ben's blog

Creativity is just as important as literacy

Sir Ken Robison asserts that our educational system, by and large, kills creativity in our children. Because the world is changing so fast, he says, "Creativity, now, is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."

Watch a fascinating, humorous, and moving 20-minute TED talk:

Some joy for your Sunday morning

Brilliant.

ht: Dan Wilt

Quality vs. Quantity

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one - to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

- David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art and Fear.

(ht: skidknee via Cindy)

Coldplay by kids

Check out this video of a bunch of middle-schoolers singing Coldplay. It was striking to me how un-self-conscious these kids are. Nobody is trying to be cool or checking out what others are doing, they are all simply enjoying an act of corporate creativity. And check out the passion of that music teacher! The whole thing is just beautiful.



ht: Tim Keel

Presence Module 2

I am sitting in Module 2 of the Presence School of Worship, listening to Geraldine Latty teach on John 2 - the wedding at Cana. It's some great stuff. Here are some shots from my perspective in the second row (from my computer's webcam).

She's continuing to teach tomorrow from 9am-4pm.

Ira Glass on how to do creative work

The five minutes it took me to watch this video were more helpful than almost anything else I've ever heard from anyone on doing creative work:

So what are you going to do? What deadlines are you going to set?

Telling Better Stories

Recently I saw an article on telling better stories from two men who created a performance series where people simply tell stories to a live audience.

I've been trying to move my preaching into more of a narrative direction, meaning that I don't break things down into a few "points" with an "application," but instead simply try to tell a compelling story. Well, not just any old story, but THE story that we Christians live our lives under. I look at Scripture as the story of what God has done and will do, and each passage I preach on then fits into that larger narrative.

This doesn't mean I am just trying to "tell more stories" when I preach, but that I am trying to tell THE story, trying to see preaching as storytelling. It seems to have worked for Jesus, I remind myself. (Incidentally, it's interesting how we preachers extol Jesus as a master preacher, but hardly ever attempt to actually preach like he did).

Every time I preach, then, I am telling the kingdom story, God's story, and inviting people into it, or reminding them that this is their true story. I believe it's absolutely vital for people to understand that they are part of God's story, because people make decisions and develop character based on how they perceive themselves to fit into the narratives they believe they belong to.

So when someone struggles with greed, the problem isn't just their individual desires, but that they probably perceive themselves fitting into a story where accumulating stuff is what it means to be human - getting more stuff is how one gains significance, according to that story.

So it's not enough to simply tell them they ought to stop being greedy. I need to pull back the veil on their true story (and tell it compellingly!) so they can see their place in God's true story, where significance is not gained, but given as a gift. If they can see themselves in that story, the pull of "getting more stuff" will weaken considerably.

All that to say that's why I appreciated the article. In brief, their 5 Tips for Telling Better Stories were these:

1. Keep it simple. The brain gets overwhelmed when trying to process too much information.
2. Openings and closings are very important. [Strongest material belongs at the beginning and end]
3. Be mindful of your story's spine. This is the basic structure of the story - don't wander very far from this, or you'll lose your audience.
4. Don't alienate your audience. When speaking about delicate matters or potentially offensive subjects, plan your approach carefully.
5. Tell the truth. [Especially appropriate for those who preach the gospel!] If you are not telling the truth, your listeners will know.

Cheap Knock-offs

Tim Keel says everything I would want to say about the eerie similarity between the two album covers below (click for a closer look):

The picture on the left is Radiohead's album Hail to the Thief which was released in 2003.
On the right is Third Day's Revelation which was released last week.

Are there no Christian artists in the world who could have created something original? Why create a cheap knock-off of someone else's album art? Argh! This is a serious problem. To quote Tim:

"This is not art. It is propaganda. It is killing us."

