I recently got back from a Christian conference, and my mind has been reeling ever since. Apparently, Christians love their conferences, but personally, I have never been to one, so I guess there are outliers in everything!
The conference, appropriately titled “Painters Prophets Poets”, employed various speakers of the Christian faith in those particular categories. The aim was to generate momentum towards understanding what it means to be a creative human longing for a New Creation. I found myself soaking in the beauty of the old church and distracting my mind by contemplating how the light passing through the stained glass of the windows, crafted so long ago by an artist, had anything to do with the mystery of Christ’s Kingdom.
And, at times, I’ve never been more confused. There was quite a volley of diverse perspectives, insights, and wisdom from these Christian leaders. (I guess that’s why Hannah Anderson, one of the hosts of the conference, referred to the lineup of speakers as “stewards of the mysteries of God.”)
These stewards of mystery, these creative and visionary storytellers, were all very adept at what Malcolm Guite (a poet, priest, and musician) described as the process of “apprehending, or taking, what is heavenly and bodying it forth into comprehension, or understanding.”
And I wondered, as I listened to the likes of Malcolm Guite, Miroslav Volf, Haejin Fujimara, Makoto Fujimara, and Beth Moore (each a painter, poet, prophet, or visionary in their own right and definitely worth researching), how do I become a “steward of the mystery of God?”
Like, how does one do that? Be that? Is it just a privileged thing that God affords to those with opportunities for open doors, or extraordinary giftings, or those who have mostly lived their life well, or those with a heck of a lot of money?
But as my heart has settled, and as I’ve had my framework for Christianity and living life well reframed in terms of envisioning New Creation, I realize I already am that thing, that new thing.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (CSB).
At the conference, Haejin Fujimara told a story that brought a well of emotion and tears from me (which, to be fair, is not a difficult task). She recounted a story her mother once shared about a mom who made it to Heaven and, upon arriving, God asked her, “What did you do with the life I have given you?” This mom responded by pulling her daughter to her side and saying, “Here, here is the fruit of faithfulness and creativity in my life.” A reminder that even the roles God has given us in life that don’t feel like ministry are, in fact, exactly that.
My story (and yours too) is not a just means to an end. It matters. At the conference, the attendees were told that “matter matters.”
That said, it’s not “all about the journey,” either. We are not the endpoint. Comparison to others is not the metric of our success. We may be God’s poetry, but He is the Poet, and He has stepped into the lines of His sonnet of love to walk with us and to explain each word’s meaning to us.
Our endpoint matters. Our point B, from our point A, matters. And this is because our point B is in Christ, in His new, eternal Kingdom breaking forth. New creation bursting into this present and dark reality, through us and our creative endeavors.
And He does that through story.
His story: the Gospel of Christ.
But also your story, the Gospel of Christ in you, and how He’s saved you.
I’m about to exhort you to do something that I am still figuring out for myself:
Christian, we have work to do.
So go out and be a good steward of the mysteries of God’s story in you!
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