The Semiotics and Dialogue of Refrigerator Art

I have never enjoyed reading about literary theory. In college I avoided reading Derrida and Foucault as much as possible and have managed to dodge most reading on the subject since. Recently, however, I have been forced to trudge through a book for an upcoming seminar that digs deep into some aspects of literary theory. One of the most intriguing concepts covered in the book is the concept of semiotics. Semiotics is the study of how signs—words, symbols, pictures, etc.—convey meaning. Once these signs are recorded they become texts and hold their message for all who look upon them.

Another topic surveyed in the book was the relationship between the author of a text and the reader of a text. Many scholars have pointed out that the way the text is understood by a reader involves a dialogue between the reader and the author. What the author means when he or she writes the text must be interpreted by the reader when they encounter the text. These literary concepts are every bit as exciting to study as you think. In case you loose my original meaning in the dialogue between reader and writer, the previous sentence should be read with all imaginable sarcastic force.

Though I find some of the concepts of literary theory remarkably boring, I was confronted with a beautiful truth about meaning this evening as I pondered the concepts of semiotics and author/audience dialog. While I was washing dishes with my daughter I turned to put away a container and saw a picture she colored for me on our refrigerator. It is a watercolor on construction paper, a beautiful minimalistic work of terse brushstrokes—green, purple and red. Here was a sign in its glory, pinned to our Frigidare with magnetic letter “k” a testament to the creativity of the not-quite two year old who painted it.

This was a sign packed with meaning by its author. I could see my daughter painting it, laughing as the colors slid off her brush onto the paper. Bright eyed, sitting beside her mother, both of them artists who have some innate understanding of beauty lost on those who, like myself, lack the ability to create any art that possesses visual appeal. She crammed her inherent joy into those brushstrokes and I stood in my kitchen basking in the manifest wonder of her work.

Then I read the words Kayla wrote for her at the top of the paper, “I love you Daddy! –Zoey.” I was immediately reminded of something I had just read by Mikhail Bahktin, who said that texts are “half someone else’s.” And so I was reminded that the painting on the refrigerator was also mine. I looked at it and owned it for a moment. I held Zoey and thought of how wonderful it was to have a piece of her artwork on our refrigerator and how each time I really saw it made me think of my daughter and her mother and the fact that when I am gone to work for hours a day they sit and paint me a picture so that I will have a sign that says in a million ways, “I love you Daddy!”

I have not changed my mind on literary theory. I have finished the reading for the seminar. I will discuss it in our meeting in a few weeks and work to incorporate some of the more valuable points into my research, but I will continue to dodge the literary theorists in the future. However, literary theory has opened up a bright window for me tonight. God has allowed his creatures to communicate in such a powerful way that brushstrokes can mean so much. And this wonder leads to broader wonders still because the weighty theories lead to lofty joys; my daughter loves me and I love her. Trust me, there is a painting on my refrigerator.

An Accidental Review of C. S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces"

In writing an introduction for a seminar paper on intentional literary ambiguity in Isaiah, I accidentally wrote this review of my favorite work by C. S. Lewis. If you have not read Till We Have Faces, I hope this encourages you to do so soon.

         There comes a time in the life of every serious reader of C. S. Lewis when he or she must, for the first time, draw Till We Have Faces from the bookshelf rather than the more well known Chronicles of Narnia or Out of the Silent Planet. To be sure, this should be a happy day for such readers, yet the world that awaits them in Glome is quite different from the glad worlds of Narnia and Malacandra. Till We Have Faces possesses an ability to fascinate which is equal to Lewis’s other works, yet it is unique among Lewis’s fiction for just at the moment the reader expects the narrative to be clarified it ends suddenly, failing to resolve like good jazz music.

The ambiguity of Till We Have Faces is not lost on the novel’s central character, Queen Orual of Glome, who laments of the use of metaphor by a pagan priest, “It’s very strange that our fathers should first think it worth telling us that rain falls out of the sky, and then, for fear that such a notable secret should get out (why not hold their tongues?) wrap it up in a filthy tale so that no one could understand the telling?”[1]

            The fact that Till We Have Faces is an exceptionally ambiguous novel is, in part, responsible for its diminished appreciation among casual C. S. Lewis readers. Those who are willing to be challenged by a great literary mind, however, embrace Lewis’s magisterial work. Such readers realize that Till We Have Faces does not lose the ability to convey meaning because it is ambiguous. On the contrary, much of the novel’s meaning is found in the fact that it is ambiguous.

