personal jesus

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

I'm not one to quote scripture in everyday conversations. ... not because it doesn't ring in my ears at opportune moments, i am an AWANA Meritorious award winner after all ...which stands as a sort of certificate of achievement (COA) of my Christian-ness. Actually I think I did get the irony of memorizing Ephesians 2:8-9 viewed as a good work, even back then.

No, i'm not one to quote scripture because - well, there it is for you to read - and... quite honestly, because scripture-quoting is too often used to prove a personal point - as a "God-ordained" trump card. the opposite of the famed "compare your opponent to Hitler" strategy of debate. (btw, everyone who is disagreeing with me right now - sounds suspiciously like Hitler.... don't make me find a verse to back that up).

Primarily, i'm not a fan of quoting scripture {and i guess at this point I should include the use of Christian-eese/cheese/jargon} when such lets us bypass the need to think clearly about what we are trying to say. Within a group of Christians, we may all think we know what we mean (in terms of familiarity), but none of us may actually specifically know what we mean... and for those without the context of Scripture at their disposal, they will have no chance of understanding what we might mean.

In no way would I suggest that Scripture itself is inadequate or that the imagery it utilizes is inadequate - on the contrary! Scripture kicks ass - it's images hit hard - cut even... the very concept of "Melting Earth" comes from Psalm 46:6.

But these are Scriptures' images... I want to know how they are realized in your life... I want to hear you speak about your faith worked out in every day conversations and in every day circumstances... through thoughts that stand the test of communicating a coherent message and the faith you are experiencing right now...

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A Flickr friend of my peterbphoto brand, is a guy I met very early on in my Flickr-experience and clicked with almost immediately. He has probably walked before me a few years - has a couple more kids than me - and almost without a doubt is working out his faith, I believe, in this manner on a daily basis.

Over the last few months, I've been watching him develop a photographic style / technique that completely alludes me - and which recently came into it's own (or maybe just finally made sense to me) with this image:

Reapers, originally uploaded by sshimmel.

wow. what an image. what intense chaotic expressions, emotions, feel, tones, colors, ideas. it all works together. i freaking love the fingernails even. and the slight blur around the eyes. and btw, this is his sweet daughter.

and then - he adds this text - to give context, to tell a story:

I was the boy who never got even one stitch or even broke a bone... until I grew up.

Then the Reapers of Life appeared... the deaths of close family, and my own life threatening surgeries to name a few...

Nevertheless... ever so slowly we are learning, by God's grace, to stare down the reaper... and even at times to courageously wink back.

Here we see mythic language invoked - language that resonates fully with this image while embracing metaphors of today - all worked out in the context of his faith.

It's beautiful -

It is the Kingdom breaking through.

If we all could do this - we wouldn't have an irrelevant religion on our hands - and we wouldn't have a Christian subculture...