The Gathering Recap 2007: part II
It seems to Gary that if we believe these subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) Evangelical messages that ‘everything is going to burn’ and that ‘the only things that matter eternally are the souls of mankind and the words of God,’ then, the only continuity between earth and heaven is the act of getting to heaven (i.e. saying the ‘sinners prayer’, obeying the Four Spiritual Laws, etc.) After all, isn’t the purpose of the souls of mankind and the words of God to bring humanity the hope of one day singing Kumbaya while wearing white robes surrounded by angels?
Do we have no other purpose right now but to get to heaven and to get others to heaven? Gary thinks that we do have more earthly purpose. He asks, “What if the act of getting to heaven is not the only continuity between earth and heaven? What if eternity has already been launched?”
Without getting into all the details of Gary’s talk, we can summarize by saying that everything is not going to burn up, be destroyed, and be replaced by something totally different. Rather, God is at work burning, as in purifying and refining, everything that exists now in order to refresh, redeem, and renew all things. God is making everything qualitatively new.
Consequently, the work of our hands, the accumulation of our life will be refined and refreshed in such a way that the works of our hands form the content of the new heaven. We are at work with God in redeeming the earth and redeeming humanity. Gary explains this while holding out his left hand, palm down, and placing his right hand directly on top—symbolizing our hand at work moving in synchronization with God’s hand at work.
We are participating with God in filling eternity with the works of our hands, redeeming our world and our relationships, creating beauty for what is to come. What we do now matters eternally. Whether we are gardening, diverting rivers, building dams, painting, writing, designing, or helping a friend we are working to call out that which is beautiful, good and true for the sake of a redemptive future.
We do not need to ‘text message’ God with our art by putting a verse on it or by painting a cross in it. The work is already good enough. Gary points to a painting of a naked lady in the back of the room as says that it is good enough because it comes from the work of Shannon White’s hands. God does not tattoo the animals and plants with a verse, yet these things “renew the face of the ground” (Ps. 104). All of these things demonstrate the glory, or the weight, of their Creator’s hand.
God is in everything and we are at work to call out of the darkness that which can be made new—given redemptive qualities and refreshed for eternity. The imagery of Isaiah 60:11, “Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations…,” compels Gary to think of art makers as bringing all of their creations—all of the works of their hands—to the King of Kings, filling the eternal kingdom with that which is refined and redeemed by God.
We do not make art for art’s sake. When God made and arranged the world in the Genesis account, God said that it was good, not perfect. We are at work with God and we are working with the earth and humanity to make, create and redeem all things in such a way that we shape the kingdom to come.
If your job is to sweep streets then sweep streets so that all of heaven will pause and say “here lived a great street sweeper who swept streets well.”
We go forth with this prayer from Psalm 90:17:
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands upon us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands!
June 18th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Thanks Brett for the good summary
I am still reflecting on the things that I must have said in my talk. It is surreal that when you are speaking to a group that you are a listening as well. So I have a refelection I want to say. It is helpful to note that the souls for men and the word of God are in fact eternal. The point Iam hoping to make is that we need to see that even more is eternal. The works of our hands are a full expression of the cultural mandate we receive in Genesis and they to have eternal significance. Pretty cool idea, I guess God musty have come up with it.
IN a week or so we wiull get these talks on the web site.
Thanks Brett
June 18th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Thanks Brett and Gary for all the work. darin
September 7th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Reading about Gary’s talk, I am reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians 3 that differentiates between buildings (i.e., it would seem, a life’s work) that will be burnt up, and those that will survive.
“Now if anyone builds on the foundation (i.e. Christ) with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” 1 Cor. 3:12-15