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[1] C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Novel of Cupid and Psyche, (Boston: Mariner Books, 1980), 271.

When I Consider My Grandfather's Grave

A gray stone sits on forgotten earth
     On a plot of land 'twixt church and pasture
Recording a name with two dates: death and birth
     Little else does the monolith capture

The graveyard is broken into a handful of spaces
     The ground is untrodden, the flowers are old
Thus is the fate of those who die in dying places
     Would be mourners have left seeking fortunes untold

The fool will pass by and from haughty observation
     Say "In life as in death were these people alone."
Yet they are remembered with sweet desperation
     Better seconds in memory than forever in stone

An Expectant Father's Meditation on Abortion

I have been thinking a lot about abortion lately.  I know it is because I have a daughter who is not yet born.  Let me tell you what this is like, many of you already know, but let me tell you anyway.  I can feel her sometimes feel her head against my wife’s stomach, feel her kick my hand.  Kayla feels her with far greater intensity and intimacy.  I came home yesterday and Kayla was all smiles, “She had the hiccups!” she said. My child has a head, hands, a brain, lungs, and hiccups . . . but no right to live.

Do not mistake what I am saying, our daughter is not threatened by abortion.  Zoey, God willing, will experience life.  But how many will die? The answer: millions.  Millions of babies have died and will go on dying unless something changes, babies with hearts and hands and hiccups.  They have eyes, but will never see the beauty of day, they have lungs but will never know what it is like to take a breath.  Their lives will be taken, not by a foreign tyrant or serial killer, but by the woman who would have raised them.

Let me take a moment to clarify something: Kayla being pregnant has made me aware of how pregnancy is a women’s rights issue.  I may often speak of pregnancy as something we are going through, but I have become poignantly aware that the curse (and I use this term literally, not as a joke) of pregnancy is not something men—no matter how sensitive—can truly share in. I have made midnight McDonald’s runs and washed more than my fair share of dishes, but that is nothing to having your bladder squashed, your kidneys kicked, your back hurting, your body changing, oh yeah, there is the whole labor issue as well. 

Added to this is the fact that if I decide I don’t want to raise this child, I would have a way out.  I would be a coward and would betray every notion of my faith to do so, but society would accept me if I left. This child can come without me.  I am expendable.  If Zoey is to be born, Kayla must be there, she must suffer.  All this to say that I recognize that pregnancy, and by default abortion, is an issue of women’s rights.

But abortion, more importantly, is about human rights.  I have acknowledged above that I understand that women face difficulties men cannot know in regards to pregnancy, I have seen this as an expectant father, but I have also felt my daughter kick and move and have seen her picture on a sonogram.   She is also a human.  Should she die because, by no fault of her own, her birth is an inconvenience?  No!  But millions of innocent children just like her have, and unless things change, millions more will.

So how do we fix this problem?  It is certainly not by bombing abortion clinics, or oppressing mothers who have chosen to abort children in the past.  Even though I pray for legislation that would defend the rights of the unborn, I know this would not fix the problem.  The problem is that sin has broken us to the point that there are mothers who would kill their own children, and a society that will hold their hand and say to them, “It looks like a person, it has a mind like a person, it feels pain like a person, but really it’s just a fetus, kill it if it makes your life easier.  This can only be fixed by a healing of our hearts.

 This is my prayer this morning as I dwell on abortion and on being an expectant father, “God, please change the hearts of mother’s who would abort their children.  Father, I know they are not monsters, but a monstrous lie has gripped their hearts.  Please place in their hearts a love for their child.  Guide people into their lives who will offer support, whether that support is help with raising their child, medical help, adoption, or any other help you see fit to provide.  LORD God, please change the hearts of society.  Oh Father, that our society would value life!  May this be more than political jargon Father, may it become a reality. I pray for those of us in the Kingdom, convict every one of us that You, our King, demand that we stand against injustice. Show us how to stand against the injustice of abortion with prophetic voices, loving hearts, and busy hands.  Call us to adopt, call us to care, let us reach out to hurting mothers and expectant mothers with love. Deliver innocent life God!  Amen.”         

