Hell is beige!
I reading a wonderful book. The Artist's Way at Work : Riding the Dragon, It's been a tremendous help to me through this process. I've been reflecting on the use of creativity in the church moderne. Or more correctly the absence of it.
I realized that the nature of conventionality is uniformity. Something i will never be able to "get" much less live. I guess the safety that is gained from the sameness permits a kind of comfort. In a world of ever increasing flux - this uniformity appears helpful to "conventionals." The "beige -ification" even can be sold as unity. Blancmange uniformity isn't unity! (The french dish called "blancmange" its a gelatinous dessert of milk and cornflour. They used to use it to help nurse the very sick back to health (like hospital jello) - flat flavorless and you'd have to be really sick to eat it willingly.)
But then I took a walk to the park with my kids - and we discovered that the chestnut tree on the way to the park was shedding it's fruit. A rich fall bounty fit for any child's tresure box.
Despite their similarity - each nut was unique. Some part of a trio in a pod, others an only child. There is no telling their fate by their look. Some may end up as squirrel bait, others the parent of my grandchildren's chestnut oddysseys.
But it was the group of them that was beautiful. Each nut on it's own had a kind of beauty - but a bouquet? Breathtaking. Some had "hatched," some were trying, others still were pried into the daylight by the swift fingers and determination of my kids. We brough a scad of them home - hands and pockets full. A proud prize to show their mother.
I immediately arranged them in a wicker basket. I wanted to see these for a bit. Wholly un uniform, an unconventional hodgepodge of sticks and pods and nuts - yet entirely beautiful.
Any church that fails to get that "Hell is beige." Will probably put the matter to rest by vote at the next business meeting. After all - what's uni-conformity for?
I realized that the nature of conventionality is uniformity. Something i will never be able to "get" much less live. I guess the safety that is gained from the sameness permits a kind of comfort. In a world of ever increasing flux - this uniformity appears helpful to "conventionals." The "beige -ification" even can be sold as unity. Blancmange uniformity isn't unity! (The french dish called "blancmange" its a gelatinous dessert of milk and cornflour. They used to use it to help nurse the very sick back to health (like hospital jello) - flat flavorless and you'd have to be really sick to eat it willingly.)
But then I took a walk to the park with my kids - and we discovered that the chestnut tree on the way to the park was shedding it's fruit. A rich fall bounty fit for any child's tresure box.
Despite their similarity - each nut was unique. Some part of a trio in a pod, others an only child. There is no telling their fate by their look. Some may end up as squirrel bait, others the parent of my grandchildren's chestnut oddysseys.
But it was the group of them that was beautiful. Each nut on it's own had a kind of beauty - but a bouquet? Breathtaking. Some had "hatched," some were trying, others still were pried into the daylight by the swift fingers and determination of my kids. We brough a scad of them home - hands and pockets full. A proud prize to show their mother.
I immediately arranged them in a wicker basket. I wanted to see these for a bit. Wholly un uniform, an unconventional hodgepodge of sticks and pods and nuts - yet entirely beautiful.
Any church that fails to get that "Hell is beige." Will probably put the matter to rest by vote at the next business meeting. After all - what's uni-conformity for?
