagery was reminiscent of Tiananmen Square for the Chinese who were watching. About the art:One of Zhang’s preferred mediums is used sacred temple incense. He layers it to create sculptures. In this piece, temple ash is layered to create the image of Jesus and Buddha facing one another. When you first see it, it looks like a showdown of faiths. Buddhism vs Christianity. However, both are posed in peace. It’s not a showdown at all, but an acceptance. My take:Today marks the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. If you are curious to know more about Lent and Ash Wednesday, I’ll drop previous posts at the bottom. Here’s how it’s important today: Ash Wednesday takes place after Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras. The fat and yeast is supposed to be literally used up because in High Church traditions followers are supposed to fast for the 40 days leading up to Easter excluding Sundays. On Ash Wednesday, there can be a worship. That’s where the palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday (Also linked at the bottom) are burned to ash. The ash is put on the worshippers forehead in the shape of a cross using holy oil to make it stick. For today I want to focus on those palms. During Palm Sunday the palm fronds are often put before the altar in a joyous celebration; remembering Jesus entering Jerusalem on the week of his Crucifixion. As an adult, I realize how upside down that celebration truly was. Still, I had many fond memories of being a child bringing in the palm fronds on Palm Sunday. I was also a child who loved to pick flowers and smash them in my journals. They became fragile memories of a day I played outdoors, or spent time with someone I loved. I had also not left my palm fronds at the church, but took them home, and dried them out. (For those of you imagining a kid attempting to dry out palm fronds, don’t. It never went well, and they were always way too big to keep.) When I realized what they were doing with the fronds, I also realized my fronts were never included. My fronds were taken home, while the others sat in an attic drying out for the year, and then destroyed to ash. When I first understood what happened my much younger self was happy to not include my fronds. It would only be as an adult that I’d realize Ash Wednesday requires sacrifice. Personal sacrifice. If I wasn’t giving anything to the ash, then it wasn’t my ash to receive. Which brings me back to Ash Jesus. When I see him, his hands outstretched, built from the ash of long forgotten prayers, I see Ash Wednesday. Many of us assume Lent is about letting go of something for a bit. Perhaps you planned to say no to cola, or chocolate. Maybe this is the last thing you plan to read before avoiding the internet. That’s all well and good, but not really the point of Lent. Lent, like Advent, is about preparing for Christ. During Advent, it was a joyous celebration of life. During Lent, it is really about preparing for death. GONNA STOP YOU RIGHT THERE! EASTER IS ABOUT THE RESURRECTION! IF LENT WAS ABOUT THE RESURRECTION IT WOULD ALL BE CALLED EASTER! DON’T @ ME. Sorry. We like to paint over Lent with Easter, so I had to kinda yell that one out so it wouldn’t be lost. Preparing for Christmas is easy because most of it is taking on new things. Preparing for Lent is a journey of letting go. It’s incredibly difficult and just taking that first step is a journey within itself. It’s the understanding that things that were good and loved at one point, cannot go forward. You can’t undo the incense that was burned. It was sacred and good when it was burned, but it can no longer be. It must be sacrificed to become something new. You can’t undo the slow decay of the palms. It was sacred and good when they were used, but they can no longer be. They must be sacrificed to continue on the journey. And that’s where the Church sits. Not at the story of Advent, but at the beginning of Lent. As the Church clings to the decaying relics of a previous time, we sit in decay ourselves. We press our memories, and refuse to bring them to God in sacrifice. Then, we don’t become a part of the final picture. Ash Christ cannot be ours until we choose to let go of what can no longer be; and become what God intends. We can’t live until we die. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. How does Ash Jesus preach the Word of God to the people of God? Previous posts:
Ash Wednesday https://www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/ash-wednesday https://www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/ash-wednesday2 www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/ash-wednesday-beginning-again Lent https://www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/lent https://www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/the-purpose-of-lent Palm Sunday https://www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/palm-sunday www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/palm-sunday-hosanna https://www.figtreechristian.org/meditations/palms -Pastor Melissa Fain- In March/April of 2020 I watched as countless people posted:
"This is the Lentiest Lent we have ever Lent." Then everyone reacted with a laugh emoji and moved on. What else was there to do? I feel the Christian Calendar exists, in part, to give us a way to authentically react to life. In an American culture, we've kinda lost the purpose of Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday. In reality, it was preparing for a fast. It was a no yeast diet, and a no fat or red meat. Therefore, this being the day before fasting, all the yeast and fatty meats were to be used up so it wouldn't go bad. Now it's an excuse to overdo it, whatever each of us have to overdo. No one sees it as the first step to accepting loss, which is what it really is. You don't need me to tell you when you are ready for that step. You don't need to start that process today. Nor, if you do start that process, does it need to be over and done with by Easter. These things take years. You might need to spend this time "pretending Lent," and that's fine. Many of us would no longer call March/April 2020 the "Lentiest Lent we have ever Lent," We have gone through a collective loss, that somehow keeps taking. While there were many things about these past two years that were communal, how