So imagine with me:
You've been freed up by a grant to spend three days a week exclusively working to testify to Jesus' good news about God's kingdom. What would you do?
I really like the image of reality wearing through the map (if this metaphor's unfamiliar to you, sit down with some friends and watch The Matrix or, better, read Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation). Where does the kingdom wear through in your context? Where might it? And would you best invest your time if you had three days a week to work on widening the hole?
I've been working for the last few years (off and on, more off than on) to refinish a cheap electric guitar I bought when I played in a high school garage band. Armed with sandpaper, I sit out on the fire escape or on the front steps slowly removing a garish blue finish to reveal the wood grain beneath it, the canvas for beautiful things to come. That's the work before us.
Thanks for this thoughtful post, Josh.
ReplyDeleteThis may seem unrelated, but I see reality wearing through the map in Lucy's smiles. It's a special blessing that she tends to smile during the tasks when I need a little encouragement... changing a diaper, just before she falls asleep (when I've been desperately trying to get her there for a while).
To get all culture-critical about it: I just finished the Hunger Games series and I was struck by how having children is the "happy ending" in all three of the blockbuster stories of the past few years (Harry Potter, Twilight, the aforementioned Hunger Games). Significant? Just interesting to me. It doesn't seem like the way stories ended a generation ago...
Good thoughts! What would I do? And why am I not doing it now?
ReplyDelete