Bright spots in worship songwriting

Those of you who pop onto my blog now and then know that my last post was a brief, strongly-worded rant on what is wrong with Christian radio. And while I still maintain that Jesus is not a hamburger, and I still won't listen to Christian radio, I don't want to give anyone the impression that I don't think there is good music out there being made by Christians. Thus I want to highlight a couple people I think are doing a great job at the specific job of writing songs for congregational worship. (See? I can be positive!!)

In the realm of songwriting for worship, there are a few bright spots amidst a sea of blah. This paragraph from a recent novel is painfully accurate regarding modern worship songs. The protagonist is a semi-atheist who has planted a church to make him rich and famous (funny plotline already). Up until now they've been just taking normal pop songs and changing a few words. But then they discover that there are people who write music for specifically for worship. Katherine, the "pastor's" wife, has looked into this and is reporting to the worship band (also not Christians) about this newfound piece of information:

"... almost all of the songs were essentially about three things. The first: how great-awesome-incredible-powerful-majestic Jesus/God is/was/and forever will be. The second: how much we love-thank-adore-worship-bow down to Jesus/God. The third: how happy-touched-amazed and pumped up we were that Jesus/God saved us. That was pretty much it. There were thousands of these types of songs, yet so many of the lyrics were nearly identical. It was almost as if a songwriter could take one song, change five or six words, and then have an all-new song." (ht: marko)

Admit it! Sometimes you've thought that when singing a new worship song, haven't you?

Anyway, the point is that there is a lot of mediocre stuff out there, but there are people writing great music for worship out there. Music that forms us as disciples instead of consumers, music that inspires instead of sugar-coats. Music that has us singing faithful words of worship, that doesn't resort to sentimentality or pendantry.

Two people who come to mind immediately are Matt Redman and Stuart Townend. Most of you know about Matt Redman, but perhaps fewer know about Stuart. Mr. Townend wrote the incredibly faithful (and popular) hymn "In Christ Alone", as well as "Beautiful Savior." And tomorrow morning I plan to lead the Heartland congregation in one of his newer songs (cowritten with Aaron Keyes) called Psalm 62 (based on Psalm 62, strangely).

The lyrics are below, but when you hear the melody, this thing really takes off. And it's not just that it's a good song, but it's a faithful song, a song that calls us into its description of God, that pulls us further into the life of God, that forms us as the people of God. It's a song you can sing loudly, confidently, because it faithfully reflects the character and ways of the Living God.

PSALM 62
Stuart Townend and Aaron Keyes

VERSE 1:
My soul finds rest in God alone, My Rock and my salvation,
A fortress strong against my foes, And I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse, And lies like arrows pierce me,
I’ll fix my heart on righteousness, I’ll look to Him who hears me.

CHORUS:
O praise Him, hallelujah, My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing, My Redeemer, my God.

VERSE 2:
Find rest, my soul, in God alone amid the world’s temptations;
When evil seeks to take a hold I’ll cling to my salvation.
Though riches come and riches go, Don’t set your heart upon them;
The fields of hope in which I sow are harvested in heaven.

VERSE 3:
I’ll set my gaze on God alone, and trust in Him completely;
With every day pour out my soul, and He will prove His mercy.
Though life is but a fleeting breath, a sigh too brief to measure,
My King has crushed the curse of death and I am His forever.

Failure / Risk / Church / Mission

Found this little video via marko:

As I think about my own life, some of the most formative, important times have been those where there was a huge risk of failure, when the outcome was far from guaranteed, when I actually was pretty horrible at it the first few times I tried it.

I might go so far as to say that none of us grow spiritually unless we risk. Spiritual formation = risk. Also, to step out as a missional church is going to take some huge risks. We're never going to get where we need to go if we always need to guarantee certain results. Missional church = risk. Being the church isn't like joining a tennis club, it's more like joining up with a revolutionary community on a risky journey. It's an adventure. Like one of my mentors has said, "We're called to tend the fire, not polish the stove."

Safety is overrated anyway. Let's move into what God is calling us to.