Trembling Aspen: Okay, you can look now. It's done.

[This post is part 3 of a 3 part series. The first post "Don't Look yet... it's not finished" can be found here. The second post "Not yet...still working." can be found here.]

Okay, let's get back to the paintings from part 1 of this post. [I hadn't forgotten] As you may recall we had, on the one hand, a successful-fearful work of art—David's "Oath of the Horatii"—and on the other a fruitful-hopeful work of art—Goya's "The Third of May, 1808". With the help of Henri Nouwen we got around to the idea that if a life could be considered a painting it would be desirable for that painting to be a fruitful-hopeful painting, like the Goya, rather than a successful-fearful one, like the David.

WE MAKE MORE THAN PAINTINGS
Now I'd like to broaden our focus from making paintings to making things in general, or as Andy Crouch by way of Borgmann calls it, "making something of the world."1 When we make something of our world we take "this" and "that," effect change somehow and end up with "another thing." In the case of a painting we take this canvas and that paint and we end up with more than the sum of canvas and paint—something new, a painting. We could also take this water and that pile of vegetables and end up with something more than the sum of water and vegetables, we end up with something new—soup. This is the essence of our creative capacity as a reflection of Creator God. We don't create ex nihilo, out of nothing, but we do create new things.

When we make something of our world, the things we make can go one of two ways:

we can

put ourselves at the centre
attempt to control out of fear
spread fear thereby self referentially reinforcing an environment of control
repeat

OR we can

die to ourselves out of hope
place God's kingdom at the centredie to ourselves out of hope
spread hope thereby creating new environments conducive to further self giving love
repeat

Okay, but aren't the images I've used a little heavy handed? Well, they are biblical images. They come from Isaiah 2:4

"And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks Nation will not lift up sword against nation
And never again will they learn war"

Handgun-like things will be turned into garden-tool-like things. In God's kingdom not only will we make garden tool like things in the first place, but we'll redeem handgun like things and turn them into garden tool like things.

WHAT KIND OF SOMETHING DO WE MAKE OF THE WORLD?
What we make of the world, which can tend toward handgun-likeness or garden-tool-likeness, includes not only physical tangible things like soup, chairs, buildings, and paintings. Things we make also includes intangible things, like organizational structures, systems and methods. Even though these aren't things we can see, they are very much things we make.

Churches are things we make too. The building, if there is one, is something we make. The organizational structures, systems and rules of a church are also something we make.

So, as something we make, how do our churches fair when thinking about their handgun-likeness or their garden-tool-likeness? Before we have a look, it's probably wise to state that in the here and now of God's kingdom, in the already-but-not-yet-ness of God's kingdom, nothing will be fully handgun-like or garden-tool-like; they'll fall somewhere on a continuum. There is no such thing as a handgun church or a garden tool church. In the already-but-not-yet-ness of God's kingdom here and now, all churches are both, and even that's an oversimplification. Different parts of components of churches are varying degrees of both. We aren't talking about an actual church here, we're talking about a lens through which we can look at our actual church in order to ask ourselves, "Are we quietly leaning this way?" They are pretty drastic images, but it's their concrete clarity that makes them a handy tool for thinking about the things we make.

HANDGUN CHURCH
A handgun church doesn't go around shooting people. It is very civilized and respectable. But the handgun church lets people know in no uncertain terms, we're packing heat. The bullet of eternal damnation is in the chamber and we're not afraid to use it, so you'd better sign up for our moral program before it's too late or there'll be hell to pay, literally.

In a handgun church the word "growth" becomes about numerical growth because handguns are only concerned with coerced vs not-coerced, in or out, yes or no. Handguns aren't very good with the process of growth. So questions asked in a handgun church tend to be framed around numerical growth. How many people have we attracted, convinced (coerced?); how many in, how many out, how many yes, how many no? Numerical "growth," or successfulness, is the natural outcome of strength and control. Strength and control talk leads to generative action undergirded by strength and control. Generative action undergirded by strength and control leads inevitably to injustice. Injustice is neglect in public. Injustice looks like a) ugliness (things out of right-relationship), b) slavery (things enslaved to being out of right-relationship).

GARDEN TOOL CHURCH
A garden tool church is on it's knees and getting its hands dirty, so it might not look respectable. The garden tool church lets people know, our master didn't pack heat, so we aren't packing heat. We left the gun at home.

In a garden tool church growth is about a seed dying and becoming a shoot, which in turn becomes a fledging plant, which in turn starts to bear fruit. It's about the process of growth which begins now and continues until God's kingdom has arrived in full. It's about a mystery that can't be controlled or turned into successful programs. Mysterious fruitfulness is the natural outcome of vulnerable and hopeful talk. Vulnerable and hopeful talk leads to generative action undergirded by vulnerability and hope. Generative action undergirded by vulnerability and hope leads inevitably to justice. Justice is love in public.2 Justice looks like a) beauty (things in right-relationship & things enjoying right-relationship; b) freedom (things enjoying right-relationship & things in right-relationship).

We can't use handguns in a kingdom where handguns are anathema, we can't use weaponized systems in a garden-tool kingdom, we can't talk about plant like growth with a gun in our hands, but that hasn't stopped us trying.