A DEVOTIONAL TOOLKIT: Practical Resources For Daily Devotions

I wrote an article recently in which I discussed that growing up in church I heard a lot about “quiet time” or daily personal devotion time, but was never told why they were important.  Along the same lines, I was also never taught how to read the Bible Devotionally.  It may seem to some a silly thing to teach, but when I was in high school and college, I was often frustrated because daily devotional reading did not come to me naturally.  Over the years, God has placed several people and resources in my life which have helped me learn how to read the Bible devotionally. 

God continues to place these people and resources in my life, and continues to put me in situations where I grow in this area.  I am by no means a devotional master, in fact, I am a novice.  It has only been over the past few years that I have had any real consistency in reading Scripture daily.  If you are struggling to establish daily time in God’s word, or you desire to begin a daily devotional time, or you are just looking for encouragement, then I hope the following ideas and resources are helpful to you.  Below are a few lists.  The first is a “how to.”  The second list contains answers to a few questions that I have struggled through (and continue to struggle with) about daily devotion times.  The third list contains some random pointers and the final list contains some resources and links which you may find helpful.

 

A Basic “How To”

There is no definitive method for doing a devotion. The method below is the one that I started using and, more or less, is what I still use. At various times, I have incorporated journals, devotional books, and worship music, but the basic outline has stayed the same.

1.      Pray.  Begin and end your devotion time with prayer.  This “Toolkit” along with the other two articles posted in connection with it focus on devotional reading, but prayer and meditation must accompany the actual reading of Scripture for it to truly effect our lives.

2.      Read Methodically.  You can try the old “Magic Finger” method if you would like. This is where you close your eyes, open to a page, and point to a verse—this is God’s word for you today.  The problem with this is that the Bible was not written to be read one verse at a time.  It only makes sense when you read it in context.  I highly recommend a reading plan.  These can be found at the link included in the resource section, or in many devotionals.  If you don’t have access to a reading plan, try reading the Bible a book at a time.  If you are just starting, I recommend one of the Gospels.

3.      Meditate on God’s Word.  This is deep introspection meditation, not close your eyes and hum. One of the main purposes of daily time in God’s word is being transformed according to God’s will.  Meditation on Scripture goes like this: We read, “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) We meditate by letting that sink in, and asking ourselves how our lives match up with Scripture: “Do we live in such a way that we show dying is a good thing because it brings us closer to Christ?”  “How can we do so today?”

4.      Pray. End with Prayer. Pray that the truth you have read in Scripture will influence your life.  Pray that you would have opportunities to experience God throughout the day.  Pray that God’s will would be done in your life.  Pray that the Spirit would lead you as you live out God’s Word.

When, Where, How Often, and How Long?

-          WHEN? Almost every devotion guide will tell you that it is best to set aside one part of the day to have your devotion time.  I think this is true. I find that mornings are the best time for me to spend time in the Word.  It sets the tempo for my day and gives me an opportunity to cover myself, my family, and my church family in prayer before the day begins.  That being said, today is Sunday, and I am about to do my devotion after writing this (It is around 7pm) yesterday I spent time with God in the evening, and on Friday I spent time with him early in the morning.  Doing it at the same time every day is not crucial, but it is helpful.  To be honest, I am praying for more discipline and hoping to make morning devotion times more consistent.

-          Where? If you have a favorite spot to read or think, I would start there.  Most people live pretty mobile lifestyles, so I would advise you not to get too attached to one place.  Just try to be in places that help you focus on what God is saying.

-          How Often? Every day.  Our desire should be that God’s word is as crucial to us as food or as sleep.  This does not mean that if you miss a day you are in blatant sin, but everyday is the goal. 

-          How Long? This, I believe, depends on your personality and situation. Christian retailers often sell “One-Minute Devotions.”  I wouldn’t recommend that you just set aside one minute of your time.  My devotions have ranged from 10-45 minutes depending on what reading plan and extra activities (journaling, etc.) I was participating in at that time.  I have a good friend who is over eighty who spends hours in the Word every day and is finding great joy in that, but she is able to do this because of situation God had placed her in.  In short, do what works for you, make sure you don’t rush it by not carving out enough time, but don’t be rushed by trying to do more than your daily schedule allows.

