sustain:if:able kiwi

an easter journey

My latest radio viewpoint, going live today.

… The church has killed the Christian gospel with words. Blah blah blah from pulpits every single Sunday. It’s time we started truly following Jesus. It’s time we embraced all the 5 senses that God gave us… for more:

These are notes that serve a verbal preformance, and need to be read as “verbal.”

Good morning Cathy and good morning listeners.

My viewpoint is based on a quote from Tom Wright, who’s a well known Christian leader and Biblical scholar. “The Word became flesh, but the Church has turned the flesh back into words.”

“The Word became flesh, but the Church has turned the flesh back into words.”

Tom Wright is mourning that Jesus used all his 5 senses. He used touch to open the eyes of the blind, he used taste to give us bread and wine, he understood emotion, as he wept for Lazarus.

And yet the Church has turned this Jesus of 5 senses back into words.

You see this when you enter a church and find nothing to look at but bare, painted walls. You see this when you enter a church and see a stage with nothing but a pulpit. The church has turned the following of Jesus back into words.

I was following a child into our church auditorium on Sunday morning. She lives a block away from the church and it was her second Sunday ever at Opawa Baptist.

And I nearly banged into her as she walked through the church doors. Because she suddenly stopped and just stared.

At Opawa, we have two installation artists, Peter and Joyce Majendie. They have an ability to communicate Jesus without ever using a word.

And in preparation for Easter they’ve turned our church auditorium into a real life garden.

And this is why this community kid, 2nd week ever in church, is just staring. Because instead of carpet, she’s standing on 20 metres of ready lawn. She’s facing over 100 New Zealand native trees, dotted around two pools of water, and picnic rugs spread all over the grass and families sitting on them.

And that’s just the auditorium. In the foyer are 13 other different art installations. You can try and carry a cross made out of railway sleepers. Or you can read the frontpage of the Jerusalem Times, 2 metres high, with two TV screens inserted.

This is the 8th year that Peter and Joyce and their team have done this. And what they’ve done is found a way to communicate Jesus without words. They’ve found a way to honour the fact that God made us flesh, with eyes to see and hands to touch and a heart to feel.

The Easter Journey is open here in Christchurch at Opawa Baptist every evening during this Easter week. But this is not an advertisement Cathy. This is a viewpoint.

The church has killed the Christian gospel with words. Blah blah blah from pulpits every single Sunday. It’s time we started truly following Jesus. It’s time we embraced all the 5 senses that God gave us. That’s my viewpoint.