Jason Valendy 9/13/10 Jason Valendy 9/13/10

Jesus and Shakespeare

Recently I heard and analogy that Shakespeare was less of a poet and more of a chemist who used words as his chemicals. It was an interesting thought and helped me understand a bit more about how Shakespeare could create so many words we now use today.

Granted not all of the words in Shakespeare "made the cut" so to speak and some of the language makes no sense. Scholars argue that is acceptable because just like a chemist, not all experiments work out well.

For instance, Shakespeare is credited as "creating" the prefix 'un'. He put the "made up" prefix in front of words just to see if they 'worked'. I cannot imagine a world in which 'un' did not exist and it is only because Shakespeare took the chance and pushed letters together that no other person thought about pushing together.

That got me thinking about Jesus.

What if we thought of Jesus as a chemist as well and he used the fruits of the spirit as his chemicals.

Shakespeare did not make up letters, he had the same alphabet others had he just courage to use it in ways no one else had. Jesus did not make up 'love' or 'peace' but he had the courage to use them in ways in which no other had.

Love your enemy.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's.
The first will be last and the last will be first.
Be like a child.
Eat with sinners.
Be crucified in order to expose cycles of violence and sin.

Shakespeare's courage to use the tools helped to create a new world (for instance a world with 'un'). Jesus' courage to use the tools helped to create a new world (the Kingdom of God).

I am challenged by the Triune God to also be a 'chemist'. What would it look like to push together love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in ways no one thinks about?

Can I push peace and violence together?
Can I push love and hate together?
Can I push self control and consumerism together?

Can I be a "chemist"?

Jason Valendy 6/28/10 Jason Valendy 6/28/10

Thank you Neil, and I think I know what it means...

Recently my friend Neil sent this to me and I was not sure I understood.

Well, here he is at it again, however this time I think I get it.

Often times I am asked in the local church were I serve "how does one become a cultural architect of/for the Gospel?" While this is a multifaceted question with a number of answers, I think the biggest contributor to being a cultural architect of/for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be creative.

Creativity is often thought of like eye color - some people have "it" (in this case blue eyes) and some people do not. But the fact of the matter is, creativity is less like eye color and more like eyes - everyone has eyes to see but some people practice looking.

The post Neil sent to me is one example of a person who walked through life seeing all sorts of things. In many cases, he saw the same things every day. But one day, he decided to practice looking. In his efforts to look at the world he no longer saw a boy as a possible set up for exploitation for money. He no longer saw an old man but looked at him in his eyes. He stopped looking for a moment and saw the world and what it was intended to be.

If you want to "be the change" or if you want to be a cultural architect live out of creativity. If you do not think you are creative, then perhaps the first step is to stop looking and see the world as God intends for it to be.

Who knows what story you will experience or what you will see.