A Few Random Pointers

-          Distinguish Between Bible Study and Devotional Reading.  Using commentaries, lexicons, etc. will tremendously help you understand Scripture, but that is in-depth study, not devotional reading.  There is certainly a place for this, but if you try to do it in your devotional time, your devotions will often become cold and stale.  Focus on how to apply the text to your life. 

-            Don’t Rely Too Heavily On Devotional Material- Reading your devotional book every day is not the same as encountering Scripture.  God wrote the Bible, a fallible person wrote your devotional.

-          Don’t Be Scared To Use Devotional Material- While reading a daily devotional does not take the place of Scripture, they are often helpful.  I have enjoyed using a variety of them myself.

-          Keep Things Fresh- I recommend changing reading plans and trying new things (journaling, listening to praise music, writing poetry, Scripture memory) at least every year.  Remember, prayer, Scripture, and meditation upon Scripture should always be present, but as the Spirit guides you, participate in activities which help you communicate with God.

-          Don’t Judge Yourself Based On Other’s Methods- Like I said I have a fried who is spending hours in Scripture a day.  I do not need to compare myself to her.  I should rejoice that she is being faithful to spend time with God as he is calling her and that I am being faithful in the way that he is calling me.

Some Resources You May Find Helpful

Let me tell you a secret about Christian material: it can get expensive. . . unnecessarily expensive.  If you have $200.00 you can buy a genuine goat-skin leather Bible. Or, you can buy a $40 Bible which will last just as long, read Matthew 25 in said Bible and be moved that Jesus desires that we feed hungry people and donate $160.00 to Compassion International.  That’s up to you.  With this in mind, don’t feel like you have to go buy everything on this list.  Much of it is free online.

-          A Reliable Translation of the Bible (This is the only essential thing on the list)

o   The English Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, and New Revised Standard Version, among others, are very good modern, English translations.

o   The Message is a very good paraphrase of the Bible by Eugene Peterson.  If you use this, check other versions if you find something that seems a little odd.  Eugene Peterson isn’t a heretic or anything, but the message is just a paraphrase, not a true translation.

o   There are some really easy (and free!) ways to access the bible via computer, tablet, or smartphone.  biblegateway.com is a great resource to access via the internet and youversion is a free app available in the android and apple markets.

-          A Reading Plan

o   There is a whole list of these at http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/.  If you have never read through the Bible, I recommend that you start there with a plan that has you in the Old Testament and New Testament every day.  These plans are also available on the youversion app.  If you are not a computer person, ask your pastor or check out a daily reading Bible at a Christian Bookstore.

-          A Devotional Book

o   http://www.biblegateway.com and youversion also have devotional books on the software.

o   You can buy a devotional book in your local Christian bookstore.  You can get one that is very specific (i.e. devotions for businessmen) or something by an author you like. Listed below are a couple I recommend

§  Taste and See by John Piper. Kind of weighty, but rich. Devotions take about 2-4 minutes to read. ISBN: 1590524497

§  One Year Women’s Devotional (Recommended by my Wife).  Various Authors.  Kayla says this has been a great devotional, multiple authors give multiple writing styles which may help keep things “fresh.” ISBN: 9781615217311

§  My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.  Old, but good.  I would recommend an updated English version.

-          A Journal

-          Highlighters

-          Coffee devotions are always more meaningful when you are awake.

I hope this “Toolkit” helps. More than anything get in the Word! 

 

In Christ,

Cory

SATISFYING A CRAVING FOR GOD’S PRESENCE

I want to start this article by whining for a moment: No one in church ever really taught me why I should read my Bible devotionally.  I learned a lot about not running in the Sanctuary and that it was wrong to draw on the table in the Sunday School room and that playing poker in the old ladies Bible Study classroom was a bad idea (Yes, I did and yes, it was a bad idea.  Especially when you leave chips on the floor and the pastor has to explain why there was a poker game going down at a youth lock-in.)  I also learned some tremendously useful things like the books of the Bible, the Roman’s Road, and that Jesus commanded all of his followers to build the kingdom. 

I also remember learning that having a devotion time—usually called “quiet time” by church people—every day was very important, but no one ever told me why.  Now don’t get me wrong, when I came to Christ I was blessed to have a great pastor, and attend a Bible believing church, but somehow I still missed the why and how of this whole devotion thing.  So I wanted to write something for Christians who know that spending time in God’s Word is something that people say is important, but might not know why.  What follows is a brief walk through Scripture in hopes that you will see why spending daily time in God’s word is so important.

