Michael Frost, author of Exiles, and co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, was the opening keynote speaker at the Forge Grassroots Festival. Describing himself as the grumpy guy at the start, he set about challenging the festivalgoers to aspire to action rather than mere insight.
Mike talked about the discovery that Yellow Fever was spread by mosquitos, a cause overlooked by the medical field for many years. Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay made the connection 100 years ago but was ignored. The same thing happens today when we overlook the impact of ‘dullness of understanding’ on the church. When people provide intellectual assent to missional concepts but do nothing with them, it’s like that mosquito. Epidemic uselessness.
A Google-Earth-view of Biblical events was presented at an art installation in Miami last week, showing the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the crucifixion of Jesus.
The project, God’s Eye View, was produced by Sydney-based creative team The Glue Society, commissioned by Eric Romano of Pulse Art, New York, for its Miami art fair.
The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Glue Society’s co-founder, Jonathan Kneebone, as saying God’s Eye View was not intended to be a theological statement. “Art has always depicted religious events and this is simply a new way to do it,” he said. “We’re playing with the whole idea that if you can capture something from a satellite it must exist.”
Kneebone described the four pictures as digital “jigsaw puzzles” made by piecing together real satellite images. The picture of the Red Sea, for example, uses photographs of Niagara Falls to create the impression of tonnes of foaming water. The Garden of Eden photograph uses images from Belgium.
“We like to disorientate audiences a little with all our work. And with this piece we felt technology now allows events which may or may not have happened to be visualized and made to appear dramatically real. As a method of representation satellite photography is so trusted, it has been interesting to mess with that trust.”
I’ve written a summary of the presentation by Alan Roxburgh at the seminar held recently in Brisbane. His comments are certainly challenging to consultants, church leaders, speakers and authors.
I wrote the summary first for the benefit of my colleagues in the Uniting Church Queensland Synod Mission Resources Network Team. The Mission Resources Network team is the name given to the growing collaboration occuring between Gary Adsett and Scott Guyatt (Property and Resources Strategies), Graham Beattie (Mission Consultant - Leadership and Congregational Growth), Michael Jeffrey (Youth and Childrens Ministry Unit), Andrew Johnson (Justice and International Mission), Ann Warren (Human Relations), myself (Vision for Mission) and Jenny Tymms (General Secretary).
