Cultivating Culture

One of the things I'm constantly challenged by is how we, as followers of Jesus, engage with culture at the same time as being counter cultural. 

In January the church I'm currently a part of challenged all the smallgroups to love our local communities in a 2 week intiative called 'Love Out Loud'.

The first problem we had as a smallgroup is that we're all from different parts of the city and various different life stages. Our talents, backgrounds, skills are all different too. But there a few things that we seem to thrive on - a love for God, a want to be part of social justice and enterprise, a passion for creativity. One night we sat down with a big sheet of wallpaper and scribbled all of our ideas, dreaming big. We decided not to limit ourselves.

Somehow out of that sheet of wallpaper, plus a few enquiries to different organisations and our church leadership team we came up with The Art of Joy. 

We wanted to do something that could be 'city wide', and we wanted to do something creative. Edinburgh is a financial centrepoint in Europe. And the so-called 'Credit Crunch' is affecting people here. People are losing their jobs, or having to decide who to make redundant, or facing huge pressures to meet deadlines while doing triple their workload with the fear that they need to prove their job is not a dispensable one.

How could we bring joy to our city in all of this? 

First of all, we wanted to recognise that art speaks to people. We wanted to encourage local artists, from amateur to professional. We wanted to encourage creativity. 

Our first task was to bring together local artists to give pieces of work they had done which related to joy. The art exhibition was to be held for 1 month in The Lot, and instead of charging a commission from the artists, 30% of any sale made would go to a local charity.

We held an opening night for people to view all the wonderful artwork over wine and nibbles. For me, I was able to include my Mum as she herself is an artist who makes handmade cards and jewellery outside of her normal 'day job'. With no agenda really, it naturally became a night to talk about what we were doing and why.

The next thing we did was start a Twitter Feed after being inspired by The Karma Army to do something we nicknamed 'guerilla joy spreading'. It became a way to actively try and find ways to bring joy and love people in our communities wherever we were. Each day we posted a new idea of something people could do - random acts of kindness to encourage, inspire and make people laugh and smile. 

We had an art therapy type workshop, bringing art and reflecting on the meaning of joy. The group was small but a people got a lot out of it. And it was totally free.

The next day, 2 of our group who love to knit started 'Knitter Natter' a place for people who enjoyed knitting to come along at meet fellow knitters over a glass of wine or cup of coffee in a relaxing venue. 

Our finale came with music and comedy. A gig on Easter Monday - a joyful one - where people could sneak down to the art exhibition if they hadn't already seen everything, and enjoy the music of some musicians who also love Jesus. It was collective worship. It was simple, minimalistic and really chilled. People absorbing the music and creativity of the artists on stage, and as we looked around we saw conversations, people being real, real about their lives, and real about their faith. No need for a sermon or an altar call. Just relationships being built or renewed. 

The feedback has been wonderful - artists who aren't all Christians who have been so encouraged to be able to share their art. People who have discovered new music. Musicians being able to get back into sharing their music after periods of not be able to do live gigs for a while. And their faith is reflected in much of their lyrics. Their relationship with God is real and tangible. 

Meanwhile, we're all shocked at how well it's gone and been received. And we've been able to raise some funds for a charity a few of us have volunteered with that provide support for people in the city struggling with homelessness, mental health issues, addiction and drug/alcohol abuse.

And all through taking passions for things we love, that we find God in, and providing a space for others to enjoy them with us. 

I hope this is part of what worshipping God with all our lives is all about.