Bob Goff and "Capers" for the Kingdom

 

 Original photo: Caryn Azure

Jubilee 2012 was fantastic. The keynote speakers from Jamie Smith to Robin Capcara to Rich Mouw all did a great job. But Bob Goff really stood out for me this year, not because of the way  he spoke, but because of the way he interacted with my six-year-old daughter (see the photo above). Bob Goff invites people to be whimsical; to do "capers" for the sake of Jesus. He is a wonderful storyteller and is very compelling. But what has made me think more deeply about Bob and his invitation is the way he captivated my daughter. He invited her to the whimsy he was inviting all of us to.

So what is it that makes Bob Goff and his stories so compelling? In my initial attempts to get my head around this three things stand out. The first is the way he lives out of the reality that Jesus changes everyone and everything. And so whether it is his work in Uganda or the way he helps a student propose to his girlfriend, Bob's capers are motivated by this vision of how Jesus can change the world. The authors of All of Life Redeemed (CCO alums) [1]   argue that Jesus gives us a new vision of the world where we see the ordinary things of life in their depth and richness so that they become extraordinary. Bob exudes this vision that because of Jesus "Everything Matters"[2]

I think the second piece of Bob's call to be whimsical and to do capers for Jesus is the importance of play. Bob's invitation for us to live with whimsy is a recognition that our lives should have a playful quality to them. When we play we know that the results of the play are not ultimately serious.[3] What I mean is that because of who Jesus is we know how the story ends [4]  which frees us from the burden of living as if we alone are ultimately responsible for the fate of the world. Lewis Smedes describes it as a kind of "trans-seriousness." In other words when you play a game you play as best you can, but you also play in the freedom that the game is not ultimately serious. Bob invites us to live out of that "freedom" so that we can experiment and try things. As he might say, we know how the story ends so just "do stuff."

I think the third piece that makes Bob's invitation so compelling is that he invites us to do stuff not alone but with him and with others. He recognizes that to do capers one needs accomplices. We need someone who stands by us and with us and says "I'm here." We need to know that we don't stand alone. Standing with someone gives us the confidence to remember that the story is bigger than us. Bob's invitation to live in a whimsical way compels us because of the way that it pushes us to live out the vision of the world shaped by Jesus. It pushes us to live in a way that acknowledges the freedom that we have in Christ. And lastly it reminds us that we all love "to be picked" which is why we should do these capers together. So in the words of Bob, let's just do stuff, let's do " a cannonball into life" that points to who Jesus is and allows the ordinary to become extraordinary.

[1]: All of LIfe Redeemed: Biblical Insight for Daily Obedience by Brad Frey, Bill Ingram, Tom McWhertor and Bill Romanowski.

[2]: This was the theme of Jubilee 2012

[3]: See Lewis Smedes' essay "Theology and Playful Life".

[4]: Rich Mouw used this phrase in his Sunday morning talk at Jubilee.

Whimsy for the sake of the Kingdom...

Our daughter caught in the whimsical wake of Bob Goff at Jubilee 2012. More on this soon...

Photo Credit: Caryn Azure

http://www.carynazurephotography.com/

Simple Drawings and Attentiveness

I have been thinking recently about Biblical wisdom.  I have been prompted to do so by both the work of Calvin Seerveld and the work of Craig Bartholomew and Ryan O'dowd in their recent book:  Old Testament Widsom Literature: A Theological Introduction.  One of the points from their introduction that I find very compelling is that Biblical wisdom reflects a commitiment to be attentive to God's world.  But even as compelling as the invitation to be attention is, I found myself often lacking the space to pay attention.  The speed of contemporary life does not encourage attentiveness.  However, what I have noticed is that when I doodle for myself in order to understand something my ability to be attentive to the thing at hand increases.  And likewise, when I have used my simple drawings to invite others to look at something the simplicity and the playfulness of the drawings invites people to look and to linger.  Doodles do a good job of inviting people to engage the content pointed to by the drawings.  In other words I have found that my simple drawings make a small contribution to inviting people to be more attentive to God's world.  If you would like to see  a recent attempt I have made to communicate with my simple drawings  see the recent Comment piece (titled "Sketches of Flourishing") published by the wonderful folks at Cardus.  

Learning to "Read" an "Atomic" Band

Ok, so let's begin to dive in more deeply into my U2 experience.  One of the first things we should do when we encounter an artistic experience is simply to ask: "What did you notice?".   

The first thing many of us noticed was the "spaceship" like structure over the stage.Now for those of you that attended to the concert the first thing that probably jumps into your mind is the "stage" or the spaceship like structure that towers over the stage.  So if it suggests a spaceship what could that be evoking?  Well, spaceships travel into space, they embark on dangerous journeys into the unknown and they carry you into space where you have a perspective that you would not have had from the ground.  So if these are the kind of suggestions made by having a spaceship-like structure over your stage could U2 be suggesting that are taking us on our journey into the unknown, or taking us into a "space" where we will have a new perspective?  We will have to continue to test these notions out in further reflections.  

But there was something else interesting about the spaceship early on.  And that was the continual display of timezones from across the globe (and from the International Space Station).  (See the image below.)

U2 is doing something interesting here by displaying the times on a screen connected to the spaceship like structure. One might say that there are playing with the image of time as complex and relative (to where you are) while at the same time asking where you are going by placing this information on their spaceiship.  Let's first explore this display of local times.  U2 seems to be forcing us to think about the complexity and relativity of time.  The constant display of world times seems to be reminding us that to know what time it is requires that we know where we are in the world.  But is there anything else about displaying these times on something that resembles a spaceship?  Spaceships are typically associated with the future so it might be a suggestion that to know our particular time we need to be aware of our past and of possible futures.[1]  (see the image below.)

So what might U2 be suggesting when they frame a concert with this spaceship looking theme intertwined with the theme of time (particularly your time)?   One possibility is that they are suggesting that this experience is going to take us somewhere that will provide us with a perspective, similar to one from space,[2] where one will have a sense of both where you are and a more robust notion of the time in light of this new perspective. In fact they frequently use the question "What time is it?" throughout the show seemingly reminding us of the way they framed the show with their display of world times. Again will hopefully explore these themes in future reflections about the concert to see if they bear themselves out.  

[1]: I am indebted to Tim Bogertman for the connection to the role of future here.

[2]: In fact later in the show they actually project a video message from the International Space Station.

U2 first thoughts...

Calvin Seerveld in Rainbows for the Fallen World describes the aesthetic as characterized by a symbol like quality that suggests or points in ways that is "intense" and "elliptical" (page 132).  The aesthetic object or event does not communicate in a straight-ahead kind of fashion.  It suggests, it alludes, it hints or winks.  And this "symbolical" way of communicating captures the experience I had last night attending the U2 Concert in pittsburgh.  As a way of demonstrating the kind of hinting or suggesting that was going on at the concert see the image below.  The main set list  concluded with "Walk On."  At some point during that song the antennae lit up (see below) and glowed like a beacon or lighthouse.   So while Bono sang:

And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

...the antennae glowed as a message of hope.  It seemed to be suggesting that there is a way forward, you are not walking aimlessly, there is a direction and somebody directing you.  This was a powerful and artistic (aesthetic) way of communicating.  That piece of the experience of was incredibly powerful.  

I am still working through a bunch of my reflections on the concert last night.  I will post them as I can.