THE CREATIVE CHURCH

I've never apologized for being a Christian.

There were times when I've felt embarrassed for those who call themselves Christians, who allowed themselves to be drawn into the media spotlight to defend some aspect of their faith. From the sparrows perch, faith appears foolish and childish in the cold hard glare of the media camera. There is nothing logical or scientific about faith. There is no apologetic argument that can prove God just as there is also no logical or scientific argument that can disprove Him. He exists above and beyond our futile attempts. Ever since I was a young man, I've always loved science and the exploration of our universe. I've always stayed at the far edges of the Christian paradigm, but have never lost my faith in a creator who created me to be creative. Actually, my heart breaks for those who've divorced science from the one who created it. It must be sad to spend your days in hot pursuit of an answer beyond the one given to us. You see, at the end of it all, the physical death of this fleshly vessel resolves all issues. It requires just as much faith to believe there is no God, as it does to accept the internal knowledge that he does exist.

I'm always amazed at the anger and malevolence of non-believers toward those who believe. Our liberal universities with all their claims to free thinking, will not tolerate or entertain the idea of intelligent design. Christian speakers are lambasted and ostracized before they ever appear. Scientific papers can't even allude to the divine. It is no wonder our universities, technical sector, and manufacturing giants are bemoaning the lack of science graduates. By their very antagonism, they are pushing away one of the most creative block of thinkers to walk the earth. By it's very nature, science doesn't imagine. That would imply faith. The life and light of faith moves beyond the mathematical construct into a dimension of thought beyond the numbers. Faith will always align with the numbers, but numbers don't always align with faith. That is the power of a creative spirit. It is the spirit God himself put in us. It is the spirit the church needs to regain.

I believe the church should be the most creative, talented, and innovative people on earth. We claim to hold the Spirit of God in these earthen vessels, yet we stifle that creative spirit by our dogmatic rush to “a better place.” The better place is now! The Kingdom of God doesn't begin on the day of our death, it began on the day of our spiritual birth. On that day, we became infused with the life giving, creative power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, as quickly as the newborn babe in Christ is put in the spiritual bassinet, the old heads who've had the light of creativity stolen from them, begin to bind up the newborn. Statements like; “You can't think that way.” “It'll never work.” “That's heresy.” echo up and down the spiritual maternity halls we call churches. The dogmatic, fearful, and those who lust after power, poison any attempt to express the joy of new birth.

Creativity should be one of the hallmarks of the Christian walk. We should be the ones who dream upon the stars and see new worlds at our fingertips. For example, Science Fiction writers don't create fantastic worlds for the sake of creating worlds we'll never see, they see them now, and they long for our world to be a greater place of understanding and creativity. They create an extraterrestrial world to resolve a terrestrial conflict. Christians live in an extraterrestrial Kingdom and we have the answer to the terrestrial conflict.

From my place on the sparrows perch, I see the unending parade of people who seek to know God, and the happiest ones, are the ones who are creative. These are the ones who recognize the impossible and will it to be done by faith. I see those things we wish we were, as guides to those things we will be. This brief stay upon this earthly vale isn't even our childhood in an eternal time line, it is more like the blink of an eye. I just think that the blink should sparkle with the light and life of a creative God.