A Duty of Utmost Delight

Very briefly let’s talk about what the Bible doesn’t say.  There is no passage in Scripture that says, “Thou shalt read thy Bible every day.”  Not even close.  There is a lot that the Bible says about why Scripture is vital, but no clear cut command that says to read it daily.

What the Bible does say is that Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16).  This is the most basic thing we must understand: the Bible is a revelation of God to people.  It is a way in which we can experience Him, it is the means by which he reveals his will and his nature to humanity.  Keep that in mind as you think about reading the Bible daily, it is about God revealing himself, and his will to you.

If we are truly members of the kingdom, if we have truly pledged our very lives to God, then his revelation of himself should be something we crave.  Check out Mark 1:35-38.  In this passage, Jesus leaves the disciples in the dark hours of the morning and goes into a secluded place to devote time to God.  Now I don’t want to play fast and loose with Scripture here.  Jesus went out to pray, not to read his Bible.  He didn’t sit down and pull out his pocket edition of the Torah and start reading, but he did go out to experience God’s presence and to be in tune with God’s will.  That is also the goal of devotionally reading the Bible.  And he craved it.  He wanted it worse than sleep, than breakfast, than an early morning conversation with his twelve closest friends.  He went out not out of duty, but delight. 

This is the same delight felt by the poet who writes of the blessed man in Psalm 1, “His delight is in the instruction (Torah) of the Lord and on his instruction he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

This is the motivation for devotional Bible reading—a deep craving for God’s revelation of himself.  It springs from a sense of delight, a sense of need, a craving, an addiction.  Now, I do want to throw a cautionary sentence or two in here.  This does not mean that on days when I do not joyfully look to the reading of my Bible I should not do it.  There will be times when our desire for God’s word is hindered, perhaps by sin, perhaps by tragedy, or perhaps by the general depression that often invades our lives in this fallen world.  In these times, when the feeling of happiness is gone, the true joy of delight is still there.  The feelings will come and go, but this God given delight will remain.

Like a Ford, Not a Ferrari

I am not much of a car guy, but even I can recognize a Ferrari if one passes me on the interstate.  This is the purpose of a Ferrari, to get other people’s attention, to say, look at me, I have a Ferrari.  That and to go 200mph.  My Wife and I drive a Ford.  It also has a purpose, to get you—and up to three passengers—where you are going. If you read my story about daily devotions(also posted on this blog), you will find that I once thought it should be a very flashy, show-off kind of thing, but that is not what Scripture teaches.  Daily Devotions are about being transformed in personal living and worshipping God, not about showing off.

Consider Psalm 119: 9-12.  Here the poet asks a vital question for every believer, “How can a young man keep his way pure?”  Purity in Scripture is all about living God’s way.  It is not so people can look at you and say, “What a pure person.”  It is about living in a way that brings glory to God.  Every follower of Christ should ask, “How can we keep our way pure?”  The poet goes on to answer the question, “By guarding [his way] according to [God’s] Word.”  Ultimately the young man who composed Psalm 119 concludes that it is storing up God’s word in his heart that will keep him from sinning and thus cause him to please God (pleasing God, of course, is what not sinning is all about). 

Consider one last passage of Scripture with me: Psalm 46:10.  It is a simple command, “Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  This awestruck worship of God should also be incorporated into our daily devotion time.  This may happen through prayer, through reflection on the providence of God in your life, or through soaking in a breathtaking scene in nature.  But it also happens through the Word of God. Read Psalm 148, Genesis 1 & 2, John 20, Psalms 150, Isaiah 6 or countless other passages in Scripture which attests to God’s glory and be blown away by it. 

This is the purpose of daily devotional reading.  It is not flashy, but it has a powerful purpose, to transform your life and cause you to worship God.

A Few Thoughts in Closing

Please understand this is not a complete theology of devotional reading, it is not meant to be. I do, however pray that these reasons would motivate you to experience God’s word, daily.  I pray that this would merely whet your appetite; that the meager morsels of truth above would begin a daily craving for God’s Word.  I pray that you would approach Scripture daily from delight for the purpose of living out a transformed, God honoring life.

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For some ideas on how to read the Bible devotionally, and some useful tools to help you along the way, read the article on this blog titled, “A Daily Devotional Toolbox”