we process it is personal. If you are not ready to give up your version of yeast and red meat, that's you working on your own time. It's not for me or anyone else reading this to decide. No matter what you are planning to do this Lent: May God be with you on your journey. -Pastor Melissa Fain- Lent is just around the corner. March 2nd to be exact. I want to do something that will capture the spirit of Lent while also breaking their boundaries. Yes, you read that correctly. Boundaries need to exist. They tell us where our actions can hurt ourselves or others. When we don’t keep strong boundaries, we risk chaos from sneaking into our organization. But, boundaries also exist to keep power where power no longer needs to be. You can trap people to slowly or quickly kill them with boundaries. You can hide things you don’t want others to see with boundaries. I want to break boundaries that neither help or are useful. I’m going to spend Lent looking at secular expressions of God through artistic interpretation. Put another way, I’m going to look at artists that take on Biblical stories or images of God, to see how their work preaches. Listening to the Lord’s Song in a Foreign LandI remember I was starting a job at a Church. The secretary was showing me around and wanting me to be aware of the Christian music radio stations. By that point I had stopped listening to Christian music. It was too… something. It’s like when you first decide to make lifestyle changes to lose weight. After you’ve taken off those 15-50 pounds, you decide you are going to spoil yourself and go to a fast food place. It’s no longer the same, and you feel horrible after eating it. Not because you feel guilty, but you feel horrible because the food actually makes you feel horrible. Yucky. Christian music had begun to hit me wrong. It was too much of one thing, and not enough of something else. It could only play on sacred ground, but lacked the ability to sing on foreign soil. I needed to hear God in secular music, so I began to listen. I heard so much more relevant music from the Foo Fighters, and Weezer than from the Gaither Trio. I thanked the secretary, and then never listened to the station. Not even once. Painting the Lord’s Song in new tonesI believe if God is seeking me to preach in ways that are beyond the pulpit, I need to explore how others have done the same. If I could go between 4-5 artists, I might understand what God is asking me to do. If you want to follow along as I take this journey, I invite you to come here during Lent.
 -Rev Melissa Fain- I'm going to throw down some terms in this post, but don't worry, I'll define everything as I go. I'm secretly a gal who loves the Liturgical Calendar. This is basically the Christian Calendar. Most Christians follow it to a very loose degree by celebrating Christmas and Easter. I go one step further and include lesser known Christian times: Advent, Epiphany, Lent, and Pentecost. You don't need to know all those words, but here's a very crude summary: Advent- Preparing for Christmas Epiphany- Celebrating the three Magi after Christmas Lent- Preparation for Easter Pentecost- Celebrating the Holy Spirit I want to spend some time on Lent, because ironies of ironies, we are smack dab in the middle of it. Lent isn't exactly giving something up.Shrove Tuesday is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. If you want to know what those two things are look to New Orleans. Shrove Tuesday is historically the time when you used up your yeast, because in the Christian calendar, Lent is a time to fast. This has morphed to the celebration we know today as Mardi Gras. Ash Wednesday is when Lent officially begins. Many in the Christian tradition will go to an Ash Wednesday worship, where they will have ashes put upon their forehead in the shape of a cross. Those ashes, are supposed to be the burnt remains of the palm fronds used in the previous Palm Sunday. It is death. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. I have a very difficult time visiting non-denominational churches during the Lenten season. Lent is sacred. It must exist if we are to fully understand the scandal of an empty cross. New life will always be preceded by death. Lent is choosing what you're not taking with youSo you gave up Facebook for Lent. How's that working out for you? Snark aside, The superficial giving up has never really sat well with me. Sure, we can give up chocolate for 40 days, but is that really preparing us for what's coming? Lent is about preparation. Sometimes that involves giving something up. In my mind, unless you're fasting, it should be something that doesn't get picked back up after Easter. If Facebook keeps you from Jesus than why are you going back to it when Lent is over? Lent should make us consider what shouldn't be brought before God's eyes. Our desire for the easy answers keeps us from the hard truths. Lent is a time where we kill what shouldn't be given new life. We sacrifice sin. We give up that which takes away from life. Lent is also choosing what you're picking upEndurance, relationship, hope... Maybe it's not Facebook that's the problem, but how we use it as a people.
I don't think many are preparing for the Easter that's coming this year. I think many congregations have chosen the band-aid approach to all this. I've read multiple posts across multiple platforms that basically read, "This Lent is too real for me." That's because many of us are only okay with superficial death. We don't want to admit that something cannot be, and because of that, nothing new can take its place. You cannot worship on Easter the way you planned on worshiping. Now, you can either mourn what cannot be and find Christ in the digital wilderness, or you can try to hobble together to create a golden fraud in the meantime. This is going to sound backwards, but now is the best time to be mourning! This might be the Lent-iest Lent ever, that might roll into the most un-Easter-like Easter, but maybe we can prepare for that. Maybe this Easter can be a time where we can pause and reflect. Maybe as we mourn what cannot be on Easter day, there will be some early risers who will find the tomb of their beloved worship is empty. Something new has taken it's place. BUT- we must lay to rest what cannot be. |
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